Steve K's Vaping World

The Vision Vivi Nova is an innovative new e-cigarette tank on the market.  e-Cigarette cartomizer tanks like the Smoktech DCT have been wildly popular in the last few months.  Vision’s new Vivi Nova takes a new approach to the whole e-cigarette tank thing.  Will the Vivi Nova’s innovations offer enough to vapers to knock the popular carto tanks off their perch? Check out the rest of the Vision Vivi Nova review to find out!

Who’s it For

• People who prefer CE2 style clearomizers to fillered or dual coil cartos
• Anyone who wants a more simple method of filling
• Individuals looking for a more modular approach
• Tinkerers who might want to take a shot at rebuilding the atomizers

Vision Vivi Nova Design

Anyone who’s used the Vision Stone CE2 tanks (or read my review) will recognize some striking similarities in the Nova.  For the benefit of those not familiar with the precursor to the Vivi, here’s some basics.

This series of cartomizer tanks takes a modular approach.  The primary pieces are a top cap (with drip tip) the actual tank, which is a thick plastic tube featuring graduated markings for e-liquid and the bottom assembly which has attached to it the heating coil and air tube pieces (the engine).  The top and bottom of the tube are threaded allowing the caps on each end to screw off and on.

So far that’s the same as the original Stone tanks.  Here’s where things get radically different.  The Vivi Nova’s engine is a big update from the Stone’s.

Rather than a heating coil perched atop a thin tube (that was prone to movement and leaking), the Nova features a very thick center post that terminates not in a heating coil, but a 510 threaded female connector.

That connector is designed to receive the special atomizer heads.  These heads are the distinguishing feature of the Vivi nova.  The idea is that you can easily swap out a bad atomizer for a good one quickly.

Or, if you’re indecisive, you can easily swap out heads of different resistance.  The clearomizer comes with three heads each with a different resistance.  A 2.4Ω head comes attached to the base and 1.8 and 2.8 resistance atomizers are also included in the box.

Personally, I would have preferred if it just had 3 of the same resistance atomizers included since I’m not sure how much people really tend to hop around.

Each atomizer head simply screws into the post attached to the bottom cap of the Nova.  The atomizers have four wicks sticking out.  Oddly, one of the four wicks just sits on top of the atomizer rather than running through the heating coils like the other two.

Holding all that in place is a small metal washer and silicone cover.  When the top is screwed on the device it forms a seal with the silicone cap of the atomizer preventing e-liquid from seeping into the assembly.

The seal works well since I’ve often filled the tank beyond the top marked graduation of 2.8ml.  The total capacity of the Vivi is around 3.5ml.

Filling and Leak Testing

I’m going to go a little out of order here for a moment.  I want to talk about leaking.  The Vision Stone tanks I tried before generally performed alright, but they were plagued with leaks.  Some users didn’t get leaks, but I have several and they all leaked and gurgled.

To be fair, I bought a 3rd generation of the Stone, but haven’t used it yet, so maybe that one doesn’t leak.  But, suffice it to say I was a little nervous that the Vivi Nova would have the same problem.

I am quite happy to report I experienced no leaks at all with the Nova.

The thing is tight as a drum, nary a drop has come out of the connector of this thing.  Before I move on to the actual performance, we’ll make one more stop, filling.

The Nova does share one trait with the Stone.  Both are dead simple to fill.  Just unscrew the cap, tilt it a little bit and drip e-liquid directly into the tank from the bottle.  The only thing you have to be mindful of is to avoid dripping any liquid directly into the hole on the top of the atomizer.

If you’re averse to carting syringes around, this might be a good choice for you.

Ok, now we can talk about performance.  In my testing I kind of went to either end of the spectrum with the atomizer heads.  I tested the 2.8Ω and 1.8Ω heads and pretty much ignored the 2.4 version.

I tested each at a variety of voltages using a ProVari and also the eGo-C Twist just for kicks (it looked kinda silly on the twist).

Presumably, through the magic of variable voltage, you would think that by setting the voltage to match the resistance of each atomizer, you’d achieve the same wattage and therefore, the same results.  In practice, that didn’t actually happen.

To put it simply, I found the higher resistance atomizer to be pretty squirrely. It started to get really rough around the edges at around 4.5v.  I didn’t get a burnt taste, but the throat hit became very scratchy at that range.

Yet, the low resistance atomizer performed like a champ at 4.2v.  That’s nearly 10 watt as compared to the 7 and change I could get out of the higher resistance setup.

It makes me think that perhaps the high resistance atomizer head wasn’t quite up to snuff, and your results might vary on that one.  To give the Nova the benefit of the doubt, I’ll focus on the lower resistance option from this point on.

I also noticed that this is the type of device that sort of starts out mediocre but improves as you break it in.  I got optimal results after running half to a full tank through it.

The performance of the low-resistance option is quite good.  Especially at the higher voltage.  I was actually able to crank it up beyond 4.5v, but I found the performance bump was fairly insignificant after 4.2v.

Flavor reproduction was excellent as was throat hit.  There was plentiful vapor as well, more so when I made a slight modification I’ll get to in a minute.  One thing I found interesting, even with the high amount of heat produced by the coils, the vapor never got really hot.

Modifications

About that modification I mentioned.  While I try to review stuff out of the box, this was a pretty simple thing, and I found it sort of odd and worthy of mention.

Vapor production was good out of the box, but it turns out removing that odd unattached wick from the atomizer helps increase vapor production.  Which makes me wonder exactly what that fourth wick was supposed to do in the first place.

The procedure is dead simple.  Just pull the silicone cap off the atomizer, the little metal washer should stay in the cap.  Grab the offending wick and gently pull.  If you grabbed the right one, it will come right out.  Then make sure the washer didn’t get turned around and just stick the cap back on.

There’s an even more interesting modification out there.  To be honest, it’s sort of beyond the scope of this review (and my hand-eye coordination) but I thought it was worthy of mention.  There’s no solder in the atomizer, so you can replace the coil wire yourself if you so desire.  Here’s a YouTube video of someone doing just that.

The modification aspect should make this clearomizer tank appealing to both those new to tanks and modders alike.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

Vision’s Vivi Nova cleromizer tank resembles the Vision Stone, but don’t let the looks deceive you.  The Nova packs a ton of innovation and convenience.  Changeable heads mean the experience can be customized, and the whole unit doesn’t need to be tossed out when an atomizer bites the dust.  Simple fills and leak-free design should appeal to many, and modders might like the fact you can completely rebuild the atomizers.  Perhaps this will give the venerable dual coil tank a run for the money.

You can pick one up at Esmoker Online.

Pros:

• Great performance
• Simple filling
• No leaks
• Changeable heads let you pick and choose your resistance
• Moddable
• Comes with three atomizers

Cons:

• Somewhat inconsistant performance with higher resistance head
• No option to get the same resistance atomizers
• Replacement atomizers seem unavailable at the moment
• Device requires break in time and/or slight modification to reach optimal performance

Details:

Product Name: Vision Vivi Nova Clearomizer
Available from: Esmoker Online (International friends can find them at ECig Wizard use code SteveVape to save 10%)
Price: $13.99
Threading: 510
Capacity: 3.5ml
Resistance: 1.8, 2.4 and 2.8Ω included