RTA vs Sub-Ohm Tanks

RTA & Sub-Ohm Tanks

From an outside perspective, RTAs and Sub-Ohm Tanks look incredibly alike and are hard to tell apart. However, the interior is where they differ the most, with substantial differences highlighting the two. Sub-Ohm Tanks are easy to tell, as the replaceable coil and the installation point make it obvious. RTAs on the other hand have build decks that can be complex, confusing beginner vapers with the complex design and layout. They both have their own respective benefits and drawbacks, leaving it up to the vaper to decide which is the preferred atomizer to use. Let’s take a look at RTAs and Sub-Ohm Tanks and see which one best suits your vaping path.

RTAs excel when looking for great flavor. Not downplaying sub-ohm tanks and their own ability to generate flavor, but in general, RTAs have flavor output surpassing many sub-ohm tanks. With the ability to host hand twisted coils, RTAs can accommodate ambitious coil structures that would never be found in prebuilt replacement coils, generating extreme clouds or flavor, tailored to the user’s preference. RTAs feature a build deck that can accept a single or dual coil configuration with a dedicated airflow pathway that hits the coil or coils wholly to pull vaporized eJuice to the tongue and lungs. Sub-Ohm tanks on the other hand utilize prebuilt coils with a central airflow that goes vertically through the coil, drawing flavor mostly from half the exposed coil while the other half remains in contact with the cotton wicking medium. In addition, coils can be changed in RTAs should the user decide to change flavor, maintaining a level of purity of vaporized eJuice that many sub-ohm users cannot afford to do.

Both RTAs and Sub-Ohm Tanks have great capacity, especially with the introduction of a bubble glass, granting larger capacities that are upwards of 4mL, depending on the tank or RTA chosen. This cuts down on the number of refills that would otherwise plague users of sub-ohm tanks or RTAs, prior to the introduction of bubble glass tanks. One significant difference between the two is that most sub-ohm tanks place the airflow control system towards the base of the tank as the wicking system relies on cut outs blocked by a cotton wicking section that leads to the central coil, stopping much of the potential leakage. However, RTAs tend to keep the airflow control system at the top to prevent these types of potential leaking issues as RTAs must be wicked by hand, allowing the user to slow or hasten the wicking speed with more or less cotton. That degree of customization is liked by advanced vapers and builders as they can somewhat adjust the speed of wicking to their rate of vaping.

RTAs are generally more expensive than Sub-Ohm Tanks, but this usually applies in the initial cost of the rebuildable tank atomizer and coil building materials. As coils are twisted by hand in the case of RTA users, they can create coils from wires that cost a fraction of what replacement coils would cost, offering them more coils than a replacement pack would provide. However, what is saved in money is lost in time. Replacing a coil on an RTA takes substantially more time and energy. Sub-Ohm Tank users win in this case as tanks have changeable coils where the user can simply pull or unthread a spent coil and replace it with a fresh one in less than a minute. RTA users must take the time to remove an old coil, build, and install a fresh one after they decide a coil change is warranted, a process that can easily take 10 minutes or more. We hope this informational tutorial guide is helpful in finding the ideal sub-ohm tank or rebuildable tank atomizer. Please feel free to contact our knowledgeable customer service team if you need help determining the best atomizer for your lifestyle and budget. Check out our blog and website for all things vape related.