I received this Drop Dead RDA free of charge directly from 3avape for the purpose of this review. Regardless of this, it will not color my opinion on this review in any way, shape or form.
Packaging
This one came in a purple rectangular box with Hellvape’s logo on top, the Drop Dead logo underneath it and TVC’s and Heathen’s logos at the bottom. On the backside of the box you will find some info on what it features, along with what the box contains and who is part of the collaboration.
The first thing you see when you open it up, is a manual and a Drop Dead sticker. In a cutout in the foam on top you find the RDA and underneath that, the well known little box with the goodie bag and the tools included.
The RDA
This is a 24 mm dual coil RDA that is made in collaboration between Hellvape, TVC and Heathen, utilizing the deck from the Drop RDA and the altered barrel from the Dead Rabbit.
It isn’t innovative like other RDA’s I have seen so far this year. The thing they did was to mix two RDA’s together and make one RDA out of those two, and I will give you my honest impression of it in this review.
The deck is easy to build on and as easy to wick, and as I already said, it uses the deck from the Drop RDA and has got the four elevated posts that gives you the possibility to just drop the coils in, adjust them and cut the legs in an easy way.
The positive part of the deck is gold plated to improve conductivity and for all I know it does work as intended. The juice well in this one is around 4 mm deep, not really deep, but not shallow either.
Since it has a top airflow the not so deep juice well gets bigger, since it utilizes the barrel as an extended juice well, and as such it does work really good, thanks to the good O-rings on the deck itself.
The barrel has 14 small holes in two rows on each side of it and they are angled downwards to get the air onto the coils. It is a smooth airflow and I haven’t managed to make it whistle or make any other noises in the time I have used it.
It is possible to use this one as both a DTL- and a MTL-atty, since it is possible to dial down the airflow so much that it gets restricted enough to give you a MTL draw. I imagine that the MTL draw will improve a bit with a narrow 510 drip tip on it instead of the 810.
It has a new Drop Dead logo engraved into one side of the barrel and nothing else. The top cap has got knurling to make it easier to hold and adjust the airflow. The barrel has cutouts and the deck corresponding notches to hold it in one place, but this time around they made the cutout a bit longer to make it possible to turn the barrel somewhat, in order to get the airflow to hit directly onto the coils.
All the O-rings do work good and they hold the barrel, top cap and drip tip in place nice and snug. As many of the RDA’s today, this one as well uses 810 drip tips and it gets delivered with a resin one with a black Delrin ring at the bottom as a decoration and you also find a frosted 810 spare in the goodie bag.
A major con that I have found with the Drop Dead is that it has a noticeable voltage drop compared to the Goon. How is it that I can say this you might wonder… Well the battery felt like it was time to be changed on my mech tube since the hit with the Drop Dead felt weak, so I took the liberty to change to the Goon before I did the battery change and took a hit.
And to my surprise the hit with the Goon on the assumed weak battery (still at 3.7V) was far greater than it was with the Drop Dead on it. Before I go any further I need to say that both the Goon and the Drop Dead got the same build and they both ohm out at 0.09Ω.
This difference in how they both hit on the same mod with the same battery tells me that the Drop Dead does suffer from a voltage drop, and after some talk with a good friend that is a designer of just RDA’s and other vape related stuff we can only surmise that the posts are the problem. It is rather the thin part at which you press the coil legs onto when you tighten the post screws, that part is so thin that it may create a resistance that in this case leads to the voltage drop. If it is just on mine or if other Drop Dead RDA’s got the same issue isn’t anything I know at this point.
I would however want to know if someone else out there has had the same experience or felt the same way when it comes to this, and if you have, I would like you to get back to me and let me know. I wouldn’t mind if you added a comment about it under the review.
I would also like to say that I haven’t been using any instruments to actually see how much of a voltage drop it has so the above statement is just my own experience and the feel I have about it that tells me what I have said.
So how does it work otherwise you might wonder…? Does it live up to the hype some reviewers and other people try to give it?
In my mind it doesn’t live up to all the hyping around it. Don’t get me wrong… It is a nice RDA and I would say that it is good even. But as fantastic as some try to make it, it is not.
Assessment
The experince I had with this RDA has been an overall nice one. It is a well made device and the machining is really good as it should be. The vape I get out of it is nice and the flavor is good. The voltage drop i have experienced however does make the total experience less of a nice one to be honest.
Can I recommend it to others?
If you are in the market for a new RDA I would say that it is up to you really. It is well made and delivers on flavor and the price isn’t bad either.
Pros
Machining
Good flavor
Squonk ready
O-rings
Easy to build and wick
Hybrid safe
510 drip tip adapter
Cons
It has a noticeable voltage drop
A bit shallow juice well
Parameters
Width: 24 mm
Height: 32 mm with the drip tip
Full Black, Gun Metal, Matte Black, Piano Full Black, Rainbow, SS, Blue, Gold, Purple
Package includes
1 x Drop Dead RDA
1 x Extra frosted 810 drip tip
1 x Squonk pin
1 x 510 drip tip adapter
4 x Spare post screws
2 x Screwdrivers, 1 flathead and 1 Phillips
1 x Allen key
Spare O-rings
Manual
Drop Dead sticker
You will find it here
Drop Dead RDA for $35.00 at the time I wrote the review.
Thanks for reading this far and Vape on!
Norseman
