E-Lites - www.e-lites.co.uk

I opened my gift from my mum on the 25th Dec , 2 E-Lites in a nice carry case. I know how much she wants me to give up the cigarettes, I have been smoking for 30 years, attempted several times to give up. By the 28th Dec 3 days without one, quite impressed, battery charge is fine which lasts approx 8hr but no vapour and taste anymore. So two E-Lites in 3 days. Unfortunately am back on them again, overall experience is that they are fantastic alternative to cigs with a very poor life span. I am sure an everlasting electric cig could be manufactured, but I guess it's all about money and profits.

I have been using the E-Lites for 6 weeks and I have found the battery life variable,the cartridges do not last as long as 40 cigarettes , no matter how I use them and I am finding it is getting an expensive brand to use.

I used to smoke around 15 cigs a day and at present I am getting through 1 cartridge per day??? very little cost saving, the only thing keeping me on this product is the suposed health benefits and the lack of the cigarette smell on me and my clothes.

I have read many e cig reviews and I see a lot of talk about variability in the product and battery life, which is exactly what I am seeing?

If there is a way to extend the cartridge use, without somebody resorting to the blindingly obvious "use it less" then I would appreciate the feedback

Having smoked for 24 years ranging from 10-30 a day I decided to try E-Lites. Used the light tips for two weeks then ordered the nicotine free which I used for 3 days. After that I stopped using E-Lites and have not smoked a real cigarette since 2/10/2012. Ok, it did take some will power but also an attitude of "well it's e-lites or nothing girl!!" and just in case you're wondering, I don't work for the company and don't know the owners!!

I bought my E-Lites product about a month ago and have not smoked a real cigarette since and that's great but at first I had some serious frustrations, first of all be advised if you are thinking of having a serious go with E-Lites do not buy the starter packs with the single battery as one battery is not enough and you will only end up buying batteries anyway the extra few quid on the Duo3 is worth it, plus there is the issue with with the tips not lasting any length of time, you should bear in mind they do have a best before on them and can be sitting around shop shelves for a while so if you can find a shop that sells tips with a long date on them you will find they work much better.

I hope this goes some way to stopping having the same frustrations as me.

I've been using E-Lites E200 for about 18 months. When they're good, they're really good, but the inconsistency of the cartomisers drives me NUTS!

When I first started using them , it became clear pretty quickly that the battery life was quite short, 10 hours ish max. I now have 6 batteries so that I'm never caught short without at least two fully charged with me all the time, so that solved that problem.

When they're at their best, I get around around 24 hours (16 hours of actual use), out of each cartomiser. However in recent months, more and more of the cartomisers were failing at such a rate I kept a log of start / finish times of each one over a period of about a month (yes, I know, v OCD but I can't rely on my memory!)

What I discovered was that some would go the distance (24 hours), others would fail either straight out of the pack without me even being able to take a drag, or they would taste / smell really weird, leak, or fail at anything up to 8 hours' use, which I decided was 'my' reasonable cut-off point, and which was the average length of time of all those I smoked over the month. The fail rate was upwards of 40% which is a lot considering their cartomisers are among the priciest on the market.

I emailed E-Lites, attaching a copy of the log, and sent them back all the 'failed' cartomisers. I spoke to their customer services at length about how this problem seemed to be a recent one, that their quality control seemed to be an issue, and more importantly, if someone tried E-Lites and had this experience straight off, they probably wouldn't buy them again.

E-Lites happily replaced all the 'failed' units.

I continue to keep a note of how long the cartomisers last, and if any fail before 8 hours, they get sent straight back to E-Lites for replacement.

The consignment note that comes back with the replacements generally tells me they could find no fault with the cartomisers, and they believe it to be a battery issue (see my note re SIX batteries above), regardless of the fact that I have told them I ALWAYS try a new battery before ditching the cartomiser.

Aside from that I've had nothing but a good experience with any of the team I've spoken to about any issues I've had.

As long as E-Lites keep replacing the failed units that solves the issue of financially being out of pocket, however, it does mean that I have to keep a constant, fairly large, stock of cartomisers at my disposal to take into account the failure rate.

Being a bit strapped for cash this month, I can't buy in £130 worth of them so have been buying from my local convenience store. I bought 3 packs of 2 from them yesterday, 4 of which have already 'failed', all from the same batch, which has meant I've had to buy more today.

Needless to say they'll be going straight back to E-Lites again!

If they could only get their quality control bang on I would have given them 5 stars, but when I can start a day with 4 carts. in my bag and have gone through them all by 3pm makes it hard to make sure I've always got something to 'smoke'!

So E-Lites, get yourselves out to China, or wherever it is you're having these produced, and sort out our QC. I also think you need a 'human' tester for each batch at random because your mechanical tester doesn't appear to replicate the way people use your products.

Hummm.

Just finished 2 regular (red) and 2 menthol (green) cartonsiers.

First green - ok, taste ok. Good start

First red - ok but moderately inconsistent vapour levels, taste ok.

Second green - ok but inconsistent vapour levels and after a day or so it started tasting and smelling of something actually burning. Foul!

Second red - foul tasting from the start and virtually no vapour.

So, not exactly a consistent experience. Way below expectation for the price. E-Lites need to sharpen up their quality control quickly.

Oh, and by the way, E-Lites are NOT sold as a quit smoking product and are not allowed by law to be sold as such, so there are mis-categorised on this review website.

At the risk of being accused of working for E-lites (I don't) I'm going to go against the majority here. I actually think they're rather good, and although I still cave in and have the odd real cigarette (mainly at work when under pressure) I would say I am down to 1 or 2 real ones a day.

OK they don't give the same "blast" as a lug on a real cigarette, but I'll gladly suffer that if it helps me quit the real thing on health and financial grounds.

I've found the battery life quite acceptable, and the claim (one cartridge equals 40 or so real cigarettes) to be pretty accurate. For me, the secret was to go without a puff of anything for as long as possible, till I was almost climbing the walls, then have a "puff" on one of these; combined with some deep breathing (and the oxygen rush that goes with it)I felt my system coming back to normal, craving gone.

Keep your eyes open for special offers and introductory deals.

Instead of buying a 10-pack one morning, I grabbed one of the E-Lite starter kits, eight quid for for an electronic cig with the claim that it lasts "30 'Cigarettes' Approx". I haven't felt the urge to smoke while using it, so no complaints there, but on almost every other level it has failed.

I'm a light smoker, around 5 cigarettes a day, and I'd barely had the E-Lite for 24 hours before two things started happening. First, the vapour output started trailing off drastically. Then, the battery led began to flash to indicate a battery needing a recharge. So for the equivalent of a time period what would normally costs me £1.50 to £2.00, I have spent £7.99. Is also isn't very reassuring when a battery, that I would assume to come fully charged, packs in after 5 to 7 cigarettes. Unless, of course, they deliberately charge them just enough to last through one of the tips to encourage you to scurry off in search of a charger. That's the cyncical reading, one I don't think is too unreasonable given the performance of the technology I bought.

The other problem is that it is nothing like smoking. Like I said, I'm a light smoker: I can usually handle a good 24 hours before getting cranky, but where I fail completely is in my craving for what I've come to learn is called a throat hit. I get conmfort from the the feeling of smoke going down my throat, in the same way a baby enjoys sucking a blanket. Silly, yeah - but these E-Lites don't satisfy that at all. I must admit there were probably 3 or 4 draws out of the small number I managed to get out of the device that 'did it', but the contrapception wasn't particularly consistent even when I'd learned how and when to draw. I got by easily enough (like I said, I haven't felt the urge to smoke), but it feels a bit like giving up coffee by proxy of stopping taking fluids into your mouth - sometimes a drink is just nice, whether or not it has caffine in it.

In short - too expensive (around 4 times too expensive for my tastes) and not quite offering the full replacement cigarette experience. By all means try them (they've opened my eyes to the fact that electronic cigarettes can be a viable alternative), just don't tie yourself down to them.

I haven't smoked a cigarette since last June (when i was introduced to e-lites) and this is the first time that i have actually managed to give up for several months. I tried patches, gum, inhalators and didn't find them helpful. I think electronic cigarettes are amazing and recommend them to all my friends. However, there are some problems with E-lites. They seem to be inconsistent in quality. Some cartridges last much longer than others - some don't seem to be giving much vapour at all - and some have a horrible taste to them (like burnt plastic - i have no idea what this is is - but i throw them out because i worry what i'm inhaling). The batteries are poor - they run low very quickly - but then again - some seem to last longer. Also - (this is not a fault related to the product) they aren't always easy to get hold of! I have to often drive long distances to find a shop which has them in stock. Although the ads say that they are much cheaper than smoking - i seem to be spending large amounts of money on them because i'm replacing batteries quickly - and some of the cartridges are rubbish. Finally , one last criticism is that some of the cartridges leak and i end up with the liquid on my lips and tongue which i'm sure is not healthy - so i frequently have to go and rinse my mouth! All in all though - if these really are as safe as people say they are - then they can save peoples' lives and i am so happy that i have actually managed to give up smoking "real" cigarettes. I wish they were cheaper though and of better quality. I wish there were other brands available because i would give them a try to compare.

I smoked tobacco for 25 years. Between 25 and 35 a day and up to 50 on a night at the pub. I have been on elites for a year now and here is my honest review for those considering taking them up seriously. There are three things I'd like to say about them and I will be as honest as possible. Before I start let me state my baseline position on them. I have been determined to make them work as I never want to smoke tobacco again. I haven't smoked a real one since I have been on elites but lots of organisation and planning is required to avoid frustration or failure. Failure for me would having no nicotine delivery vehicle at hand and torturing myself as to whether I should go and buy some Marlboro lites and potentially take up tobacco smoking again (this hasn't happened yet). Frustration is feeding my nicotine habit but in a way that either doesn't taste good or requires a lot of faffing about (you have to be really organised to avoid this with elites).

First they do work as a cigarette substitute but you have to do quite a bit of work yourself to make them work in particular to handle the unsatisfactory batteries that come with this product. I suspect that all the negative reviews on here and other sites may relate, usually without knowing it, to the batteries. Basically when the charge on the battery is low you don't get much of a tobacco hit: it is easy to blame an unsatisfactory nicotine hit on an empty cartridge when most of the time the battery is just getting flat. I always have at least one spare fully charged battery on me and if the tobacco hit is low I put the cartridge on the fresh battery and hey presto I'm back in business; or alternatively I realise that I do in fact need a new cartridge. I have about 8 batteries now and in the evenings, the only time of the day I am near electricity I recharge them two at a time using two chargers. The batteries only work at satisfactory power at the rate I smoke for about 3 hours each. This coincidently is about the time the battery takes to charge (so you could in fact smoke elites well with only 2 batteries with one going straight on the charger as the other one comes off: this is how I did it for the first two or three weeks). If you can get the battery charging thing to work out for you - eg. If you work at a desk and can always have a charger going next to you or if you just carry a lot of charged batteries around like me - then elites do work well as a tobacco substitute. But as I said above it is a lot of work.

Second, the cartridges. You have to get a feel for how long the cartridges last for you. In my case they last exactly 1/2 as long as it states on the pack. So one cartridge is about 20 to 25 smokes. This makes it cost £4 a day. So it will save you money if you used to smoke tailor mades and cost you abit more if you rolled your own. There is a hidden cost though that bumps this figure up. If you have a well charged battery you will know when the cartridge is running out as the taste of the cartridge changes to a sort of burnt taste: this is how I know when to throw the cartridge away. Probably about one in every 8 new cartridges taste like this from the beginning: I don't know whether they have leaked somehow or never been filled properly. These need to be thrown away straight away. It is annoying but is happens regularly.

Finally, after a year I do feel so so so much better. I ran my first half marathon the other week at 46 years old. It felt good. I also play football once a week and have no more coughing, wheezing or pounding heart like I used to when I was on the cigarettes. My son doesn't say I smell when he hugs me. I never cough all morning. My clothes don't smell etc etc etc. In other words, thisis a viable way to still be a nicotine feind, like I am, and have many of the benefits of the non-smoker. That is, for me, all the efforts of making these e-lites work does pay off. But it does require a lot of faffing about as outlined above. Hope this helps and doesn't put anyone off trying to get off tobacco. Even with all the hassle of e-lites I still feel liberated from the stinky debilitating habit of tobacco smoking.