I’m a huge fan of cartomizer tanks on my e-cigarettes. When the Vision Stone was announced, I got a little excited. This CE2 style e-cigarette tank promised to be easy to fill and clean since it unscrewed, had no filler and didn’t require cartomizer mutilation. That’s the theory anyway. Read the rest of the Vision Stone CE2 Tank review to find out if this is the next big thing in the carto tank world.
Vision Stone Design
This is actually my second Stone. I purchased the first revision along with the eGo Vision Stardust cartomizer. I ran into some major leaking and gurgling issues with the first Vision Stone tank. An updated version that featured a thicker tube and improved bottom assembly was released less than two weeks later. I found it slightly unusual an update came out so quickly, but I went ahead and ordered the version 2.
The version 2 features stainless steel end caps, which is a pretty high-end feature for an inexpensive cartomizer tank. The basic design remains the same between the two versions. Inside the tank is the engine from the Vision CE2 style cartomizers.
However, rather than having a hole in the bottom cap for the CE2 assembly to attach, the bottom cap is an integrated part of the entire engine of the Vision Stone. The top of the internal assembly features a large silicone cap with large filling notches and a nipple on the top just like the standard vision cartomizers. The nipple fits through a hole in the top cap of the tank which has a sloping exterior. A drip tip attaches to the top of the cap completing the tank.
The top and bottom end caps screw on the threading in the tube making it a snap to fill and clean. The entire assembly is very attractive, especially with the shiny new stainless steel parts.
Issues with the Vision Stone
As I mentioned earlier, the first generation of this tank did not work very well for me. The device had a nasty habit of leaking from the battery connector and flooding the coils. I’m pretty sure I drank more e-liquid than I vaped with that tank.
The updated version provides only marginal improvement to the situation, and then only with a fair amount of fiddling.
I was disheartened to find that when I filled the new one, nearly immediately about 1/3 of the contents of the tank ended up on the exterior of my ProVari. I cleaned everything up and reseated the gasket on the heating coils to make sure I hadn’t accidentally flooded the device from the top.
I refilled the Vision Stone and again a fair amount of the contents wound up outside the tank.
Determined to get to the bottom of things I started to fiddle with the tanks some more. What I found was if the stem is moved while liquid is in the tank, it will leak from the battery connector. This leads me to believe there’s an issue with the small gasket located in the battery connector.
After asking around on the message boards, I was given the advice of leaving the Vision Stone on the e-cigarette while filling. This should minimize the amount of moving the stem assembly does when screwing the lid back on.
This method was more successful!
I got about two good tankfulls out of the Vision Stone using this method. While that makes it less than elegant, at least I was able to use the device. Unfortunately, after the two successful tanks, the leaks returned.
I think this may be a manufacturing defect and not a bad design. Quite a few people have reported great success with the device. I’m not sure what percentage may be bad, but since I got two bunk tanks from two different production runs, it seems like it may be a little high.
Performance
I don’t want to just bash the poor Vision Stone tank and call it a day. Those two tankfulls I was able to enjoy were downright fantastic!
This CE2 tank produced an absolutely impressive amount of vapor. The resistance measured at about 2.4Ω but I was able to drive it to 4.3v on my Lavatube which produced a nice, warm vapor. Throat hit was perhaps a little low for that amount of vapor.
In short, when this thing works, it works pretty damn well. For me, the issues far outweigh the performance. Perhaps future improvements could catapult this device into the limelight of the cartomizer tank world.
Too Long; Didn’t read
The Vision Stone CE2-style tank (revision 2) is a device with a great deal of potential. However in its current incarnation I spent more time wiping e-liquid off my e-cigarette than I did enjoying the stellar performance this device is capable of. I look forward to further improvements in the near future. If the device can learn how to hold its liquid, the combination of easy filling, low price and fantastic vapor production could make it a winner.
Pros:
- Easy to fill
- Great performance
- Inexpensive
- Easy to clean
- Good looking
- Easy to pour remaining liquid back into bottle
Cons:
- 4 out of 6 fills resulted in substantial leakage and flooding
- Took some adjustment to prevent leaking
Details:
Product Name: Vision Stone II Tank Mod
Available from: GotVapes
Price: 11.95
Threading: 510
Resistance: 2.4Ω
Capacity: 5ml
11 Comments
musiceqlslife21
(02/09/12 - 9:03 am)Great review.
Steve K
(02/09/12 - 12:20 pm)Thanks!
Errol
(02/09/12 - 1:48 pm)I was one of the lucky ones with my V1 stone as there hasn't been even a seeping.of liquid. I was surprised to find that mine vapes best in the 3.3v range on my LT, though I do have to turn it upside down and loosen the cap a little to allow liquid into the coil chamber as I use VG niquid causing it to wick a little too slow.
Errol
Steve K
(02/09/12 - 3:43 pm)Leaking I got, but wicking was no problem. Of course I use a much thinner liquid than you.
Tony
(02/09/12 - 2:51 pm)Wow sounds like a quality control issue. Maybe i should hold off till a third version comes out. I utterly hate leaking.
Steve K
(02/09/12 - 3:42 pm)Unless I'm so unlucky to get 2 bad ones from each run, maybe waiting for version 3 might be a good idea. It sounds like that won't be too far in the future anyway. When the tank isn't leaking, it's fantastic.
@Bogey6v
(02/09/12 - 10:00 pm)Nice Review. Thanks Steve. I have seen that tank around, glad I know the pro's and cons now.
Errol
(02/10/12 - 3:53 pm)>"I have seen that tank around, glad I know the pro's and cons now."
You can get a better idea of how it's going by visiting the Vision Stone thread where they do have some solutions for some of the problems. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/gotvapes/2…
Errol
Steve K
(02/10/12 - 3:57 pm)I followed that thread for a while, it's pretty active :)
RDM
(02/20/12 - 5:22 pm)Hey, I found that with the Stone, it works far better if you don’t fill it all the way up. I usually fill to just about where the rubber gasket starts. Initially when I got the product I hated it because of all the leaking, but after I figured that out it worked far better.
After filling it about 3/4 full, I could gently roll the liquid around to get more of it on the coils and could even vape in a horizontal position without issue. This also solved most of the splashback problems I was having.
In your review, I wasn’t sure if you filled it up or not so I thought I’d throw in my input.
Steve K
(02/20/12 - 9:14 pm)I've tried about everything in the world including not fully filling it :) It seems like some simply work better than others, and I had some bad luck. That does add credibility to the faulty gasket theory of mine though.
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