OFRF nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank Review: OFF the Charts!

The OFRF nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank is all the rage from some reviewers right now, although it’s not officially out yet. It’s touted as having quality features and being equally big on flavor and vapor. OFRF calls this the first “conical sub ohm tank,” featuring a funnel-like coil instead of the common cylindrical design. That coil design is meant to increase flavor by allowing airflow to hit more of the mesh coil on the way up due to the top portion slanting in.

The nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank is listed as a 25 mm tank meant for big direct lung hits. It comes with two mesh-coils: a 0.20-ohm A1 nexMESH conical coil (pre-installed), and a 0.15-ohm SS 316L conical coil. It has a 4 mL standard capacity, and it comes with a 5.5 mL bubble glass. Also, it’s got adjustable airflow, a push-to-fill top refill system, thread-less coil swap, and a shock-proof PCGT tank section that’s virtually indestructible.

Although the name OFRF looks like it should be uttered letter by letter, it’s actually pronounced “off.” OFRF is known for its mesh strips used in rebuildables, typically in the Wotofo Profile series. OFRF made a little noise last year with their Gear RTA, but they’re not really thought of as a hardware company. The OFRF nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank may change all that. This is only OFRF’s second atomizer and their first pre-made coil device, yet it’s already considered by some to be a top contender for best sub ohm tank.

OFRF sent me this product free of charge for the purpose of a review.

Colors: black, stainless, gunmetal, sapphire blue, gold, rainbow
Price: $34.99 (at Wotofo)

The OFRF nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank has an industrial looking design that’s reminiscent of the UWELL Crown IV. It’s super clean. I received the gold, sapphire blue, and gunmetal versions. I don’t have a favorite. They all look good and the anodizing is consistent throughout the exterior of the tank (inside of the drip tip connection the color fluctuates a tad).

It’s a medium-sized sub ohm tank by today’s standards, measuring about 26 mm x 41 mm without the tip. Although it’s listed at 25 mm, that’s really only at the very bottom of the tank where it bevels in. The nexMESH Sub Ohm tank is primarily made of stainless steel and it weighs about 70 grams. It’s pretty much the same size as the Falcon and slightly larger than the Crown IV.

It comes with a straight 4 mL PCGT tank section, with an additional glass bubble tank that holds 5.5 mL. The PCGT tank is remarkably durable. I dropped my tank several times from at least 6 ft down onto concrete. No sign of damage at all! However, it’s important to know that the bubble tank is not PCGT. Just to check, I put the bubble glass in a zip lock baggie and dropped it onto my kitchen floor from about 4 ft. Well, I am down one bubble glass.

The nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank comes with one press-fit 810 tip. It’s a short tip, measuring only 9 mm tall (not including the tip connection), and it has a decent funnel. The base opening is about 8.75 mm and the top opening is about 10.5 mm. The tip has a subtle bottom-bevel that makes it look like there’s a gap between it and the top cap. I actually like the look of it because that slight bevel echoes other details in the design of the tank, and at times it almost looks like it’s floating on the top of the tank.

The overall construction of the tank is done well. You can take it apart easily, but all pieces should be screwed down tightly or the wrong piece can get removed at the wrong time, causing a mess. Don’t get crazy with it but do make sure all the parts are screwed together firmly. Also, when you first get your tank, I recommend taking it apart and putting it back together; that way you’ll be certain that all the pieces are secure.

*Check the kit contents drop-down menu to see all included parts and extras

The top fill is a push-to-open design, indicated by a tiny arrow on the top cap. It takes a fair amount of a push to open it, so it won’t open on its own. Once you open the refill section, you’ll notice that you don’t see any port. The port is a self-sealing silicone slot that you have to penetrate with your bottle top. It’s a good feature but it comes with some trade-offs.

When filling, all tips insert easily, except for the stumpy droppers on big bottles, like 100 mL or more. Due to the top cap sliding straight back and not swiveling away like on the Falcon, the dropper top just barely is able to get into the fill port without removing the drip tip. No biggie really, just remove the tip.

The main issue I have with the top fill is personal. Being a long-time dripper, I habitually change flavors. Yes, even in the middle of one tank. With the sealed refill port, I can’t empty out a juice back into a bottle. I’ll explain how this can be an issue in the coil swap section.

This is the big selling point of the tank. The “conical coils.” When I first heard of it, I didn’t know what to imagine, but this wasn’t what I expected. The “conical” shape of the coils is not very pronounced when simply looking down inside of the coil. It’s a slight taper to the naked eye, though measuring it with calipers reveals it’s close to a 2 mm funnel. It starts out wider at the base and tapers a little on its way up. Theoretically, the airflow traveling upward should condense and hit more of the coil since it slants in. This is supposed to increase flavor.

As mentioned, the nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank comes with two mesh coils:

• A1 0.2-ohm conical mesh coil; rated best 55-85 watts; black O-rings
• SS 0.15-ohm conical mesh coil; rated best 350-550F (or 55-75 watts); blue O-rings

So far, there are only the two heads available, and they’re both single-coils. They’re both marketed as having “triple density” mesh—a thicker weave—that makes for a super quick ramp. In my experience, most mesh already has fast ramp.

What is especially fast is the wicking. First off, I don’t “prime” coils. I let the wick just absorb juice through its ports in the tank. To test the wicking speed, I use a stopwatch and a small flashlight to peer down into the chimney until I see dry cotton start to glisten. I clocked the full absorption of the wicks with Bantam e-juice (max VG) at 1 minute 45 seconds (I tested this on both heads, on several dry wicks).

OFRF says they use a “twin absorption” wicking system of two layers of cotton that’s supposed to wick quickly and stay wet. Those wicks are fed juice from four generous wick slots, measuring 4 mm x 8 mm. The result is fast wicking and minimal flavor carry-over. In contrast, I clocked the Horizon Falcon’s wicking at three minutes. That’s twice as long as the nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank’s coils.

The coil swap is like the Crown IV. Instead of screwing into the base connection of the tank, the coil gets pushed into the coil head cage, then the base screws onto it. But unlike the Crown coils, the nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank coils have less to grab. There’s a thin polished SS disc that you need to pull on to remove. You’ll have to use your nails a bit.

Also like the Crown IV, removing a coil head will likely be wet with juice and you can inadvertently remove the top O-ring of the coil head if you’re not paying attention. Make sure that O-ring stays on.

In general, I like this coil swap design. But it doesn’t allow you to remove the coil with a full tank (half a tank or lower is fine). This issue with coil swaps and full tanks is common, but it’s made into a specific issue because the top fill is sealed. If you want to swap coils with a full tank, you can’t easily empty it out unless you just let all the liquid pour out of the coil head cage. A classic case of a trade-off. A feature in one way, a con in another.

The nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank has a lot of airflow and it’s loud if you rip it fast and hard. You don’t have to. It’s smooth and not very loud if you take an easy, slower hit, which you can do even with big hits. It doesn’t whistle at all, even with the airflow closed down. I think it has more total air than the Falcon and about the same as the Crown IV. It’s kind of difficult to quantify because they all feel a little different, not just in quantity.

The two airflow slots measure about 3.5 mm x 10 mm. They sit inside of an airflow ring that stops on the turn, plus it has a lot of resistance. It will not accidentally move from where you set it. Unfortunately, because the ring has no knurling or indentations (just a slight bevel on the top and bottom), it’s not as easy as its competitors to adjust. If your fingers or the ring gets wet from juice, it’ll be even more difficult to turn. It’s not a huge issue, but worth mentioning.

Lastly, in my opinion, the flavor performance doesn’t increase with the airflow being reduced any. I’ve been using this tank fully open.

Have you heard this tank had some great flavor? I hadn’t heard that before I used it (I got the tank before the hype started). My first session with it was just a few minutes one night before bed. I first used the Kanthal A1 0.2-ohm heads and wasn’t impressed with the flavor, although the vapor output was huge. The next morning, I contacted a colleague (Spyros) and asked him about it. He said he’d heard that it was supposed to be incredible. I argued that it didn’t impress me but soon realized that I had far too little time with it to make such an assertion. I picked it back up and got to vaping. After using it now for multiple refills on each coil, I laugh at my first impressions. Boy, was I wrong! This thing is off the charts.

My favorite coil of the two is the SS mesh in power mode. There’s very little break in time, maybe a quarter of a tank if that. This coil is ridiculously good! Super moist, but it’s not spitting. The flavor is incredibly pronounced, vibrant, and accurate. The taste is not adulterated. I’m falling back in love with one of my favorite juices (Yami Vapor’s Taruto). Creamy Milk Bar Crunch from Bantam is also amazing in this tank. I did use the SS coil in TC, mainly just to say that I did in case someone asked. It worked well, but I prefer it in power mode. I guess the rating between 350F and 550F is about right, but I find it best around 10-15 watts higher than its recommended 75-watt ceiling.

The Kanthal head is good too, just not as good to me as the SS head. The Kanthal head takes a little longer to break in; around half a tank—underscoring why my initial impression was off; I just needed a little more time with it. The Kanthal A1 at least doubled in flavor from full to half full. And it doesn’t take too long to get passed that break in point because this tank guzzles the hell out of juice.

Besides its amazing flavor and vapor, I’ve had no spitting, popping, or even any leaking at all (setting aside a couple messy coil swaps). However, I should point out that there have been some reviewers that said theirs leaked a lot. I spoke with OFRF about this and they said that was due to preproduction models. Either way, mine has been bone dry on the outside of the air holes, even when sitting for a day or more. I’ve checked this in a plastic cup with the tank on its side: it’s been over a week now and no leaking. For real!

This nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank has phenomenal performance. For flavor and vapor, I’m not sure if it gets much better for a sub ohm tank. Of course, that’s subjective, and fans of the Falcon and Crown IV may disagree. Those comparisons aren’t quite fair though because the nexMESH Sub Ohm Tank only has two coil options so far, and they’re both single coils. However, I’d go so far as to say these single-coil heads can give multi-coils a run for their money, especially with the SS head. If OFRF is able to ever do multi-coil heads with this conical design, it might just be game over.

The tank is constructed and designed well, though there are some aspects of the design that I’m not a fan of. But in most cases, it’s a con made by a feature in another area. My biggest gripe is not being able to easily swap a coil with a full tank or emptying a tank from the fill port. The airflow can be a bit loud with fast and hard rips, and I don’t get better flavor from shutting down the airflow. But those things don’t affect my recommendation. If you haven’t guessed it yet, I’m happy to recommend it… but I’m even happier vaping it.

Keep an eye out for this one.