FisherPal Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 Haven't been around much this last week or so - have to catch up now on what's been happening. That time of year - yard work, garden work, fence building, kids and company ... arghh! Anyway, all's good. Once I decided not to order any atomizer/cart in one e-cigs, went for the M401 as my 'second' model and it arrived on Wednesday. Have to admit I wasn't too impressed at first but had read many times that it needs a few days to fully break in. Being the start of Day 3 now, have to say it seems to be coming around. However the first couple of days had me thinking I'd really buggered up. Inconsistent vape and it didn't seem to matter whether I drew hard or not on it - sometimes it vaped nice and sometimes hardly anything. No real flavor coming through. LED light very dim (it's a green one and am still not impressed with that part). This morning, though, things seem much better. Easier draw, better vape, flavor, etc. so guess it did just need a couple of days. You're so right, though, Chris. Damn hard to beat that penstyle! One of these days I have to spend some serious time working with it and trying to figure out what the blazes I'm doing wrong. Am finding that juice is leaking to the battery although it still charges and works fine - so far. Just can't seem to get vape/flavour issues worked out with it. I imagine I have overfilled carts or dripped too much on the atomizer or something! It's just not working right and I need to get the bugs worked out of it. Now that I have at least a secondary ecig, feel a little bit better about playing with the pen to get it up and running again. I feel for you, Chris, having to go back to analogs! That sucks big time! Hope you get parts SOON. Anyway, while I'm trying to figure out how to get my pen functioning properly again, now I'll have to also figure out how to refill these teeny weeny M401 carts or figure out how much 'dipping' is enough. After my disasterous efforts trying to do both with the pen, I'm a little leery. Can you say 'e-cig challenged'? My sister who is visiting right now is totally impressed with these things and anxious to get one herself now too. Take care everyone. The news isn't looking good from the FDA standpoint so kind of hard to keep the spirits up but ... 'we shall never surrender!' Something this beneficial just has to survive. I'm hoping ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 I'm glad that your M401 is starting to work better! But your right the Penstyle does work great. We have some new reviews coming out in the next week or two, one on the DSE901 (tons of those reviews already I know) and another on the Joye 510 which should be here today!!! The 510 is supposed to blow the Penstyle out of the water in vapor production. So expect that review soon. I also managed to get some batteries for my Penstyle thanks to Truesmoker! So I'm off the analogs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royce Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 I'd suggest buying a syringe to refill your carts, regardless of size it makes it much easier and there only a buck or two Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Ya, Fisher, the syringe would be a great investment, specially with the m401. Trust us man, the syringe will make your life a whole lot easier. I didn't think it was that big of a deal until I used Chris' syringe and man, it's way easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FisherPal Posted May 5, 2009 Author Share Posted May 5, 2009 Sorry - with my company, haven't been on the forum much these last days. However, my darling cat woke me at 5:30 this morning to let me know she was hungry. Getting fired out the door wasn't in her plan! But it has bought me some 'extra' time this morning to poke around before getting ready for work. Like I wanted that! Anyway, here I am now. After a few days, I have to admit that the 401 has 'broken in' and is producing pretty good vapor consistently now. I'm pretty satisfied with it now. Can't believe how small those carts are though! Wow! As far as the syringe goes, the sample pack kit that I bought from Johnson Creek came with all sorts of goodies including a syringe. Although the tip of it needs some filing down or something because it 'grabs' the cart filler and yanks it when pulling it out. Haven't tried it on the 401 carts yet but noticed that when I was trying to refill my pen carts. With those tiny carts way down there, how the heck are you supposed to keep an eye on them when filling so you don't overflow them? I'll check out some threads to see if I can find something on 'filling 401 carts'. Oh yeah, glad to report that my pen seems to be coming back to life again. I think I likely flooded the atomizer on it or something by overfilling carts and over-dripping or something. Had blown the atomizer out and it has been sitting for a few weeks now. Picked it up the other day to show my sister and ... voila! Seems to be working again. My biggest problem now is that I have no juice that I particularly want to top these up with yet. Just not into chocolate, strawberry, etc. Have two 30 ml bottles of TC that I ordered from JC mid-April that I'm still waiting for! Hoping they are here soon. Would also like to get some RY4 as I've heard a lot of people like that one. Anyone know if it is that much different from TC? I prefer to keep more to the 'tobacco' flavored liquids. BTW - that is a great video that ECA has put out with that congressman. Seems like things are getting progressively tighter for all of us getting shipments through Customs. I'm going to start trying to buy as many extra parts and juice as I can afford to try and get a stockpile happening. Anyway, time to go and read through some of the other posts before starting the day. Take care, all! Gotta get my thinkin' cap on re the contest, too! How cool would that be to win an e-cig! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royce Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 easiest way to see the small carts as you fill em is to pop them out, take a paper clip or the syringe and poke it through the hole on the back end fill the cart and pop it back in. RY4 is caramel flavored i.e. Riskee from puresmoker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FisherPal Posted May 5, 2009 Author Share Posted May 5, 2009 Thanks for that tip, Royce! It will be interesting to see if I am any better at filling these carts than I was with the pen ones! That is, without overfilling them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vacker1229 Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Although the tip of it needs some filing down or something because it 'grabs' the cart filler and yanks it when pulling it out. Haven't tried it on the 401 carts yet but noticed that when I was trying to refill my pen carts. With those tiny carts way down there, how the heck are you supposed to keep an eye on them when filling so you don't overflow them? I'll check out some threads to see if I can find something on 'filling 401 carts'. If the syringe grabs the stuffing it is because the very tip of the needle is delicate and is slightly bent out and you can really see the bend. I just lightly pressed it onto a solid surface until the tip bent back towards where the diagonal opening is. Royce is correct, unbend a larger paperclip and push into the mouthpiece hole and the cart will come up enough or totally out of the mouthpiece. I always take them out and use tissue within the mouthpiece to kinda clean the excess away so it doesn't end up in my mouth cuz it is nasty stuff. I wouldn't use the syringe needle cuz that probably will bend the tip slightly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bizzyb0t Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 I'd suggest filing the syringe needle so it's blunt and doesn't snag the cartridge stuffing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FisherPal Posted May 8, 2009 Author Share Posted May 8, 2009 Thanks for all the tips, everyone. I got the tip of the syringe smoothed off just by rubbing it with a cloth. Guess there was just something stuck to the very end that was catching on the fluff. Filled some of the 401 carts and it seemed to go pretty well. All in all, it's not a bad little e-cig. Kind of wish I'd waited a bit longer for that 510 though! It is obviously a hit. Ah well ... could go broke buying the latest and best. Kind of reminds me of computers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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