Steve K's Vaping World

The Innokin iClear30 clearomizer tank is the latest in a long line of progressively improving cartomizers. The company seems to release a new clearomizer alongside their new iTaste e-cigarette products. The original iTaste brought the Tidy10 while the MVP debuted with the iClear16. The upcoming Innokin SVD kits will include the latest incarnation of Innokin’s clearomizer, the iClear30. I was less than impressed with the Tidy and iClear16. Here’s the iClear30 review to find out if the third time is the charm.

Details

iClear30 Design

The iClear30 is not much unlike other tank cartomizers now on the market. It is slightly taller than the ever-popular Vivi Nova, about the same height as an Artemas tank. A lot of that height is attributable to the tall, grooved end caps. The end caps are constructed from stainless steel and feature gaskets to keep the liquid where you put it.

You’ll notice the very familiar graduation markings on the clear tank tube. The marks go up to 3.0ml which is noted as max.  I’ve overfilled it a few times and didn’t have much problem, so chances are you can get at least another ml of liquid in there “unofficially.”

Inside the tube is a familiar, yet different sight to fans of the Nova style tanks. Protruding from the head (which is replaceable) are 8 wicks. This is a dual coil clearomizer tank and each coil has a set of 4 wicks. The wicks for each coil are offset by 90 degrees to keep them from bumping into each other.

The slots in the coil tube are covered by a silicone cap. The cap features a notch that slides over the top set of wicks, allowing the cap to set flush with the top of the lower wicks. Peeking inside the center tube, the dual coil setup is very basic.

There’s no oddball ceramic cups or anything of the sort. There are just two coils, again, each offset by 90 degrees inside, suspended by the coil wires. The lack of extra parts means the airflow just has a straight shot across both the coils to the mouthpiece.

Speaking of the mouthpiece, there are two things to know about it. The first is that it’s a really cool design. The second is this tip is proprietary.

First, the design. It’s a swivel top! The bottom of the tip kind of looks like a ball, inside that ball fits a second piece, also with a ball base and a more traditional style drip tip in chrome. The result is the drip tip can swivel to the user’s preferred position, similar to Knucklehead drip tips.

As I mentioned, don’t get ideas about using this very cool tip in your other tanks. This is a screw-on style connector that screws into the top end cap and has a smaller tube underneath that meets up with the top gasket on the center tube.

The design is a lot like the Vision CE4 clearomizers. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly like those so you can’t swap those out either.

Using the iClear30

Good looks are one thing, but looks don’t mean much if they are unreliable or poor performers.

I’ll get right to the point. The iClear30 is hands-down the best clearomizer Innokin as put out to date. Allow me to elaborate.

First, the general use category. Easy filling is kind of a no-brainer with this type of clearomizer.  Just unscrew the top and pour the liquid in. For best results, avoid overfilling, though I only had minor gurgling issues when I topped the iClear off.

Under normal circumstances, I really haven’t experienced much gurgling from this clearomizer at all. Similarly, I’ve had no problems with any type of leaking.

About the only issue I have run into is the occasional amount of condensation build up inside the bulbous drip tip which resulted in a little e-liquid in the mouth.  Tapping the open end of the drip tip on a napkin will take care of that problem pretty quickly.

Next up is the performance. I’m firmly in the dual coils need lots of voltage camp. I’ve gotten my paws on a few dual coil clearomizers before including the iTaste 16. None of those were able to wick properly at high voltages.

In many cases, I couldn’t crank the voltage higher than the single coil equivalents. The new iClear has broken that streak. The unit I’ve been working with weighs in at 2.0Ω. I can cruise comfortably north of the 5 volt mark with few problems.

About the only thing I have run into is the wicking action gets a little hit-or-miss when the tank is down to about 1/4 full.  This is typical of most of these types of tanks. You can either turn the tank upside down to help the wicking along. Or, you know, just fill it back up.

Initially I used the iClear at between 5 and 5.5 volt on the SVD with which the clearomizers arrived. But, to make sure it wasn’t simply the SVD underperforming (it’s not, but you’ll have to wait on that review) I also ran it up to 5.3v on my trusty ProVari. I couldn’t go higher because above that setting the ProVari would hit its amp limit and error out.

Numbers are great and all, but if you’re a frequent reader of my musings, you know I’m more concerned with actual performance. The iClear doesn’t disappoint here either.

Vapor is nice and warm as you’d expect for dual top-mounted coils. There’s also plenty of it along with the powerful throat hit you’d expect from dual coils running at high voltage.

Finally, flavor production is very good as well. Clearomizers have always been better at flavor production than traditional filler-based cartomizers. The iClear is certainly no exception in this regard.

That being said, the iClear is a great performer, but for some reason it does lack the sort of raw aggressiveness of traditional dual coil cartomizers. It has more of a mellow profile than something with filler in it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I think it will be a matter of personal preference.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

Innokin has pushed out a new clearomizer with each new iTaste device. They’ve been getting progressively better, but weren’t great until the iClear30 came around. The iClear30 is the first clearomizer I’ve found that can not only handle high voltage, but can produce amazing results. Traditional dual coils seem to have a more aggressive edge to them, but the laid-back tone of the iClear along with the ease of use and reliability should make some new Innokin fans. You can grab one of these (and the iTaste SVD) at VaporAlley.

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Disclosure: I received this product for review from the manufacturer, Innokin. I feature affiliate links for Smart Vapes.