Haus brand vaporizers as sold at Wal-mart

Haus is a "value" brand personal vaporizer made by mistic. Mistic has been in the e-cig business for a long time (well, as long as a company can be in a field that just started in 2007). This is the PV that got me started in the world of vaping. Even if it only lasted me a week or so before I had graduated to bigger and better things. At least it showed me this was going to be something I liked, better than my analogs (normal cigarettes).

They sell these things at Wal-Mart and several other places everyone has access too, so that's nice. The price isn't great, but it's not terrible. At Wal-Mart the starter kit is currently $19.99 and juice is $6.99 or so. So you can get a working setup for around $30, or a little less. That's about right for lower end, starter setups. 

The battery is a 650 mah standard E-go type pen setup. They are using a custom battery in this thing, because it's shorter and fatter than a "normal" E-go pen of the same class. But otherwise it's your standard E-go. And as far as that goes, it's a great looking and working E-go pen. 

The downfall on these is the tank. It's some kind of SBC (single bottom coil) CE5 type knockoff. I bought two of these kits, one for me and later one for my girlfriend. And we both stopped smoking on these, however the tanks flood after awhile. The atomizers are not replaceable, so you have to buy a whole new tank for about $7. This annoyed me, that I couldn't keep them from flooding, and it annoyed me enough I ended up buying other tanks not HAUS brand. In a short time I move on to 510 box mod type batteries, and sub-ohm tanks. But that's a whole other class of vaping from this simple pen style, so comparing the two is apples and oranges. 

Overall, the HAUS stuff works ok. It did get me started and off the analogs. I still have the batteries I keep around for backups, and they seem to be well built and work pretty well. The tanks are junk in my book, but other and much better tanks are available pretty much anywhere vaping supplies are sold, and are not much more than the HAUS brand, if at all. I got an Aspire CE5, a tank I really like for E-go batteries, for $6.99 from a local vape lounge. The only downfall is with only 650 mah, the battery won't keep up with a long day of constant vaping without needing charged. But you get what you pay for, right?

As for the juice, at Wal-Mart at least it's a little overpriced, 10ml for $7.99 or so. Compaired to local vape shops, that's not too bad. But there is a tobacco shop/gas station near my house that sells the same size for $4.99, and have many flavors and nic levels. HAUS has like 5 flavors, and all are 24mg (2.4%). I will say I did like the tobacco flavor they had, but I can't speak for the others, I didn't try them.

If your looking into starting vaping, it's a quick, somewhat cheap, trip to Wal-Mart to see if it's for you. If it's 3am, your away from home, just broke your vaping rig, and need some nic NOW.... it's a solution. But may be a bit steep for a short stop gap. Really I think this is just a great way to find out if this is for you or not. 

Vista Vapors vendor review...

UPDATE:

Unfortunately, Vista Vapors went out of business in December of 2019. I'm a very sad vaper as they had been my sole juice source for many years. I'm getting my juice now local, but only because I have no idea who else is good online, nor what I would like they offer. Sad days folks.  

Vista Vapors (VV) is my favorite juice source. I've ordered at least several hundred dollars of juice from them so far, and have always had perfect service. I'm even now ordering for my Co-Workers, they love it too. I can't figure out why they go through me and don't order it themselves, but it is what it is. The juice is always exactly what I ordered and I think they have the best juices around. And on top of that, they have the lowest prices I've found so far!!! You can't beat that!

I'm not going to review their juices, at their price you can just give it a try yourself and find what you like, but I'll review the vendor themselves quickly. Here's the nitty, gritty. 

Made in the USA.
They offer 50/50, 70/30, and MAX VG mixes.
Sizes are 17ml ($4.99), 32ml ($7.49), 52ml ($10.99), and 102ml ($16.99). As of 4/6/2015
Nic levels are 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24mg
They ship from MINNEAPOLIS, MN 
You can "Mix your own" juices. It's just like it sounds, you choose what flavors go into it. It's YOUR mix. 
Your name is on every bottle you order....just kinda cool.
Every order is made fresh!

CONS:
Every order is made fresh! That means even after shipping time most mixes still need 1 week at the least to steep. Two weeks is even better. You can help the process along by heating the bottles when you get them. I throw them on top of my cable box for a couple of days, and that seems to help. But in most cases for the first 2 weeks at least, the flavor just keeps getting better and better. Then finally levels out. Price you pay for custom, made to order, juice.

The bottles have what I consider dropper tips, not needle tips. If you have an RDA dripper, it's perfect. If you have most bottom fill tanks or screw hole RTA's, it's not gonna work well. I can do most bottom fills if I'm very careful, but there is no way to fill the screw hole type fillers with these bottles. I have to use my own needle nose bottles. I do wish VV had the plastic needle nose type tips. But for this price I'll live!

Due to steep time, you really need to keep at least two weeks of "stock", so you can't wait till your out to make your next order. That's not a problem for me, I have about 30 bottles sitting around right now, but for some, who wait for the last minute, I guess that could be an issue. It's not that the juice is bad fresh right out of the mailbox, but it's SOOOO much better in two weeks, for many flavors at least. Some don't matter. You just have to find out which is which. 

And that's it for the cons!

This is a stand up company, and I have no problem telling anyone about them. I have called them and talked to them, and they are just really great and helpful people. Really down to earth. They are a great example of what a company should be. Give them a try, you won't be sorry!

My Vapor Store, a vendor review...

I first started vaping on a whim, I was at Wal-Mart to pick up a couple packs of cigs since it was late and the normal shop I got my cheap smokes from was closed. I happened to notice they were carrying a line of Personal Vaporizers (PV's) behind the counter, and thought "What the hell". So I picked up one (Haus brand, more on that in another blog). I've had a total of two analogs (aka regular smokes) since that day. Both in the first 24 hours after my first PV, and not a one since. 

I quickly found that the Haus brand wasn't going to cut it for me, it had gotten me started but I wanted more from my vaping experience. I do blame it on the fact I work with a large group of hard core vapers, and all their fancy box mods got my tinkering/electronics juices flowing. So I hit up Google to find out more. 

Turns out, My Vapor Store (MVS)  came up first in my Google searches, and being new to the scene I hit them up and started looking at what was out there. It didn't take me long to make my first purchase, and as of today I've made 14 orders with them so far. They also have the nicest looking and best built website for vaping hands down, at least so far. I just wish they had a mobile version. My only gripe.

Their selection is excellent, they do carry all the biggest and most popular brands and products. They don't carry clones, nor many new "off brand" products. I've noticed that they do start carrying something if it becomes popular enough, but for the most part they stick with the established well known brands. There are a few brands they don't carry, but I'd say they carry 80% of the top brands. However, like most US vendors, stock is an issue. There is simply more demand in the US than there is supply. If I've ordered something from other vendors (I have more reviews coming) it's because MVS either didn't carry it, or were out of stock and I found it in stock at another vendor. I rarely find a better price, if it is something they carry. 

I have talked with their staff a number of times, and they are always quick to respond. I've also had one defective product, they sent me a pre-paid shipping label, and since the product was out of stock they offered me another color they had in stock. I didn't want that color so they gave me a store credit. They were very quick and easy to work with in all interactions I've had with them. 

They are located in NY, and they ship from there. Most of the time they ship the day you make the order, the next day at the latest. Shipping is $5.50 USPS, or free is you order more than $75. I honestly have no complaints with them, however USPS can be silly sometimes when coming to my location from their location in NY. But that's not in any way their fault. 

Overall, 5 stars! *****

If I had a complaint, it would simply be the fact they are almost always out of stock on the most popular items. But that is a wide spread issue, if you want something that's hot right now, most sites can't keep it in stock more than a few days. You have to hunt for someone who has it, or wait for MVS to get more back in stock. They always seem to get more, but it never last long, being one of the biggest means they sell out quick! From talking to them, and also from my general research, they often are one of the first to get new items in the US, and they may well be one of the largest current vape shops on the internet, if not indeed the largest. It's nice that as large as they are, they still seem to often have the best price around, or very close at least. 

In summary, you can't got wrong ordering from MVS. Because of the nature of vaping equipment in general, there isn't much of a guarantee, but on most things MVS will give you at least some guarantee, and will stand by what they sell. I know from personal experience.