Hi! I don't believe I've mentioned this before, but I don't have many vices. My biggest and most detrimental vice, however, is smoking. It's a nasty habit and I hate it. There aren't many things or days that I regret, but the day I picked up this habit is near the top of the list. But I digress. I've been trying to wean myself off, and I've been hearing that a good transitional method is to try vaping. I'm new to vaping, so there's an entire world I don't know about. I've talked to a few vapers, however, and all of them are former smokers who credit vaping with helping them stop smoking cigarettes altogether. Of course, there's still nicotine in vape pens but not quite as much as in cigarettes, and it still satisfies the visual and physical urge to smoke by having a similar shape. Smoking is partially an anxiety crutch for me, as I smoked a lot more during my relapse and the habit of smoking more when I'm going through an anxious period has stuck with me. I was hopeful that vaping would help, so I checked out a local vape shop. The owner recommended the Joyetech eGo AIO model to me, as he said it would be a good pen for beginners. I'll walk you through my experience in case you too are considering vaping.
Quick Deets:
What is it? Joyetech eGo AIO vape pen
How much does it cost? I paid $40 for that and a bottle of juice as part of a bundle but every site online that I came across has it listed between $15 and $25
Where are these sold? Your local vape shop, but if you'd rather buy it online, there are quite a few shops who sell it
Setup + Usage:
So once you open the little container inside the box, you'll get two little filters and a USB charger cord. If you have a Nexus or virtually any Droid phone, this port is the same size so it's not difficult to find a way to charge it. The seller poured my juice into the tank when I bought it but otherwise the window is clear. The light-up function is inside that little window. Each time you click the button, the color of the light will change, indicating whether you are turning the e-cig on or off. I believe that it also has a light for when the cig is dying and needs to be charged, or when it has charged completely. So when you're ready to use the pen you just put on whichever filter you want, press it down into the slot and you're ready to go.
What I liked:
--Small, lightweight and easy to carry around
--Doesn't require a specific brand or kind of liquid
--Doesn't use a lot of liquid quickly
--Easy to turn on and off
--Childproof juice tank that is easy to refill
--Childproof juice tank that is easy to refill
--Easy setup and usage; ideal for beginners
Okay, so a little more detail on the pros. The pen, as you can see in the photos above, is small and lightweight. It's not heavy and the size makes it ideal for clutches, small purses and pockets in larger bags. I personally would keep it in a bag specifically for the pen, but it would still be good for smaller bags. I wouldn't let it roll around loosely in a large purse, though.
I appreciate that the pen doesn't require a specific type of liquid, which I was concerned about because I wanted to try other companies' vape liquids but didn't know if it would be compatible with the pen. I think it was just a case of beginners' misinformation but I'd read that certain pens and vapes require a certain brand/strain of liquid and since I know next to nothing (and I mean next as in right next to nothing) about vapes and e-cigs, I wasn't sure if that was the case with mine. That isn't the case with the eGo, so you can try a variety of juices with it.
For someone trying to switch over from traditional cigarettes to electronic ones like myself, you have to figure out how much you prefer to smoke. Some people smoke the equivalent of their regular nicotine intake, and others smoke less. A lot of that depends on the strength of the nicotine in your juice and I'm going to get into why that's important in a minute, but if you smoke less, your juice lasts a lot longer. The pen doesn't suck up tons of juice with every puff, which I liked a lot.
Everything about it is simple to understand, which brings me into my largest thumbs-up for this product, which is its easy usage. The button on the pen triggers a light in the pen, so you'll know whether you're turning it on or off. The juice tank is childproof and the caps don't come off of the pen easily, both of which I appreciate because I tend to be a little hard on my stuff. It doesn't require a bunch of complicated fiddling (except for when you're changing the coils, something else I'm about to get to), overall is easy to charge, use and refill, so for beginners this would be a good pen to try. If only the cons weren't the deterrent that they are.....
What I didn't like:
--Faulty coils
--No way to alter the nicotine levels
--No cap to keep liquid from seeping out if pen is laying flat
--No real support or warranties about how to fix these issues
These coils. These coils are faulty as shit and are the primary reason why, as of this posting, I am already no longer using this product after buying it just last month. I got maybe three or four total days of usage out of it and it's been sitting in its box ever since. When I first bought it, the coils burned out after two days. I thought I'd broken it, so I took it back to the shop I got it from and that's when I found out that my coils had shorted. I hadn't been told anything about them beforehand so I wasn't aware that I needed to look out for that. So the owner of the shop fixes the coils and I take the pen home, only for it to go back out two days later. If you Google this pen, one of the auto-fill entries is "joyetech ego coils" and trust me, it's already registered with Google search for a reason. I found out that a ton of users had an issue with this product because of the coils and the lack of support from Joyetech with fixing them. I wish I'd done a bit more research instead of trusting the word of the person who sold it to me.
Another thing I learned the hard way was that there is no way to alter the strength of the nicotine. When I was in the vape store buying this pen, one of the deciding factors for me was that the person who sold it said that if my initial batch of juice was too strong for me, I could come in and have the pen adjusted. Because I took his word for it, I went on and bought the pen. The juice ended up being too strong, so when I went to get the pen fixed he let me know that actually, this model doesn't allow for adjustments. Here's an article from Mt. Baker Vapor about lowering your nicotine, and another on adjusting it gradually and safely.
Even though the pen has a childproof tank to keep the liquid from falling out (and it works, for the most part), sometimes leaving the pen on its side can cause some liquid to seep out. I noticed this the most after the coils burnt out. Once the coils burn, the minute you press the button to turn it on liquid comes up through the filter, and if you try to take a drag off of it, the hot liquid bubbles and pops out through the filter. I burned my mouth a couple of times when the coil first burnt out.
Finally, the primary reason why there have been so many searches for this particular product on Google is because there's not much support for it. The company has not addressed it having bad coils on its website and the forums I checked out either mentioned a lack of communication from the company or no communication with/from them at all. As for me, I knew nothing about this pen or how it worked when I bought it except for the basics on how to use it. The first time the coils burnt out, the guy I bought the pen from said he'd fix it for me. He said the issue should be corrected since the coils don't often go out (lies) so I wouldn't have to bring it back in, but if it happened again he'd have to charge me.
Now that I know this is a product defect and the seller was, at very least, uneducated about his products, I wish there'd been more in place to help people replace the coils since the issue isn't due to the customer. But because the sellers either aren't aware or don't care that this is a product defect, customers like myself are basically stuck with two options: keep paying to repair something we didn't break, or call it a loss and pick a better e-cig next time around.
Overall:
Overall, even though the number of pros outweigh the cons for this pen, its the cons that would prevent me from being able to recommend this pen to anyone else or use it again. I was not happy with the Joyetech eGo pen and I wish I'd known more about what to research beforehand so that I didn't fall victim to the classic upsell bullshit by a seller who either doesn't know his products or cares more about making money. I would also suggest checking out pens that are specific for beginners because then you can figure out what you'd like and go into the vape store already knowing what you want. Check out this article from Vaporizer Views; it has a lot of educational advice for beginners.
I've learned the hard way that being a beginner may cause some to come out of the woodwork with helpful tips and product recommendations, but it can also put a target on your back for those who want to sell you some bullshit. Because you don't know you're being sold some bullshit, you'll end up believing whatever they say, which will (if your case is like mine) be that the defects are somehow your fault and therefore your financial responsibility. If there was more support on Joyetech's end to resolve this issue or help users to salvage their money somehow, then I probably wouldn't feel as negatively. But from the forums I saw, there's been next to radio silence from them on the issues users are having. For a beginner, in theory, this is a great pen. But there seems to be a large amount of defective units being sent out and this can deter newbies from vaping entirely.
If you'd like to read a bunch of user reviews, both good and bad, check out the reviews at My Vapor Store. I've reorganized this from low to high ratings so you can get an idea of both the pros and cons of dealing with this pen. If this model is improved the next time around, I wouldn't mind trying the pen again. But this defective unit I have now is the pits and a complete waste of money.
Another thing I learned the hard way was that there is no way to alter the strength of the nicotine. When I was in the vape store buying this pen, one of the deciding factors for me was that the person who sold it said that if my initial batch of juice was too strong for me, I could come in and have the pen adjusted. Because I took his word for it, I went on and bought the pen. The juice ended up being too strong, so when I went to get the pen fixed he let me know that actually, this model doesn't allow for adjustments. Here's an article from Mt. Baker Vapor about lowering your nicotine, and another on adjusting it gradually and safely.
Even though the pen has a childproof tank to keep the liquid from falling out (and it works, for the most part), sometimes leaving the pen on its side can cause some liquid to seep out. I noticed this the most after the coils burnt out. Once the coils burn, the minute you press the button to turn it on liquid comes up through the filter, and if you try to take a drag off of it, the hot liquid bubbles and pops out through the filter. I burned my mouth a couple of times when the coil first burnt out.
Finally, the primary reason why there have been so many searches for this particular product on Google is because there's not much support for it. The company has not addressed it having bad coils on its website and the forums I checked out either mentioned a lack of communication from the company or no communication with/from them at all. As for me, I knew nothing about this pen or how it worked when I bought it except for the basics on how to use it. The first time the coils burnt out, the guy I bought the pen from said he'd fix it for me. He said the issue should be corrected since the coils don't often go out (lies) so I wouldn't have to bring it back in, but if it happened again he'd have to charge me.
Now that I know this is a product defect and the seller was, at very least, uneducated about his products, I wish there'd been more in place to help people replace the coils since the issue isn't due to the customer. But because the sellers either aren't aware or don't care that this is a product defect, customers like myself are basically stuck with two options: keep paying to repair something we didn't break, or call it a loss and pick a better e-cig next time around.
Overall, even though the number of pros outweigh the cons for this pen, its the cons that would prevent me from being able to recommend this pen to anyone else or use it again. I was not happy with the Joyetech eGo pen and I wish I'd known more about what to research beforehand so that I didn't fall victim to the classic upsell bullshit by a seller who either doesn't know his products or cares more about making money. I would also suggest checking out pens that are specific for beginners because then you can figure out what you'd like and go into the vape store already knowing what you want. Check out this article from Vaporizer Views; it has a lot of educational advice for beginners.
I've learned the hard way that being a beginner may cause some to come out of the woodwork with helpful tips and product recommendations, but it can also put a target on your back for those who want to sell you some bullshit. Because you don't know you're being sold some bullshit, you'll end up believing whatever they say, which will (if your case is like mine) be that the defects are somehow your fault and therefore your financial responsibility. If there was more support on Joyetech's end to resolve this issue or help users to salvage their money somehow, then I probably wouldn't feel as negatively. But from the forums I saw, there's been next to radio silence from them on the issues users are having. For a beginner, in theory, this is a great pen. But there seems to be a large amount of defective units being sent out and this can deter newbies from vaping entirely.
If you'd like to read a bunch of user reviews, both good and bad, check out the reviews at My Vapor Store. I've reorganized this from low to high ratings so you can get an idea of both the pros and cons of dealing with this pen. If this model is improved the next time around, I wouldn't mind trying the pen again. But this defective unit I have now is the pits and a complete waste of money.
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