Sometimes you get products that you don’t dig right of the bat. This is why I tend to take my time to do reviews, this one is a month on the nose. So did the CoilArt DPRO 133 Premium kit change my mind in that time?..…let’s take a look.
What you get?
- DPRO 133 Mod
- DPRO RDA
- Squonk pin
- 2 Fused Claptons
- Cotton wick
- Allen Key
- Spare screws (4) allen and (4) slot
- Ultem mod protector
Specs
- Mod size 84.5mm x 44mm x 28mm
- RDA 24mm diameter
- 226 grams mod, RDA and dual 18650
- Dual 18650 run in parallel
- 0.08 ohm resistance limit
- Aluminum Anodized Body
Available in 6 colors
Thoughts out the box
Maybe it was the “Premium kit” that threw me off but I was underwhelmed when I first opened the box. The mod itself is fine but not what I would call Premium. The RDA was even more underwhelming, the top cap is a thin aluminum and feels cheap, o’rings are pretty loose too, not feeling the “Premium” vibe so far.
DPRO 133 mod
Not a lot of info on the mod itself besides that it does 133 watts max and is a quasi mech mod with protections such as short-circuit protection, battery “+” and “-” install protection and more but what that more is I am unsure of. Considering they claim to fire down 0.08 ohm they must also restrict output, 0.08 ohm into 4.2 volts would yield 220.50 watts and a whopping 52.50 amps!!! I did not test that low but did use the supplied coils which came out to 0.14 ohms and everything worked fine.
The finish of the mod itself is very nice, I really began to appreciate the black body with gunmetal top and bottom, looked great with my gunmetal tanks.
Battery door is solid and never came close to loose during my review evaluation.
It does include a battery indicator LED, the 4 LED’s show 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% battery life. Battery life was pretty damn good depending on the load your driving. I did test the batteries after a half hour and 1 battery was run down a little and the other was still 4.2 volts which bothered me, I was using a married pair of Sony VTC5A batteries. I decided to use a pair of batteries that are the same age and make but not married. From then on out when it was time to switch batteries they were matched in volts……hmmm, not sure what happened with my first go around but since then no problems. You can also run just one battery if you want. The mod will not fire and the LED will blink when the batteries are too low, I measured 3.24V on both batteries when it was time to charge them.
Stainless steel 510 is not the smoothest but never gave me any problems and overall is solid. The 510 pin is a stamped hollow pin with a spring, not my favorite but I never had connection problems. I do worry about leaky tanks making its way inside the mod with this type of 510 but as you can see it is dry after a months use.
The board is a simple affair, thought it would be good to get a pic.
No USB so no onboard charging, I did see one retailer post USB charging but unless there has been a change since I received mine then they made a mistake.
The build quality is solid and no rattles, no complaints other than the stamped 510 pin, that’s my only real con with the mod.
DPRO RDA
Right off the bat the thin Aluminum top cap was a turn off, nothing premium about it. The double o’rings are very loose as well, don’t try and pick it up by the RDA, it’s comes right off.
The build deck is a simple postless deck, really easy to build on in either dual or single coil mode. CoilArt does include a nice pair of fused claptons and 3 strips of cotton.
The Nichrome coils come out to 0.10 ohms prior to dry burning
But settle at 0.14 ohms after you dry burn to work out hotspots
As you can see above, super easy to wick, all around a really easy RDA to build on.
With the included coils it was a decent vape, nothing mindblowing great but not bad. I did try a couple of other dual builds which were all decent but pedestrian for me as well, not living up to the other excellent RDA’s I recently reviewed.
Since the deck is crying out for a single coil build I decided to try one out but with all that room why not go big right? 3.5mm post with some staggered fused claptons seemed like a good starting point.
The air holes are angled down so they go just below the coils.
Now I am more of a dual coil vaper but this RDA came to life for me in single coil mode. I went from blah with the DPRO RDA to wow, loving the flavor and the clouds were decent in single coil mode.
Since there is a decent amount of space I tried single coils again with a 4mm post fused clapton, could have went a little bigger but didn’t want to crowd the deck.
I also decided to try the coil a little higher, this time the airflow is completely under the coil.
Loving this as well but with the higher coil positioning it gets a little spitty when you first drip, first single coil build being better if you like a dryer vape.
CoilArt includes 4 replacement allen screws and also 4 slot screws. I wound up replacing the allen screws after 2 of them began to strip with the slot screws which are better but still not great. Definitely not happy with the quality of the screws, reminds me of the Azeroth RTA but those were even worse.
The DPRO RDA rocks in single coil mode and I even began to use it to test my DIY juices, the flavor really came through.
The kit as a whole
Using the kit together is fine, not something I really got too excited about and as a whole it wasn’t going to get a good review from me, it was just so so together.
I had to test the squonk pin on the RDA though so that is when I put it on my Lost Vape Drone squonk mod.
And Geekvape GBOX squonker
Now we’re talking, even though I am still not happy with the thin top cap and loose o’rings I was really diggin the DPRO RDA in squonk mode with a single coil. It wasn’t until then that I actually started enjoying using it.
The DPRO 133 Mod also works great with other tanks, I used it mostly with my RTA’s, here it is with my Freemax Fireluke using the RTA section.
The mod is simple, compact and just works. I would love to see a version with a potentiometer to make it variable voltage. I think it would be real slick if they kept it dual battery but made it bigger to accommodate a squonk, that with variable voltage would get me to buy one asap.
As a kit I was not impressed, really it feels like a kit that should have come out a year ago, not really keeping with the times as squonking is what’s hot now. Separately though I really enjoyed squonking the DPRO RDA, kudos to them for including a squonk pin. The DPRO 133 Mod is a smart design, quasi mech like performance with protections so it is newbie friendly.
Pros:
- Great flavor in single coil mode
- Easy to build on
- Mod solidly built
- Nice finish on the mod
- RDA squonks great
- 810 drip tip compatible
- Quasi mech mod performance with protections
Cons:
- Thin aluminum top cap on RDA
- O’rings are crazy loose
- Stamped 510 pin on mod
- Low quality grub screws
- As a kit it is very plain
Conclusion
As a kit it really left this reviewer cold, used separately with other devices I actually began to enjoy my time with both. I know the DPRO RDA is available separately but I have not seen the DPRO 133 mod sold on it’s own. I would recommend the DPRO RDA for use as a single coil RDA for under $20 on it’s own. The mod I would recommend at say $25 if it was available separately. At the time I received this kit is was selling in the $60 range which is not a price I would personally pay. I just checked vapecrawler.com and found the kit for $34.90 here, now at that price I would be a buyer with the caveat that I would use them seperate, the RDA with a squonk mod and the DPRO 133 mod with my RTA’s.
I was sent the DPRO 133 Premium kit directly from CoilArt for the purpose of this review. Since I am sending them the link to the review I would love to see them make a new kit that keeps the mod a dual 18650 but adds a squonk. Upgrade the top cap, o’rings and grub screws on the DPRO RDA and I am a customer for sure.
I would like to thank CoilArt for sending me the DPRO 133 kit. While I won’t be using them together I will continue to use them separately, there is value in that.
Check out how this stacks up to other tasty vape gear and meet the Steampugs team of reviewers. Your bound to have a good time and read up on some great products, not so great ones too http://www.steampugs.co.uk/
I would like to see that also
awesome review again brother, great work 
