I promised a review of this RTA. At the time I didn’t realize how limited on time I would be. So rather than give nothing at all, here goes.
I don’t believe this tank warrants any kind of full blown review down to the minutia of detail. Anyone who’s owned an RTA understands the concept, and there is nothing seriously out of the ordinary going on here. So let Mike Vapes handle the description and images…
Pretty decent review. One thing I will mention that Mike doesn’t seem to cover. Unless you plan on trimming wick ends, the juice channels will pretty much dictate the ID of the coil. What I mean by that is, a 2.5mm ID coil with the right amount of wick will have pretty much the perfect amount of cotton to stuff in the juice channels for proper wicking - not too loose or too tight. Go smaller, you won’t have enough wick. Larger coils, the cotton won’t fit in the juice channels. So if you’re like me and don’t want to go through any elaborate wicking or wizardry, then stick with a 2.5mm ID coil.
Also when you wick this thing if you will keep your cotton short enough that the ends of the wick just come to the top of the juice hole, it will serve 2 purposes. First, it just wicks so much better as the juice is entering the wick from the fibrous ends rather than the side. Secondly, I’ve found if you stuff the juice channels so that the wick goes down past the juice hole, when you move the juice flow control to fill, it can catch the wick if it’s protruding out even just a little bit. This results in a scissor action and snips the cotton off. Then you have little bits of cotton floating around in your tank. It won’t hurt anything, it just is gross
Anyway, the vape off the EXO RTA is great. Wonderful flavor in small or large tank mode, and single or dual coil mode. The single coil build is probably the best flavor I’ve had on any single coil RTA, but I’ve not used that many so can’t compare to some of the more popular ones. Just that it’s good. And I feel it’s a matter of preference how someone uses it.
Sorry I couldn’t manage a full review. Between work, home renovations, and helping out on IRC I don’t have much time lately. If you have any specific questions you want to ask feel free. I’ll check in as often as I can.
That was good enough for me, informative and as @Grubby said you covered what mattered. I’m still undecided about this tank as I don’t think it’s any better than what I already have. The engine, serpent mini, goblin mini and griffin 25 plus.
Haven’t had the Serpent Mini. But I can say that for the others, the EXO blows them away IMO - for flavor. The biggest difference is the Engine doesn’t have the potential for leaking that the EXO does. Now don’t take that to mean anything because I’ve yet to have a leak with the EXO. Only that there is the potential since it’s a bottom air flow RTA and the wick is right beside the deck air intake. Wick it right and it shouldn’t leak at all. So leaving out the serpent since I don’t own one, my opinion on flavor from best to worst would be…
ExO
Goblin
Engine
Griffin
*The preceding statements are the opinion of Robert the Southern Mixer and do not reflect the views of ELR
found this thread as i was getting really upset with my EXO RTA with leaking… i did everything i can, Toothpick trick, wicked zillion different ways, changed all o rings, filled it and closed it upside down…you name it - still it insists on witting itself (and me and the mod) - love the flavor from that RTA - it’s awesome, but just for the leaking issue, it’s going to get shelved … especially when it competes in my daily rotation with a Pharaoh, a serpent mini and an OBS Engine mini, these guys are always completely dry and well-behaved
can anyone share thoughts why does it leak? did anyone had that leakage before and managed to get rid of it (for more than few days)
(it doesn’t leak as in emptying the juice, but it’s also not a condensation “seep” - it’s serious witting i’m referring to) - any help appreciated. pls help save a tank and a mod
To start off I am using the single coil deck, make sure yours is tightened down and the seal is adequate.
I have been using mine for a long time and in the early days I had some strange instances where the liquid would pour out the AFC with no identifiable reason then just stop and be fine again.
The last few months I have had no problems with major leaking, just condensation seeping, which, when you look at the size of the airflow on this tank is kind of expected.
condensation can cause a huge build up of liquid in the AFC chamber which then presents itself when laying the tank on its side or simply lifting to take a vape.
The way I wick the EXO now has changed slightly, I used to stuff the cotton in the juice flow holes, now I cut it shorter and place it just inside the hole using a very small 1mm flat head screwdriver being careful not to allow the cotton to touch the airflow hole under the coil.
I suspect some of the major leaking comes from the coil being too low to the airflow hole in the center of the deck thus allowing the cotton to touch and lose some liquid from small contact points which then fall straight down that hole and flow out the AFC.
A way to reduce the condensation seeping is to release the fire button 1 sec before finishing your draw to remove excess vapor thus minimizing the condensation that can occur, you may need to adjust your airflow to compensate for that extra air as it can mute some flavours slightly.
Hope this helps, if you have any questions or advice for me, reply here or PM me
thanks @Grubby, you got me encouraged to give this baby one more chance, then if it pees on me again, it gets shelved
i took it apart - second time today - give it a good scrub and rinse - raised the coil couple of mm’s higher (i use the single coil deck too, 3mm id) - checked o rings and seals, I actually added a small o ring below the deck where the airflow intake holes are, cause i saw the 510 is also leaking below the AFC chamber - i don’t like that - then assembled it, rayon’ed it (is that a new word i just invented :)) to your method (wick slightly shorter in the JFC holes, raised from touching the deck inside) and filled it up - so far so good - will keep closely watching it and report back…
I’m going to see if I can dig this tank out this weekend (if I didn’t toss it) and put it to use. I’ve mostly turned to RDAs and can’t remember if that’s why I stopped using this one or some other reason. I have this nagging feeling it was due to some issue, maybe leaking, but can’t be sure. I’ll get back to you.
i guess i finally found the reason(s) for leaking in my EXO RTA, sharing back for those reading this thread in future
1 - the connection between the chimney and the chamber was not well sealed - if you find the tank leaks only when you fill it above the level of the evaporation chamber it’s most probably this junction is not well sealed. it’s tricky to close tightly given there’s barely room to twist both ends of the tank - i changed the o ring that sits there, then used 2 plyers (carefully, may need to grab with a cloth or paper towel as you hold the bottom part with the plyer) - a long-nose to twist the chimney part, then twist best as you can till it’s well sealed
2 - wicking, although wicking this tank is easy, the above is 100% true. if the wick rests on the surface where the AF hole is, it will possibly leak (juice not condensation). solution, raise the coil couple of mms higher, and think of using a slightly “longer” coil (6 wraps instead of 5) - the wick can then be carefully placed into the JFC hole, sit without touching that surface, and (for best wicking) end just before it reaches the bottom of the JFC openings
yeah, it still seeps condensation - which is fine - but it no longer pees itself on my mods and shirts… all good … thanks guys!
I remember now. It wasn’t a leaking issue. It was that JFC which spun entirely too easily. It didn’t affect performance just got on my nerves. I tossed this RTA, so there was no weekend rebuild.
