Vaping Diaries #385: Uwell Crown 2 vs. Uwell Crown 3

Uwell Crown 2 vs Crown 3

The Uwell Crown 3 is the latest in the company’s line of sub-ohm tanks. The original Crown was one of the first sub-ohm tanks to use stainless steel coils and was able to handle higher wattages than its competitors. While it vaped nicely, it was a bit of an eyesore. The Crown 2 offered greatly improved looks, but the initial coils were troublesome. I still enjoy the original Crown and, after some coil revisions, the Crown 2 has become one of my favorite sub-ohm tanks. With all of that in mind, I was excited to check out the Crown 3. Uwell’s latest tank looks similar to the Crown 2, but has a number of substantial differences under the hood. Let’s check it out!

Uwell Crown 3: Size Matters

Physically, the Uwell Crown 3 is a tad shorter and ever-so-slightly wider than its predecessor. Even though it appears smaller and uses a much larger coil (more on that later), it still offers the same 5ml e-liquid capacity. The size of the tank will work well for most mods, though I have a few mods with a 24mm atomizer platform and the 0.5mm overhang triggers my OCD.

Uwell was able to retain a 5ml capacity by changing the design of the barrel section of the tank. The Crown 2 featured a concave top, which was great for avoiding messes when refilling. The Crown 3 features a slightly convex top, which helps minimize its form factor. If you’re clumsy then you’ll prefer the old style. If you care about size then you’ll like the new design.

Uwell Crown Top Tube Comparison
The Crown 2 (left) features a concave top, while the Crown 3 (right) uses a convex design.

Uwell Crown 3 Will Make Cloud Chasers Happy

Another significant difference with the Crown 3 is its airflow potential. Some high-wattage vapers felt that the Crown 2’s airflow was too restrictive. This won’t be an issue with Uwell’s latest sub-ohm tank.

The Crown 2 has two large air slots, while the Crown 3 has three smaller — but still sizable — air holes. The difference is huge. As a flavor vaper, I normally keep the Crown 2 one click down from fully opened. The Crown 3’s airflow is so considerable that I keep it barely opened to achieve the type of vape that I enjoy.

Cloud chasers should be more than happy with the amount of airflow the Crown 3 offers. It’s suitable for handling 80 watts of power and beyond. While I need to use the tank more, I’m going to guess that flavor fiends will find it a bit more finicky; a slight adjustment can take the draw from slightly tight to way too airy.

Uwell Crown Base Comparison
The Crown 2 (left) has two large air slots, while the Crown 3(right) has three medium-sized air holes.

How About Them Coils?

Arguably the biggest difference between the Crown 2 and Crown 3 is the coils they use. The Crown 2 uses an evolved version of Uwell’s Rafale sub-ohm tank coil. The Crown 3 uses a drastically different design. As you can see from the photo below, the new coil has a much larger wicking area and doesn’t have any threads.

As far as the wicking area goes, the Crown 3 is obviously able to absorb more e-liquid than its predecessor. It’s also able to handle high-VG juices better. To test it out, I vaped two tanks full of 90VG e-liquid at 80 watts and, quite happily, didn’t get any dry hits.

Uwell Crown Coil Comparison
Uwell Crown 2 coil (left) and Uwell Crown 3 coil (right).

The design of the coil is interesting. Instead of screwing the coil into the base — like you do with most sub-ohm tanks — you “plug” the coil into the barrel of the tank. On the plus side, the “plug-pull system” is super-convenient and you never have to worry about threads stripping, which can lead to leakage.

On the downside, priming a coil can be messy since you have to hold the coil instead of the tank’s base when dripping e-liquid into the cotton. Since the plug-pull system features O-rings on the coil and the barrel, flavor retention is a possible issue. Generally speaking, the more rubber a tank has then the more it will retain flavor. Sometimes soap-and-water won’t eliminate it and something like a quick vodka soak in necessary.

Uwell Crown 3 Pull-Plug Coil
The Uwell Crown 3 coils feature a novel “pull-plug system” for convenience.

Lastly, the initial coil variety for the Crown 3 isn’t as broad as that of the Crown 2. The Crown 2 has 0.25-ohm coils for cloud chasers, 0.8-ohm coils for flavor vapers, and 0.5-ohm coils for those that want flexibility. The Crown 3 will launch with 0.25-ohm coils with a suggested power of 80-90 watts and 0.5-ohm coils with a suggested power of 70-80 watts. Initially, I was concerned, as my favorite way to vape on the Crown 2 is with the 0.8-ohm coil at 44-55 watts. A Uwell rep told me that the 0.5-ohm Crown 3 coil works well at those wattages and I’ve found that to be accurate in my limited time with the tank.

But How Does it Vape?

I’ve been vaping on the Crown 3 for a week and I still need to give it more time before writing a full review. While the greatly increased airflow is obvious, there are other characteristics of Uwell’s new tank that I need more time to experiment with and think about. My initial thoughts (which are far from final) are that the Crown 3 coils take a bit longer to break in, cloud chasers will be happier with the Crown 3 than the Crown 2, and flavor vapers will likely want to stick with Crown 2 using the 0.8-ohm coils. Again, I’m going to use the tank more and give it more thought. Check back soon for my full review of the Uwell Crown 3.