received this directly from Vaptio for the purpose of this review. I was just asked for my honest opinion and nothing else, no other compensation was given.
Here’s what you get
https://d135lbsixa2tfr.cloudfront.net/media/images/products/2017/06/RDTA_TANK_4.jpg
First impression out of the box
My initial reaction was that this is one nice looking tank. The build quality and machining looked top notch. The o’rings felt a little loose at first on the afc and top cap, was worried about picking it up from the tank when on a mod but in use they stayed on well and was easy to remove for filling or adjusting the airflow.
Comes with your normal assortment or extra o’rings, screws, allen wrench, spare glass and extra drip tip which is important, I will get to that later. Comes with 4 regular 0.50ohm Kanthal Claptons, by looking at it appears to maybe be a 24 to 26g core with a 28g wrap.
Now on the drip tip it is not a 810 or 510, appears to be about 15mm and no drip tips I have from even odd sized tanks like the Scottua, BFDFT or Modfather drip tips would fit. Good thing they include an extra drip tip, if you lost the first one you won’t be able to find a replacement easily. I would really would have liked it if they made it a standard 810 opening so we could use different drip tips, this is definitely a con.
The grub screws are excellent, have put 3 builds so far and not a single slip. The holes are tapped really well, seems a little tight at first but not in a bad way, just not in that loose way like some build decks were the quality seems janky. All the threading is top notch, something I always appreciate.
Shield-Tech Anti Spitting technology?
This is a small insert that is preinstalled but can be easily removed. It restricts airflow just a tiny bit and does work if you hate spit back. For me I didn’t find much difference between using it or not aside from a little more restriction on the airflow, I am careful to avoid spit back in my builds though and most of the time had the Shielf-tech guard removed, still nice to have that option though.
Big builds…you bet!
I tried the included claptons at first but there a normal 3mm inner diameter normal Clapton, they worked fine, no complaints. A friend of mine told me about the 4.5mm inner diameter coils he put in his Turbo RDTA so I had to try that out for myself.
Since the biggest coils jig I have is 4mm I went with that using some Advanced Vape Supply SS316L Triple Core Fused Claptons 28gx3 with a 36g outer wrap. Since SS are springy I estimate the inner diameter came out to 4.2mm but this tank could have handled the 4.5 with no problem.
Rocking this in TC mode on my various mods was so damn good and I made sure my coils were a little high so when I put on the top cap the bottom of the coils were barely seen so the airflow would come up from under the coils.
Flavor on this tank is excellent and it has a healthy dose of airflow so clouds bro clouds. I am an airflow hound but with this tank I had it closed about halfway for everyday vaping, gave me an increase in flavor. When I wanted to cloud out I opened it up, full open it is equivalent to my Aromamizer Plus and just a little more restricted than my Modfather which is about the airiest tank I have.
But wait, there’s an RDA mode
Well technically it is still a RDTA as it still has a 2ml juice reservoir underneath as opposed to the 5ml when using the glass tank. I have to admit though that looks wise I am really loving it in RDA mode and once I put it this way knew it wasn’t going back unless I need that 5ml capacity.
Flavor and vapor is all the same as the top section remains unchanged. Filling this is so easy that I have no problems with the 2ml capacity and sometimes just drip directly into the top like a normal RDA.
Comparison to the Medusa Reborn
Once I had it in the smaller RDA form the logical comparison would be the Medusa Reborn which I reviewed a little while back and still use.
Obviously right off the bat the Medusa Reborn holds more juice at 3.5ml (I got a little more in than that) compared to 2ml with the Turbo in RDA mode, in RDTA mode the Turbo holds more juice though at 5ml.
The Airflow on the Medusa is more restricted than the Turbo, I run the Medusa almost full open, the Turbo about half to 3/4 open depending on build.
Cloud production obviously favors the Turbo with it’s more airflow.
Flavor is so close, I might give the edge to the Turbo with the spit guard removed. Both are excellent flavor tanks though.
O’Rings is a definite win for the Turbo. My Medusa Reborn was a preproduction model so maybe they changed it but the Medusa Reborn is a pain to adjust the airflow and remove the top cap to refill. No problems at all with adjusting airflow and filling up the Turbo. Big win right there for the Turbo.
I do like the build deck on the Medusa Reborn but with the catch cup it reduces the size of the builds you can install. You are not limited on the Turbo’s build deck, I would not be surprised if you could install a 5mm inner diameter build in there, just not sure if that would restrict airflow too much though. The Medusa uses the excellent grub screws Geek Vape is known for, so far the Turbo’s grub screws are just as good though.
Drip tip definitely goes to the Medusa since it is a standard 810 opening so any Goon/Kennedy or TFV8/12 drip tip will work on there. The drip tip on the Turbo is good but I wish it was taller and 810 compatible so you can use your own drip tip.
Looks are subjective but I really think the Turbo is a better looking tank in RDA mode. I posted some comparison pics below so you can decide for yourself:
Medusa Reborn on the left, Turbo on the right in below pic:
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Great build quality
- Beautiful finish
- Roomy build deck for large builds
- Excellent flavor and cloud production
- 5ml juice capacity in RDTA mode and 2ml in RDA mode
- Easy refilling
Cons:
- Proprietary drip tip, not 810 compatible
- Can get hot when chain vaping
- a little juice will squeeze out after refilling
- O’rings could be just a tad tighter
- Not exactly a con but would like if the red anodized cover around the drip tip was replaceable with other colors or could be removed.
Conclusion
I wasn’t sure what to expect since I wasn’t familiar with Vaptio before I received the Turbo RDTA. I have to say I think we have a new major player in the vape game and looking at there website they have some exciting new products coming in the near future.
I am very impressed with the build quality of the Vaptio Turbo RDTA with only some minor cons. The biggest con is the proprietary drip tip being that I like to use custom drip tips all the time, that might not be a con for most people though.
All in all I am real happy with the Turbo RDTA and would choose it over the Medusa Reborn which is a tank I really like. It has all the versatility for big builds to keep everyone happy and the flavor and cloud production are on point.
As of right now the only place I can find it for sale is from Vaptio directly, I am sure that will change soon and if I find more outlets to purchase from I will update this post.
If you have a chance check out there site, they have a lot of new gear coming soon that looks really nice. If the Turbo RDTA is any indication then I bet the build quality will just as good on the rest of there gear: https://vaptio.com/
Here are a couple of of pics on various mods:
If you would like to see more pics on various mods I have set up an album here: http://imgur.com/a/FuTQx