I’ve been looking back at all the reviews I have done this year while picking stuff out for the best of 2016 video this weekend, and it struck me that a lot of it, especially on the tank side of the market, has been… more of the same.

True innovation in the atomiser side of things for the mainstream seems to have died off with the break into mainstream that the RDTA’s have done.  A vast bulk of tanks i have reviewed have either been direct competitiors to the original SteamCrave RDTA, or basic flat out copies of the Limitless/iJoy RDTA.  True innovation seems to be limited to companies that have lengthened the lifespan of their tank name.  Take a look at GeekVape for instance.  The original Griffin was a trendsetting tank for 2016.  The Griffin made the logical evolution to a 25mm version, and then a mini version, and then GeekVape brought out the Griffin 25 Plus which was a complete overhaul of the tanks deck.

Then look at iJoy, all they have literally been doing for the past 3 months is releasing variants of the original Limitless RDTA, its the same tank, in new packaging with some different extras, or its repackagings of the Combo versions fo the tank.

Looking forward to 2017, things are not looking too healthy for true innovation or at least some sort of new direction for tanks and drippers.  The dual post velocity style deck hasbecome the go to form factor for tanks and drippers but it has made the industry paint itself into a corner when it comes to new innovations.  Sure, there is some innovation out there, the Doode RDA for instance, or the newer iterations of the TwistedMesses drippers, but unless China gets out of the corner they are in right now, nothing will change for 2017.

I just hope, that even though 2016 was the year of the RDTA, that 2017 doesnt end up being the same thing…in new packaging.