# Lemo vs Subtank - A Noob's review



## John (9/1/15)

Hey forum

So I've been vaping these two devices for a few days. Here are my unbiased first impressions on both. I'm no expert on the topic, in fact these are the first rebuildable tanks I've had.

*eLeaf Lemo*

this is a simple yet well-crafted atty thats easy to take apart and put back together. In the box, it came wicked, with a prebuilt coil on there. It also came with a length of wire (not sure of the quality or gauge), cotton balls, extra screws for the deck and fill hole, silicon plugs for the fill hole and a small screwdriver which I tossed aside in favour of one of my hobby screwdrivers. The build deck is quite large and that makes rebuilding it a piece of cake, its got four pre-drilled holes in the side of the base for airflow and a screw in the top bit of the base for adjusting airflow. My first gripe was with this screw - its very loose and keeps moving out of its set position. The airflow hole to the coil is large and allows high-airflow although I could still more and am thinking of removing the screw and drilling the holes a bit bigger. I dont like the fill-hole, its too small and a needle tipped bottle is essential for filling. being the only way in its the only place you can fill from and if you need to empty the tank for whatever reason its a total pain. The fill screw is inconvenient for filling on the go but the silicon plugs are, in my opinion, ill-fitting and on the one occasion i tried them out, they leaked air into the tank which got sucked up into the air hole and it gurgled and spat until I washed out the base and replaced the plug with the screw. the threads are a little finnicky on the base components and one has to be careful not to cross-thread it when working in haste. The prebuilt coil was a standard one and was crap - I quickly ditched it for a built coil.

Flavour is phenomenal and cloud production is off the carts. I've dropped a few jaws already with my clouds form this atty and on my BEC pro, one of my mates said it looked like the neuraliser from men in black 

_Pros: Easy to rebuild, Well built, doesnt leak, Nice airy draw
Cons: Crappy airflow adjustment, bad filling system_

*Kanger Subtank:*

When you own almost every clearomiser that Kanger has created its easy to see that this is definitely a premium product. Its certainly wins hands down for presentation and build quality. There are lots of goodies included in the box, I'm not going to list all but there are two bases, one for RBA and one for OOC Coils, one glass tank tools, extra consumables and two OOC coils, one 1.2 ohm and one 1.5 ohm - both SC and a beauty ring. I used the OOC Coil briefly and it was a bad experience - which was no fault of the atty, I used the inappropriate juice in it the first time. The subtank is great for long-hauls or nights on the town as it holds a massive amount of juice with the OOC coils and appropriate base. It comes with a .5ohm OOC pre-installed with the 1.2 ohm in the box.

The RBA base has a much smaller deck on the lemo and no holes in them for tying down the legs of the coil. The coils have to be tied around the screws and the smaller deck makes that challenging. I have small hands and I found this to be a mission. It came with two 1 ohm pre-built coils on that ran at .5 ohm which I later replaced with a 1 ohm built single coil as I felt it ran a bit too hot with the dual-coils. I prefer a cooler vape, especially seeing that I lung hit these RBAs hard. The airflow adjustment is solid and clicks into place over three settings. The air hole leading to the coils seemed much smaller than the Lemo and the draw is a bit too tight for my liking. I may need to modify the base somehow to improve that. Flavour is great and so is cloud production but the tight draw is a bummer for me. Filling is like any other Kanger tank, unscrew the base and fill away.

_Pros: Large capacity with OOC coils, ability to switch between coils and RBA, premium build quality, easy to fill.
Cons: Smaller build deck, Tight draw_

All in all, I'd say the Lemo wins this by a large margin as an RBA but as a clearomiser the subtank is a star. I suppose the latter not a fair comparison but I dont want to take away from the Subtank as its still a brilliant atty.

Thanks for reading, feel free to ask questions if I left anything out.

Peace

Reactions: Like 8 | Agree 1 | Winner 3 | Thanks 2


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## Andre (9/1/15)

Awesome review, thank you. Love you pros and cons summaries.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## rogue zombie (9/1/15)

As soon as I'm on a PC, I'll change that 'like' to 'winner' 

Well written. Thank you!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Cat (9/1/15)

Thanks. i like the idea of it as a clearo because easy to rewick the coil heads and easy enough to put in a new coil (going by the vids i watched). But an expensive clearo because i have no interest in the RBA option because no post holes.

Reactions: Like 1


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## JakesSA (9/1/15)

I would like to employ the guy who installed the dual coils on that Subtank RDA

Reactions: Funny 3


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## free3dom (9/1/15)

Great review(s) @John ...well done. 

I think it is very important to get a fresh perspective from someone who isn't as influenced by what came before. Very nice contribution that will surely benefit many first time RBAers (and all the rest of us too) 

As for your issue with the Lemo...I "top fill" mine all the time because I'm just lazy  I only ever fill throught the bottom hole when I re-wick and clean it (so every 2-3 tanks, depending on flavour changes) - all the bottles, not just needle tips, work for me with minimal spillage - only thing that absolutely does not work is dripper bottles, but I immediately transfer those to needle tip bottles anyways.

Top filling is very easy too, here's what I do:

Screw the chimney onto the base

Put the base in your palm
Put the glass tank on (remember the seal) and hold it down against the base with your thumb and index finger. Make sure to pull down gently and evenly (very important not to pull too hard on one side as it can cause a leak while you fill)
Now fill between the chimney and side of the glass (warning here: don't put the tip of the bottle in there, just drip it - I've put the bottle in there and then pushed the glass to the side which causes it to leak a bit)

Finally just screw the top on (again, remember the seal) and you are good to go. If there is some leakage at this point it should be minimal, so just wipe around the bottom of the glass with some tissue (or whatever you use) 
I never fill it too full using this method, but it's worked great for me just to top it up every now and then 
PS: This works fine with 50/50 juices and high VG, but I've never tried it with a high PG juice - it may cause flooding.

Reactions: Like 4 | Informative 1


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## Stephen Rowley (9/1/15)

Nice honest review

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Riddle (9/1/15)

Well written review. Now I'm considering to put the subtank on hold and try the billow first. Everything sounds good, the airflow is a small issue. I like nice airy airflow.

Reactions: Like 1


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## John (11/1/15)

free3dom said:


> Great review(s) @John ...well done.
> 
> I think it is very important to get a fresh perspective from someone who isn't as influenced by what came before. Very nice contribution that will surely benefit many first time RBAers (and all the rest of us too)
> 
> ...



Thanks brother, A bit fidgety for my liking but I'll attempt that and see how it goes. I've resorted to filling smaller quantities of juice in it now so that it empties quicker. I'm really starting to see the appeal of RDAs. May get a magma at some point soon - especially now that I'm making my own juices. sampling mixes with the Lemo is a challenge lol.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## John (11/1/15)

Riddle said:


> Well written review. Now I'm considering to put the subtank on hold and try the billow first. Everything sounds good, the airflow is a small issue. I like nice airy airflow.



Don't let my opinion put you off @Riddle its still a great tank, but yeah - you may not like the tighter draw. That being said I find it still a bit too airy for a throat hitter. I plan to build another coil slightly higher off the deck in the hopes that it would improve the flow a bit - The current coil is about 1mm off the deck but there's plenty space to play.


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## free3dom (11/1/15)

John said:


> Thanks brother, A bit fidgety for my liking but I'll attempt that and see how it goes. I've resorted to filling smaller quantities of juice in it now so that it empties quicker. I'm really starting to see the appeal of RDAs. May get a magma at some point soon - especially now that I'm making my own juices. sampling mixes with the Lemo is a challenge lol.



For testing juices in the Lemo, someone recommended this (and it works quite nicely):

Prep: Clean the tank (once off)

Rewick. 

Screw on the chimney and drip some juice down the top of it
Screw on the tank and vape
Rinse and repeat
It's not as easy as a dripper, but it works in a pinch

Reactions: Like 1


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## John (11/1/15)

So a quick update, I rebuilt the Subtank with a 1.5ohm 3 mm ID coil and raised it so that it sits just short of the top of the chimney and it seems to have improved the airflow somewhat. Vaping at 17w with some home - made strawberries and cream and it's phenomenal, like a Super M... on a stick

Reactions: Like 1


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## Silver (12/1/15)

Great review @John
Thanks, it adds value to those considering these two

I have the Lemo and found myself nodding to your comments. Very accurate in my view and well put forward

Reactions: Like 1


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## ZeeZi169 (12/1/15)

a good review

Reactions: Like 1


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## John (12/1/15)

ZeeZi169 said:


> a good review



LOL@ your pro pic

Reactions: Funny 1


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