What makes a higher wattage device 'better'.

[conanthewarrior]

Hi people, hope your all OK.

My sigelei only goes up to 30 watts, and that seems to be enough for me. I can get warm vapour even at lowish ohms, and it blows great clouds wether low or high OHM's.

So, what makes say a 100 watt device better than a 30 watt? Is it just the fact it can go lower with the Ohms? Somenone mentioned that low ohms come about as only mechanical mods can be used at competitions, so thats why new people think lower is better. I have tried many coils since I got my RDA, the one I am using at the moment is a 1.8 OHM sleeper coil, and that chucks out plumes of vapour. I tried a dual 0.5, but this seems to be the best I have built so far.

So, is it only the ability to go lower that makes the higher wattage devices 'better'? If it is just the ability to go lower, I'm happy with my device and 0.3 is low enough for me at the moment, as thats my devices lowest limit. Although I have heard there is a button press that turns it into a Mechanical by bypassing the chip, not sure if this is true as all I have found is DC-DC and PWM mode changes, although in DC-DC I notice you can take longer than 7 second pulls.

 

[Heldar]

Pretty much, its personal preference. The thing that makes them "better" for me is that i can use the exact same build i would on my mech as i do on my sig 100w, and be completely consistent. I like to vape around .2-.25 ohms. My sig @75 watts is the same as a fully charged mech, and i can switch my atty at will without worrying about the build. Other than that, the sig just beats my mechs on battery life.

 

[f1r3b1rd]

I prefer it because the one mod will let me vape any way my mood decides.
By day an Atlantis at 30w or a aquav2 at 40w, if I want a dripper, just swap to an RDA with a dual parallel build at a 0.21 and turn up the power to the 85-90 range (rare for me but it happens)
My typical happy spot with an RDA is 25w(ish) a coil. That said i like a 60-70w mod to give me that with headroom .

Im a huge fan options! Lol

 

[Mike H.]

Some like a much warmer vape...Also consider the thickness of a coil plays a part in how much power is required..So 2 coils at 1.0 ohm but one is a 28g wire and the other a 24g wire will require different wattages to heat them up properly..Or at least the amount of time it would take to.

Dont take this the wrong way but what you consider big plumes of clouds with a 1.8 ohm coil most would snicker about...My biggest "cloud" machine so far is a simple Kanger subtank nano with a home made .8 ohm coil in it..At 20 watts and wide open air flow its more than i expected cloud wise..I generally tend to lower it down to 17 or 18 watts to enjoy it more as i dont care for hotter vapes...Some would even snicker at what i think are big clouds on my nano...lol

Personal preference or need is the main answer here...I have a mvp 20w that i thought i would never in a million years need or want more but this wont be the case..Im already looking for maybe a 50w or 70w device as i know ill need more as i want to try bigger gauge wire and lower ohms

 

[UncleRJ]

These higher wattage devices for the most part are powered by twin 18650 batteries that give you a much longer time between charges.

And as said already, it is part "Weenie Wagging" as in Mine is Bigger than Yours!

 

[OBDave]

Check out some of the pic threads in the cloud chasing or coil building subforums and you'll see that for some people a "big cloud" is only one that's sufficient to fog up a medium-sized room in a single hit. Those guys are using all the power from the bigger devices. I like them for the extended battery life from having two batteries versus just one, and because I don't like to feel like I'm over-taxing my chip by always asking it to work at its max - 50-60 watts is usually plenty for me on my drippers, 30 is just fine for my tanks, but knowing my device is built to go to 100 gives me a nice cushion.

My car redlines at 8000 rpm, but I don't drive around town bouncing off the rev limiter because I don't want my motor to explode. I don't know if this principle applies at all to vaping, but it makes me feel better...

 

[conanthewarrior]

Ok, I see the reasons. They are actually pretty valid reasons. Sometime in the future I may actually get a more powerful device, I don't know what would be enough though, 70, 100, or more? I guess In a few months I will know more and probably know what I want/need .

 

[OBDave]

If your current device is working for you, keep right on using it - plenty of time to shop around, read reviews, and get an idea of what you really want in your next mod...

 

[conanthewarrior]

Yeah it is currently working fine for me, I haven't had it long and am really happy with it. I was using the nautilus, but I have been using the RDA the past few days. I am glad I make juice though otherwise it would cost me a fortune!
I have some 28 gauge kanthal on the way to make a coil for the nautilus, as 26 is too thick doesn't have enough resistance. Thats just a temporary measure though, I will buy a pack of the proper coils next time I get payed, they would still work now if it wasn't me pulling things apart lol.

 

[bondo]

With higher wattages you can build coils with insane surface area and still have the extra power to compensate for the slow ramp times.
As an example,a 24g,3mm dual parallel @.5ohm is going to be two extremely wide coils and would take a few seconds to warm up and still be on the cool side at 50w given the low resistance and width. Jump up to 80w and it reduces the ramp up and warms it up more.
more surface area X more airflow = more volume but also requires more power.

 

[FL_David]

I have a 30 watt Sigelei Mini that I am very happy with. I am looking at some 50 watt mods that take two 18650 batteries just for the extended time between charges.
The only time I have used 30 watts is to burn off coils between wick changes. That's just me.

 

[zaroba]

'Better' is mostly a matter of opinion and depends on the situation and person.
My normal build is 0.14 ohms made from dual 20 gauge kanthal. Run it at 75 watts. I love the feeling of that nice warm vapor going down my throat and filling my lungs on a 3-5 second hit, then the feeling of exhaling it all again. It was the sensation that I missed when I switched from smoking to vaping until I got into RDAs.

So, was a higher wattage 'better' for me? I think so.

 

[Whiskey]

Moved to VV area

 

[conanthewarrior]

Some like a much warmer vape...Also consider the thickness of a coil plays a part in how much power is required..So 2 coils at 1.0 ohm but one is a 28g wire and the other a 24g wire will require different wattages to heat them up properly..Or at least the amount of time it would take to.

Dont take this the wrong way but what you consider big plumes of clouds with a 1.8 ohm coil most would snicker about...My biggest "cloud" machine so far is a simple Kanger subtank nano with a home made .8 ohm coil in it..At 20 watts and wide open air flow its more than i expected cloud wise..I generally tend to lower it down to 17 or 18 watts to enjoy it more as i dont care for hotter vapes...Some would even snicker at what i think are big clouds on my nano...lol

Personal preference or need is the main answer here...I have a mvp 20w that i thought i would never in a million years need or want more but this wont be the case..Im already looking for maybe a 50w or 70w device as i know ill need more as i want to try bigger gauge wire and lower ohms

But watching youtube cloud competitions and the such, I don't see much difference in production if I am honest. Even when they do the reviews and use a sub ohm coil, my best so far was a 1.1Ohm coil In an el cabron cone for vapour production. I a currently using a 1.8 with lower watts though, as my nautilus needs new coils, I made them but lost the bit of metal that stops them spitting juice in your mouth. It works perfectly with the coil I built via riptrippers guide using 28 gauge, but I get mouthfuls of juice, so in the future I will not lose these pieces and rebuild myself.