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MTL Innokin Ares-2 LE, my odd mutterings!

andipandi

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May 29, 2015
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Received with many, many thanks, not one but two, Ares-2 LE MTL rta's from the @Innokin giveaway :D

The Ares-2 rta is a get-together between Phil Busardo, the Vaping Greek (Dimitris Agrafiotis) and Innokin, the LE is a cosmetic upgrade on the earlier version. looking at pictures and videos of the MK1 I think it is quite ugly, the LE is a pretty thing indeed. This is the D22, a 22mm rta, I believe there is also a D24, 24mm rta, I'm pleased to receive the 22 over the 24mm.


d22.jpg


Lots in the box: awesome coiling tools, spare glass, orings, fill port gasket, premade coils, wire, cotton, lots of literature, none of which I have read yet, but no less, very useful!

package.jpg



Immediately set about building the Flint coloured one, I went with a 2.5mm ID coilology mtl NI80 round clapton wire, 5 wraps, came out at 0.90ohm. Japanese puff cotton for the wick. This took about 10 minutes to do, I'll admit I rushed it a bit, I wanted to do my brief review today, as it's my wife' s and I 23rd wedding anniversary week :doh::D 23 years tomorrow - wtf.

d22-2.jpg


Primed, filled and ready to vape:

d22-1.jpg



I'm new, or rather newly returned to mtl, and tbh it's been a struggle to get used to mtl and even a restricted draw. I have only modern day mtl rta experience with the Ambition Mods Gate rta (thank you @MTLMike) and the Cthulhu Artemis MTL mtl rta. I'm just going to mostly pro and con it, but really it too early to say too much, and I'm tempted to keep comparing it to the Gate and Artemis, but as I say, it's too soon.

Pros:
A definitive mtl experience.
Super build quality.
Extremely attractive.
Simple to wick.
Plenty in the box, the coiling tools are an excellent add in.
The adjustable undercoil airflow arrangement, although I've left it "wide open", it's great and really important to have the option to fine tune, no sloppy inserts with wrong sized orings or whatever, I'm looking at you: Mr. Blitz Ivo.
No leaks in use, I've vaped 70/30 and 50/50 so far, all good.
The drip tip (in use), no issues, I'm fussy about such things, many a good atty has had me looking for a better drip tip to go with it, no need here.
Wicks extremely well, I chain vaped to the point of lightheadness and coughing, had a look at the cotton and it was still super wet, it never turned white, a good sign indeed.

Cons
I don't like the child proof drip tip set up, it annoys me when filling the tank, but I can live with it, having had 5 children I know what tricks they can get up to.

The fill port with the gasket could have been better designed? It's messy, there's nowhere for the air to go when filling, sometimes even with a 10ml standard bottle and tip. Dripping is messy, I expect that, but I don't expect or want the sort of mess I'm getting filling the Ares-2. It's the biggest con I have with this tank.

Due to the design of the deck and the way the post screws are set, when tightening down the wire it can be forced up and away, damaging the wire and especially when using softer wire like NI80, it means I have to start again, mtl claptons and the like need to be set first time, the nature of the 40g wrap on the wire doesn't allow for constant fiddling and farting about - in my opinion. I know I could simply use kanthal round wire but I started as I mean to go on, I use the coilology mtl range in all my mtl stuff, including pod rba's.
..............................

It is a classy tank, I'm undecided on the flavour, I was expecting it to rival and yes, I'm going to mention the Artemis, I think the Artemis has flavour in spades, the Ares is not there yet, hopefully it will be. I'll try other builds, but I'm in no rush, this thing is good.

A word about receiving two tanks, I'm giving the other one to a friend who has had terrible ill health these last few years
sick.gif
He's just got into rta's, well, he has one mtl rta, some really old thing, gonna get him a bit more modern, he's going to love it!

Thank you for reading my rubbish
rofl.gif
 
Received with many, many thanks, not one but two, Ares-2 LE MTL rta's from the @Innokin giveaway :D

The Ares-2 rta is a get-together between Phil Busardo, the Vaping Greek (Dimitris Agrafiotis) and Innokin, the LE is a cosmetic upgrade on the earlier version. looking at pictures and videos of the MK1 I think it is quite ugly, the LE is a pretty thing indeed. This is the D22, a 22mm rta, I believe there is also a D24, 24mm rta, I'm pleased to receive the 22 over the 24mm.


View attachment 230329


Lots in the box: awesome coiling tools, spare glass, orings, fill port gasket, premade coils, wire, cotton, lots of literature, none of which I have read yet, but no less, very useful!

View attachment 230330


Immediately set about building the Flint coloured one, I went with a 2.5mm ID coilology mtl NI80 round clapton wire, 5 wraps, came out at 0.90ohm. Japanese puff cotton for the wick. This took about 10 minutes to do, I'll admit I rushed it a bit, I wanted to do my brief review today, as it's my wife' s and I 23rd wedding anniversary week :doh::D 23 years tomorrow - wtf.

View attachment 230331

Primed, filled and ready to vape:

View attachment 230332


I'm new, or rather newly returned to mtl, and tbh it's been a struggle to get used to mtl and even a restricted draw. I have only modern day mtl rta experience with the Ambition Mods Gate rta (thank you @MTLMike) and the Cthulhu Artemis MTL mtl rta. I'm just going to mostly pro and con it, but really it too early to say too much, and I'm tempted to keep comparing it to the Gate and Artemis, but as I say, it's too soon.

Pros:
A definitive mtl experience.
Super build quality.
Extremely attractive.
Simple to wick.
Plenty in the box, the coiling tools are an excellent add in.
The adjustable undercoil airflow arrangement, although I've left it "wide open", it's great and really important to have the option to fine tune, no sloppy inserts with wrong sized orings or whatever, I'm looking at you: Mr. Blitz Ivo.
No leaks in use, I've vaped 70/30 and 50/50 so far, all good.
The drip tip (in use), no issues, I'm fussy about such things, many a good atty has had me looking for a better drip tip to go with it, no need here.
Wicks extremely well, I chain vaped to the point of lightheadness and coughing, had a look at the cotton and it was still super wet, it never turned white, a good sign indeed.

Cons
I don't like the child proof drip tip set up, it annoys me when filling the tank, but I can live with it, having had 5 children I know what tricks they can get up to.

The fill port with the gasket could have been better designed? It's messy, there's nowhere for the air to go when filling, sometimes even with a 10ml standard bottle and tip. Dripping is messy, I expect that, but I don't expect or want the sort of mess I'm getting filling the Ares-2. It's the biggest con I have with this tank.

Due to the design of the deck and the way the post screws are set, when tightening down the wire it can be forced up and away, damaging the wire and especially when using softer wire like NI80, it means I have to start again, mtl claptons and the like need to be set first time, the nature of the 40g wrap on the wire doesn't allow for constant fiddling and farting about - in my opinion. I know I could simply use kanthal round wire but I started as I mean to go on, I use the coilology mtl range in all my mtl stuff, including pod rba's.
..............................

It is a classy tank, I'm undecided on the flavour, I was expecting it to rival and yes, I'm going to mention the Artemis, I think the Artemis has flavour in spades, the Ares is not there yet, hopefully it will be. I'll try other builds, but I'm in no rush, this thing is good.

A word about receiving two tanks, I'm giving the other one to a friend who has had terrible ill health these last few years View attachment 230339 He's just got into rta's, well, he has one mtl rta, some really old thing, gonna get him a bit more modern, he's going to love it!

Thank you for reading my rubbish View attachment 230338

Thanks for your thoughts on it. I find it gives better flavour with the under coil adjusted to a very restricted draw. But I guess it's down to how you want to vape it and there's no right or wrong answer there.
 
Thanks for your thoughts on it. I find it gives better flavour with the under coil adjusted to a very restricted draw. But I guess it's down to how you want to vape it and there's no right or wrong answer there.
I concur with Rew, I vaped this all afternoon with the airflow wide open underneath the coil and wasn't really impressed with the flavour but then before I made my dinner, I closed it all the way down and the flavour is definitely more punchy now, although it is a lot tighter of a draw than i'm used to. I think the wide slit may just a tad too much air for my typical build, closing it down just sends that air straight into the bottom of my coil instead of letting the air escape around the outside of it.
 
@rew and @MTLMike ,just closed it down by at least half, bit of a tight draw, wot! What wattage do you vape at on a tight draw, I'm 10watts on a 0.9ohm build.



Happy anniversary to you and the Mrs @andi52, congratulations on 23 years!

Thank you, it's wonderful and worrying at the same time :D 23 years, in the blink of an eye :hmm:
 
@rew and @MTLMike ,just closed it down by at least half, bit of a tight draw, wot! What wattage do you vape at on a tight draw, I'm 10watts on a 0.9ohm build.





Thank you, it's wonderful and worrying at the same time :D 23 years, in the blink of an eye :hmm:

Am usually around 13 or 14 watts. Just try upping your watts gradually. I think you need to go a bit higher to get the flavour to pop.
 
BTW @andi52 I am on the tightest under coil setting at these watts. If you want to use full airflow you need to treat it as a restricted DL vape I guess.
 
Good review mate. I found just closing the under coil airflow slightly helped with flavour. Obviously didn't get as much flavour as the guys above but even a slight adjustment helped with mtl. I like a loose draw myself as I dtl too on my mtl vapes.

Congratulations on 23 years.
 
BTW @andi52 I am on the tightest under coil setting at these watts. If you want to use full airflow you need to treat it as a restricted DL vape I guess.

Good review mate. I found just closing the under coil airflow slightly helped with flavour. Obviously didn't get as much flavour as the guys above but even a slight adjustment helped with mtl. I like a loose draw myself as I dtl too on my mtl vapes.

I think part of the issue is I don't mtl properly, I'm basically bonging it, I was so long on drippers and subohm exhaust pipes, dtl is ingrained in my psyche.

Congratulations on 23 years.

Thank you very much :)
 
I think part of the issue is I don't mtl properly, I'm basically bonging it, I was so long on drippers and subohm exhaust pipes, dtl is ingrained in my psyche.



Thank you very much :)
I have a very similar build to you mate, MTL Clapton and with the airflow closed all the way underneath, i'm vaping at 13w. It did take me a while to get used to MTL when I first started because of using DL tanks for so long but you'll get used to it eventually, it just takes time.
 
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