I'm writing this up for newbs who are looking to start out with simple kit rather than mods and who don't know how to spot a fake.* I'll edit it with pictures at some point too; I've sat through far too many a 12 minute long YouTube video with some dude wittering on about how to spot a fake without any of them being of much use to me, and frankly, nobody else should bloody have to do the same. I've now had a fake Spinner and Kanger clearo and there are some pretty noticeable differences imo (other than the below).

Much to my surprise, the scratch codes do actually work. I figured if you can clone to the extent that a pro may have trouble telling what's real or not, they can almost certainly get around the scratch code authentication issue somehow, perhaps via a fake web URL or something.

Turns out they're legit and work for both brands above.

Vision Spinner II from reputable UK retailer. Scratch code said that it's authentic when I entered it. I thought 'well... a lot of good that is, it doesn't say anything about having registered it and it can only be used once.' Anyway, I checked back today, and it gave me a warning that it could be fake after I entered it as it's been used twice now. Hurrah!

KangerTech Protank 3 Mini. Turns out the KangerTech clearomizer code had been used 63 times (guess where I bought it, go on! You'll only need one guess). I guess they rely on people not noticing the scratch code/not caring.

However, I bought another Kanger clearo from the above-mentioned reputable retailer and even though the box was absolutely identical, it had no scratch code on it. Shrug. It's very clearly genuine when I look at it against the pile of shite fake one... but it seems the wrong way round for things to be done.

I think I'm going to order a couple of 1:1 Vision Spinner II clones from SlowTech for my parents, as I'd really like to get my mum of the cigs and my stepdad off his nicotine gum addiction. She gave up for two years and started again six months ago after allowing an 80 year old chimney aunt to chain smoke in the house, sigh. He never started again but every time she visits the UK I see her pick up box after box of £24 a pop nicotine gum. Urgh.

Anyway, my point is, I should have a 1) shit clone 2) good clone and 3) genuine to be able to give a pretty good comparison to come back and edit.

*until I return. Very obvious signs for both:

Vision Spinner II fake/clone: battery life. My bad clone's battery would only last 4-6 hours of vaping. The real thing should be up to around 14 hours of pretty near constant vaping, depending on which voltage you have it on. If you're a 4.8 person, it will probably lose 4 hours from that.

KangerTech clearo: plastic wrap inside box feels really cheap, as though it would easily split and be pierced by the pointy drip tip, has red marks on it when it shouldn't, and no large, noticeable CE mark on the back of the clearo's stainless steel.