So as an owner of most of the W9tech product line and overall a big fan I'd like to chime in with my two cents regarding the newly released Kiss Alpha Centauri.
The external aesthetics of the Kiss AC are very nice. The stainless steel with black teflon accents looks great in my opinion. My girlfriend would much prefer the same color options you get for the Omicron and Persei but you can't win them all! The inclusion of both a glass globe and stainless/teflon option is a nice touch that I'm sure those interested in stealth and durability will really appreciate.
My glass globe does have a lot of imperfections in its form though. The bottom of the glass globe is not even and there is an odd asymmetric tapering in diameter about halfway up. These are simple aesthetic issues though and do not impair functionality. Also as I previously posted the casting on the stainless steel leaves a lot to be desired. I found stainless steel burrs on most of the interior air holes and also some additional metal debris. I would caution people to double check this as even the air holes in the base of the AC had metal burrs. I only discovered this after completely disassembling the base and removing the teflon ring.
@THC SCIENTIFIC is aware of these manufacturing defects and I'm sure will correct them in the next production run.
As others have pointed out the adjustable air flow leaves a bit to be desired. This is a common feature on eJuice carts so I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately the teflon ring slides very easily and is constantly getting inadvertently moved to actually cover the air hole I've selected! This is especially problematic with friends who don't know to be careful not to touch the teflon ring while handling the Kiss AC. In a future iteration I hope that
@THC SCIENTIFIC adds some sort of teeth behind the ring so it stays in place once adjusted. Also as others have pointed out, the seal on the teflon ring is not really air tight so the adjustment isn't nearly as precise as it could be.
@THC SCIENTIFIC mentioned this is intentional but I'm not clear why.
So far I have tried the dual coil and donut but not the single coil. At 7.4v the dual coil pours out vapor with just a quick tap. Much like the 7.4v standard Kiss you really only want to apply power for a split second or you are going to cook your oil. Even with super short taps I still find the flavor to be fairly bad. For reference though it is no worse than the 7.4v standard Kiss. So if you are happy with that taste you'll be fine with taste of the dual coil AC at 7.4v. Acceptable taste or flavor profile will always really be a matter of personal preference.
At 3.4v the dual coil takes a long time to heat up and also to cool down. Unlike the dual coil carts for the Kiss Globe, you really have to sit there holding the button while the coils heat up before it starts to produce vapor. I assume this is due to how much thicker the Ti wire is on the AC carts. This thicker wire also retains heat for much longer so even after you let up on the button keep pulling because it will continue to produce some vapor. At first I found this lag time frustrating but I think over repeated use you could get used to it.
I have also struggled to get the dual coil to work on an AW IMR 18350 800 mAh. I've tried this with numerous tops and little success. It fires fine on an 18650 2000 mAh. This is frustrating as previously the 8 with shorty tube was my go to setup.
One last thing about the dual coil is that the coils sit at the very top of the cart. Unlike the Kiss Globe the lip of the cup that the coils are set in is about flush with the height of the coils. I feel this is responsible for a lot of additional oil splatter and I hope in the next iteration the coils will be set deeper down into the cup.
For the donut the 3.4v gives the same performance as the old 1701. I have trouble getting any meaningful amount of vapor out of it. It just seems to eat oil and produce very little vapor. The new 7.4v donuts produced a big cloud almost immediately upon applying power. Unfortunately after the first hit it quit working and I haven't had a chance to play with it again. Not sure if I broke it somehow or what but if so I'll continue experimenting with one of the others I purchased. Since I only got one hit I can't really comment on the flavor yet.
In terms of compatibility with various W9tech tops I have had weird results. I currently own an 8, v3 Persei and Hammer top. The v3 Persei top will not reliably fire the Kiss AC. Sometimes it works, sometimes I need to hold the button while screwing the cart in or it just blinks 3 times. The 8 when properly adjusted seems to work just fine. The Hammer top sometimes works but other times did not work much like the v3. I'm guessing the AC is designed for the 8 and v4 Persei specifically but some clarification on this from
@THC SCIENTIFIC would be helpful.
Overall I can't say I am super thrilled about the Kiss AC. I'm waiting till I can grab a Nibbler designed for the AC to pass final judgement. Until then I'll stick with my Kiss Globe + dual coil + Nibbler G as my go to LAYG setup.
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