The New MTL Tank "Ares RTA from Phil, Dimitris & Innokin"

youdipstick

The first of many videos to come...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u-D-YRNoOU

jonski

I've been hearing about the development of this for a while and watching the videos when they came out , it does seem to be the real deal for a quality, affordable, easy to rebuild MTL tank ..... only problem is the distribution seems to be pretty slow and it looks like no Irish vendors will be stocking it for a good while .

youdipstick

It'll be after Xmas before we get it here & China because of the postage,bad time to buy anywhere really...
We would be better off buying outside the EU so we can get the 5ml tank...

Venom

Vaping V1ck (not vaping with Vic) from the idealohmshow was banging on about this not being a MTL tank in their latest show!

jonski

Venom wrote: »

Vaping V1ck (not vaping with Vic) from the idealohmshow was banging on about this not being a MTL tank in their latest show!

Interesting, I would listen to it but I'm not going to trawl through 2 plus hours to try and find exactly what he says , I'll wait for his review . I'd struggle to see how it wouldn't be MTL though given the guys that designed it and the other reviews I have seen ( two I think ) would agree with it being MTL .

youcancallmeal

I really like the look of it but as I've seen a lot of others commenting it's really just a slightly altered Siren V1. Not necessarily a bad thing but nothing revolutionary either. I pre-ordered one here but as youdipstick says it'll be mid/late January by time I get it. First ship date was 30th Nov then 6th Dec and now 12th.

youcancallmeal

jonski wrote: »

Interesting, I would listen to it but I'm not going to trawl through 2 plus hours to try and find exactly what he says , I'll wait for his review . I'd struggle to see how it wouldn't be MTL though given the guys that designed it and the other reviews I have seen ( two I think ) would agree with it being MTL .

Yeah I'm not going listen either but maybe he was referring to this? I don't really like this guy and have to watch is videos on 1.5x speed because he speaks so stop starty. Anyway TLDW he broke the diffuser cap off and says the it is actually great for restricted dtl.

Alternatively maybe Vic thinks true mtl vaping should be the same style as the Kayfun tanks and not a raised deck?

jonski

It can be bought here , although postage is a bit high .

youcancallmeal

jonski wrote: »

It can be bought here , although postage is a bit high .

Yeah not cheap, think I'll wait it out for the slow boat from China. Have a Cthulhu Hastur MTL RTA arriving soon so that should keep me occupied until then

jonski

Venom wrote: »

Vaping V1ck (not vaping with Vic) from the idealohmshow was banging on about this not being a MTL tank in their latest show!

Watched Todds review tonight , he really liked it but also said that he didn't feel it was true MTL . He felt people who were vaping back around 2012 would ay it was looser than MTL from back then ...air hole around .7 or .8 whereas I think the smallest hole in the Ares is 1.0 . He still thought the tank was good, well machined and the flavour was spot on and he also felt that doing a MTL was no problem ...just not as tight as the originals I suppose . I think he said the Berserker went tighter .


From the man himself

It may sound like I am giving this a hard time in the summary but just to clarify, I think this is a great RTA, flavour, build quality and ease of use is all good. The only people that may have issue with it are people that are looking for a true MTL experience, I'm talking VERY tight, this will give you a tight draw but not what I would consider a true MTL. It probably only applies to people that have been vaping for several years, most people that people that started in the past two years, they’ll be quite happy with the tight draw.

Venom

Vaping with Vic is not impressed with this tank either at all.

He reckons they copied parts from other tanks like the Siren2 and Berserker with the airflow from Siren1.

jonski

Venom wrote: »

Vaping with Vic is not impressed with this tank either at all.



He reckons they copied parts from other tanks like the Siren2 and Berserker with the airflow from Siren1.

Meh , Now I'll have to admit to being a bit of a fanboy but first off he didn't really announce his attachment to the Siren V2 although he does mention within the video that he was involved in beta testing it , secondly he says that a lot of other UK reviewers are saying the flavour is muted , this is not what I've heard any of them say and both Todd and V1ck have said the flavour is great and thirdly he insinuates that the Siren V2 is the best of them ....... seems a bit biased .

My first thoughts on the Ares were always that I would base my decision on Todds review and I haven't seen anything in that that would sway me from giving it a go .

Venom

jonski wrote: »

Meh , Now I'll have to admit to being a bit of a fanboy but first off he didn't really announce his attachment to the Siren V2 although he does mention within the video that he was involved in beta testing it , secondly he says that a lot of other UK reviewers are saying the flavour is muted , this is not what I've heard any of them say and both Todd and V1ck have said the flavour is great and thirdly he insinuates that the Siren V2 is the best of them ....... seems a bit biased .

My first thoughts on the Ares were always that I would base my decision on Todds review and I haven't seen anything in that that would sway me from giving it a go .

Vic mentioned he did beta testing on the Siren V2 during his review for that particular tank so a brief reminder during the Ares review is more than enough imho. He also gave the Berserker a good review so its not like he's ****ting on products to push sales of the Siren V2.

Todd, Vaping V1ck and Mick Vapes have also stated the Ares while a good RTA is not a great MTL tank due to its airflow.

jonski

Venom wrote: »

Todd, Vaping V1ck and Mick Vapes have also stated the Ares while a good RTA is not a great MTL tank due to its airflow.

Indeed but they were all referring to the tightness of the draw as opposed to the way the air was directed . They also all said that the flavour was great ( I'm paraphrasing ) . I was grand with the review until he came out with the statement that loads of the UK reviewers were saying the flavour was muted which was at odds with what I was reading, hearing and seeing .


Not to worry , I'm just trying to convince myself that will be the MTL for me .

youcancallmeal

It's an interesting review considering he is slightly biased due to his involvement with the siren v2 design. Anyway it's good to see someone breaking from the norm and being honest. You can't really argue with most of what he has said, he did specifically say in his siren v2 video they changed the diffuser from the v1 for the reasons he outlined. Would be interested to see what Busardo responds to this video, he probably won't though. I'll still get the Ares myself, it's all very subjective so will be nice to come to my own conclusions

jonski

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Would be interested to see what Busardo responds to this video, he probably won't though.

He already responded in the comments underneath the video which tbh is disappointing, let it go whats the point of having an argument online . It seems they have history with Vic accusing Busardo of being Big Tobacco .

youcancallmeal

jonski wrote: »

He already responded in the comments underneath the video which tbh is disappointing, let it go whats the point of having an argument online . It seems they have history with Vic accusing Busardo of being Big Tobacco .

Oh yeah see that now, can't really argue with Busardo's points either but he didn't address the criticism of the diffuser, just pointed out what Vic missed. It's all just a bit of entertaining drama anyway

Venom

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Oh yeah see that now, can't really argue with Busardo's points either but he didn't address the criticism of the diffuser, just pointed out what Vic missed. It's all just a bit of entertaining drama anyway

I dunno man, the majority of Phil's points are more based on whats in the box instead of addressing issues with the tank. The coiling tools, wire and cotton are nice additions but not something that would make this a must have over the other new tanks on the market.

Some feedback from Ares's users

https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/threads/ares-new-mtl-rta-designed-by-phil-busardo-and-dimitirs-agrafiotis.836107/page-33

youcancallmeal

Venom wrote: »

I dunno man, the majority of Phil's points are more based on whats in the box instead of addressing issues with the tank. The coiling tools, wire and cotton are nice additions but not something that would make this a must have over the other new tanks on the market.

Some feedback from Ares's users

https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/threads/ares-new-mtl-rta-designed-by-phil-busardo-and-dimitirs-agrafiotis.836107/page-33

Yep fully agree with you, Phil really should have addressed the diffuser issue instead of bringing up other stuff as some sort of deflection?

I read that forum too, it's funny some people dismissing Vic's review because they don't like him but also interesting other people reporting no issues and really enjoying the Ares. Makes me want to try it myself as soon as possible

youdipstick

There's so many vapors out there with different ideas of MTL,I use to love my rollies & also cigars when on a drinking binge & those two had different draws.

Today,I prefer a loose MTL draw,my favourite tank is the Tron S with the airflow wide open but it doesn't have a build deck which I prefer,I couldn't vape on those Kayfuns at all,wasn't satisfying enough for me,maybe it just becomes a habit...

After the New Year,I'll order all those new MTL tanks from FT & give them a go,should be a lot cheaper by then as well.

Thecageyone

I wish Vaping 'celebs' would just stop making tanks ... Stick to blathering on about volts for 2 hrs a time Phil

jonski

Thecageyone wrote: »

I wish Vaping 'celebs' would just stop making tanks ... Stick to blathering on about volts for 2 hrs a time Phil

Meh .... if that was the case then I would have my two Serpent SMM's .

IRISH OS1R1S

Whelp, just cancelled my order. This tank is getting slated over on fasttech forums now that some users have received it. I bought another berzerker and instead of the Ares I decided to buy 2 Doggy tanks.

Shame as I was really hoping the Ares was going to be epic. Glad to have dodged the bullet though.

youcancallmeal

IRISH OS1R1S wrote: »

Whelp, just cancelled my order. This tank is getting slated over on fasttech forums now that some users have received it. I bought another berzerker and instead of the Ares I decided to buy 2 Doggy tanks.

Shame as I was really hoping the Ares was going to be epic. Glad to have dodged the bullet though.

Yeah tempted to cancel now as well. Might just wait for inevitable clones which may actually improve on the design. Is this the doggy tank you're referring to? I've read good things about them.

IRISH OS1R1S

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Yeah tempted to cancel now as well. Might just wait for inevitable clones which may actually improve on the design. Is this the doggy tank you're referring to? I've read good things about them.

Yeah that's it mate. Supposed to be very good. Cheap too.

jonski

IRISH OS1R1S wrote: »

Whelp, just cancelled my order. This tank is getting slated over on fasttech forums now that some users have received it. I bought another berzerker and instead of the Ares I decided to buy 2 Doggy tanks.

Shame as I was really hoping the Ares was going to be epic. Glad to have dodged the bullet though.

I see they have it listed on FT now so I went back over to the forums to have a look and see what was being said ......it's hardly being slated . Still I'll wait until someone a little closer to home has it in stock , if I order from China now I probably won't get it until St.Patricks Day

IRISH OS1R1S

I don't think "slated" was exccesive given the high expectations for this tank. The issues claimed by most, is the flavour is muted and airflow is too loose, the two most important things for a MTL tank and especially as this tank was supposed to be great for. Nearly everyone who has received it over there said they were left disappointed, except for, I think, one guy. It is the same negativity over on the e-cigarette forums in the Ares thread, muted flavour, too airy and in general just a letdown. Folks are even taking off the showerhead airflow diffuser to try improve it, I mean c'mon.

Don't get me wrong, I really wanted this tank to be the one. I had it pre-ordered and it ticked all my boxes, but there is plenty of info out there from owners of the tank that have put me off. In saying all that, we are all different and there will be and are people who seem to like it, but as of now I'm gonna sit this one out. I imagine it could be fixed very easily with a different air insert as the one on it can be removed by srewing it off, so bringing out a tighter insert may fix the issues, but until then I'll wait and see.

................and yeah, I'm waiting on packages too, not looking like I'm getting them for xmas.

jonski

IRISH OS1R1S wrote: »

I don't think "slated" was exccesive given the high expectations for this tank. The issues claimed by most, is the flavour is muted and airflow is too loose, the two most important things for a MTL tank and especially as this tank was supposed to be great for. Nearly everyone who has received it over there said they were left disappointed, except for, I think, one guy. It is the same negativity over on the e-cigarette forums in the Ares thread, muted flavour, too airy and in general just a letdown. Folks are even taking off the showerhead airflow diffuser to try improve it, I mean c'mon.

See again you are saying 'most' and I go over there and find 'some' ...but not 'most' . I read through the e-cigarette forums and the same thing , some not impressed , some disappointed with the flavour , most criticizing Vic's review .

IRISH OS1R1S

jonski wrote: »

See again you are saying 'most' and I go over there and find 'some' ...but not 'most' . I read through the e-cigarette forums and the same thing , some not impressed , some disappointed with the flavour , most criticizing Vic's review .

But that's the thing. Only a few people on those threads actually own it and of them, most are indeed stating dissatisfaction. Either way we look at it, it's not encouraging.

These are just my opinions on what I have read though. If others like it I'm very pleased for them. I'm going to wait and see if Innokin release some inserts for it. I like a tight mtl draw and it is not in doubt that this has a loose draw as stated in even the positive reviews.

Anywho, if you or anyone here ends up getting it I would love to hear your thought on it. I do still have my eye on it as a potential purchase once I hear more customer reviews.

Venom

Heathen's review pretty much backs up nearly everything Vaping with Vic said about this tank tho in a much nicer way. Muted flavor, to airy and Siren 2 styled deck. Billy really looked uncomfortable in this review and seemed to go out of his way saying how nice Phil and Demetri were!

Mike Vape's is another who thinks its to airy and even direct lung hit with it at 40w. This is something that shouldn't be possible with a MTL tank.

Dean the Vaping Biker pretty much stated he wanted nothing to do with this tank and wouldn't review it which is kinda telling imho.

IRISH OS1R1S

Venom wrote: »

Heathen's review pretty much backs up nearly everything Vaping with Vic said about this tank tho in a much nicer way. Muted flavor, to airy and Siren 2 styled deck. Billy really looked uncomfortable in this review and seemed to go out of his way saying how nice Phil and Demetri were!

Mike Vape's is another who thinks its to airy and even direct lung hit with it at 40w. This is something that shouldn't be possible with a MTL tank.

Dean the Vaping Biker pretty much stated he wanted nothing to do with this tank and wouldn't review it which is kinda telling imho.

It's bad enough the tank appears to be a letdown, but what's worse is some of these reviewers like, Djvapes etc, have lost my trust as they were saying it is one of the best tanks ever for mtl. I think some of these guys are too friendly with eachother and really I will be more sceptical of them from now on.

Venom

IRISH OS1R1S wrote: »

It's bad enough the tank appears to be a letdown, but what's worse is some of these reviewers like, Djvapes etc, have lost my trust as they were saying it is one of the best tanks ever for mtl. I think some of these guys are too friendly with eachother and really I will be more sceptical of them from now on.

Without having tried the tank myself, I reckon the issue is Phil Busardo designed a tank for himself rather than what the MTL vapers really wanted hence the loose airflow that nearly every reviewer has mentioned.

IRISH OS1R1S

Venom wrote: »

Without having tried the tank myself, I reckon the issue is Phil Busardo designed a tank for himself rather than what the MTL vapers really wanted hence the loose airflow that nearly every reviewer has mentioned.

You could very well be correct, which is a shame as it seems the airflow is the root of the muted flavour issue.

youcancallmeal

IRISH OS1R1S wrote: »

It's bad enough the tank appears to be a letdown, but what's worse is some of these reviewers like, Djvapes etc, have lost my trust as they were saying it is one of the best tanks ever for mtl. I think some of these guys are too friendly with eachother and really I will be more sceptical of them from now on.

Yeah this is it, you can't really be guaranteed impartial reviews as these guys don't want to offend each other. Vaping with Vic has said from January onwards he's not reviewing anymore 'collaboration tanks' which I think is a good idea

Venom

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Yeah this is it, you can't really be guaranteed impartial reviews as these guys don't want to offend each other. Vaping with Vic has said from January onwards he's not reviewing anymore 'collaboration tanks' which I think is a good idea

I get why he's doing so but it sucks for consumers if every reviewer is gushing over a product coz their mate's name is on it. When you consider how many reviewer linked products came out this year and how well they tend to sell, I doubt 2018 will see less of them.

jonski

Venom wrote: »

Heathen's review pretty much backs up nearly everything Vaping with Vic said about this tank tho in a much nicer way. Muted flavor, to airy and Siren 2 styled deck. Billy really looked uncomfortable in this review and seemed to go out of his way saying how nice Phil and Demetri were!

Thats a much better review that talks about the negatives and doesn't come across as a complete hatchet job like Vic's does . He does say plenty of positive things about it as well . When you consider the air flow I thin the smallest hole is 1.0 whereas the others go as low as .7 and .6 I think so there will be no getting away from the "true" mtl but I think almost all reviewers have said this . Also no getting away from his flavour comment but he does still say it's good ....just not as good as the other two .


as an aside , Billy has to have some kind of Irish backround ....his accent and the way he says some words and also he is a fireman ....stereotypical american Irish ( fireman or cop )

Will have a look at Mike Vapes one later .

youcancallmeal

Glad I cancelled my pre-order now...
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1759499890788182&id=266554740082712

At least they are addressing it though, good customer service

IRISH OS1R1S

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Glad I cancelled my pre-order now...
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1759499890788182&id=266554740082712

At least they are addressing it though, good customer service

Despite me cancelling this tank, I still am interested in it and still have it on my fasttech wish list. Do we know what they are addressing/fixing?

I noticed the tank went from "ships in 5 days", back to "pre-order".

Hmmm.

jonski

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Glad I cancelled my pre-order now...
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1759499890788182&id=266554740082712

At least they are addressing it though, good customer service

Adressing it ...yeah , but imagine if any of us poor saps had managed to order it from China , I wouldn't have liked to be trying to post it back .

IRISH OS1R1S wrote: »

Despite me cancelling this tank, I still am interested in it and still have it on my fasttech wish list. Do we know what they are addressing/fixing?

I noticed the tank went from "ships in 5 days", back to "pre-order".

Hmmm.

Something to do with leaks out through the air holes

the bell had issues on some causing leaking on top cap and loose air draw, the issues have been fixed and we are just trying to take care of those that are not having a pleasant experience

I read this just after I placed an order with vapourizarte in portugal, so I'm hoping mine isn't one of the ones affected .

youcancallmeal

So has anyone got this yet? Would be interested to hear people's experiences. Seems quite mixed from reading other forums and lots of issues with the first batch. I may yet get it in a few months when they have everything sorted

jonski

I only received mine from a shop in Portugal yesterday so it's too soon to say how good or bad it is . I'm assuming it is part of the second batch as he had run out of stock and I had to wait for it to come back in to order . I have as yet noticed no issues with it but it has only had about two tanks of liquid through it ( I had forgotten how long juice lasts in MTL, it is also the 4.5ml version , not the tpd 2ml so I guess Portugal decided not to implement that part) .

Very early impressions are ( with spaced .5 6 wrap SS316L in temp mode ) flavour is very good , I can comfortable MTL with the smallest hole or the two smallest holes and that would be my preferred type of MTL , I think I would compare it to the largest hole on the Nautilus mini , whish I still had one to actually check . I can also do a very restricted DL with all the holes open and I like this too, although I would like it just a bit looser for that . A doddle to build on and wick , perfect for the first timer building .

Thats really all I can say for now.

youcancallmeal

jonski wrote: »

I only received mine from a shop in Portugal yesterday so it's too soon to say how good or bad it is . I'm assuming it is part of the second batch as he had run out of stock and I had to wait for it to come back in to order . I have as yet noticed no issues with it but it has only had about two tanks of liquid through it ( I had forgotten how long juice lasts in MTL, it is also the 4.5ml version , not the tpd 2ml so I guess Portugal decided not to implement that part) .

Very early impressions are ( with spaced .5 6 wrap SS316L in temp mode ) flavour is very good , I can comfortable MTL with the smallest hole or the two smallest holes and that would be my preferred type of MTL , I think I would compare it to the largest hole on the Nautilus mini , whish I still had one to actually check . I can also do a very restricted DL with all the holes open and I like this too, although I would like it just a bit looser for that . A doddle to build on and wick , perfect for the first timer building .

Thats really all I can say for now.

Sounds promising. What temp do you have your mod set at out of interest and what level of nic is your juice?

jonski

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Sounds promising. What temp do you have your mod set at out of interest and what level of nic is your juice?

Well now , there the thing ....... I have it either set to 400 or 420 for pretty much everything BUT.....I don't particularly like a warm vape so with the Ares I have it dialed back to 360 to 380 . I can take it up to 420 but it's just too warm for me, nice flavour up there though . Nic level is 3mg cause that's all I have so throat hit it's massive , 70 vg though and keeps up with chain vaping .

Thecageyone

Is this the one Busardo had a little sisy fit on Vaping with Vic's channel over? Came stomping into the comments on Vic's channel like a playground bully trying to tell him off, lol .... as far as I recall Vic told him to get f**ked, even after a half hearted apology.

As for DJLsb, Mike Vapes, Jai Haze, Fagan and The vaping Postie were lacing into him for being a little snake only a couple of weeks back, meanwhile Fat Todd and the [begging] Vaping Biker have been doing the usual s*8t talk about Vic with their cronies on the IOS [a show I watched maybe twice in the past before I figured they were irritating gee bags]

What is up with all the drama llamas in vaping? I think these guys forget they are only reviewers not superstars. Poor mouthing Patreon accounts, back handers, lick-arse 'reviews' of their mate's new RT/D/A etc ... sick to the teeth of most of them. Why do they all need to have a tank or dripper out? not like there isn't a billion variations already out - it's for money, nothing more.

Kinda miss the days when Scott Bonner was the only reviewer i watched

jonski

Just a follow up , I posted this on a facebook group the other day and meant to throw it up here on the off chance it might help someone make up their mind .

I got mine last Monday week and have been vaping it all week . Great build quality, ( outside of the QC issue which at least they addressed ) It's simple to build on and easy to wick, flavour seems really good too . All my vaping is done with SS316L and temp control and this seems to work fine with that, but because of the small bell chamber it is a warm vape and I'm not really a fan of that . The draw is tight enough for me for MTL but I came into vaping around the time of the Nautilus mini and I liked that at it's most open setting . Here's the thing though ..... I thought I would like to have a MTL tank but now that I have it I find I'm constantly trying to DL it and it's too tight for that . So I unscrewed the defuser to open up the hole under the coil and now it's a nice restricted DL with the ability to close it off and MTL it . Still warm though . Also agree on the quietness of it and so does the rest of the family

youcancallmeal

So after hype is anyone who got this happy with it? Thinking I might pick it up after my 24mm Siren 2 just stopped working

jonski

youcancallmeal wrote: »

So after hype is anyone who got this happy with it? Thinking I might pick it up after my 24mm Siren 2 just stopped working

My thoughts on it are still pretty much the same as I said in the post just before your one , still use it everyday, as one of my 4 tanks, with the defuser taken out as a restricted DL tank .

youcancallmeal

Well mine arrived yesterday, still working through the first tank but pleasantly surprised considering the negativity surrounding this at release time. I would say it is no better or worse than the siren 2 flavour wise. Great build quality and smooth quiet vape too.

MHP

I'm wondering would I be able to manage one of these. I had one of the original Kayfuns but found it far too fiddly to fit coils. Eyesight isn't great (had a cataract op in one eye, the other is very myopic). Hands could be steadier too.

youcancallmeal

It's definitely one of the more easy to build on tanks. Just buy some premade coils and all have to do is screw the legs in, snip the extra and then wick. Maybe not as easy as it sounds though?

MHP

Well I reckon I'm in the sixth of the seven ages of man. Nothing is easy any more.
Might give it a go though.