Wotofo Recurve Dual RDA
You would quite literally have had to have been living under a rock for the past couple of years for you not to know about the stable of vaping behemoth’s that today’s offering derives from, and when I say rock, I don’t mean the mighty man mountain from Moana, I don’t think that would be any fun for anyone…except maybe for him…
I mean an actual mountain; because this vaping vein of gold responsible for pillaging our vape budget purses lays claim to an impressive list of devices which reads like a who’s who …or rather…a what’s what…in many a vape enthusiasts arsenal. The Rebirth RTA, Drop RDA, Nada RDA, Topside squonk mod, Recurve RDA, BTFC RDA, Profile Unity RTA, Dead Rabbit RDA, Bulk RTA, ReCurve Squonk mod, Iconic RDA, Intake RTA, Topside Dual, Drop Solo…I’ve more than likely missed a few there, but I own probably 90% of that list, and I can tell you right now that I have been nothing short of impressed AF with what I have witnessed so far.
Well…that’s a little much (lies…you absolutely are) but generally speaking, when I hear that there’s something else about to be released from these vaping virtuosos , my vape ears prick up like an excited dog when you say the ‘W’ word…
No…no no…I meant ‘walkies’…(sigh)…
Moving on…so …who are these Three Amigos of Vapingdom who have been thrusting their goods in our general direction for the last few years?..
They are of course The vApe Team, AKA Mike Vapes, TVC & VapnFagan, and today we will be looking at what happens when one of these renowned reviewers from the land of the ‘Tube’ turns his back on the pack, and takes his turn at doing things ‘his way’ …
Shall we…?
…
Welcome once again my flamboyantly fluffy throwing fun bunnies, back again with more of the same, and once again when I say ‘the same’ I mean ‘like’ the same, only not quite the same, I mean it’s kind of the same, but only in the same way that having two of something that used to be one and then making it look completely different is the same…so…not the same at all then…hmm…sometimes…I question my own words…
Anyways, where was I?..Yes…The vApe Team, actually the only vape ‘show’ that I watch on Youtube. I mean I watch all the usual run of reviewers, but this isn’t really a review show, just a team of buddies talking all things vape and generally fucking around…and fucking around is something I can very much get on board with. So, today’s item for review actually came from the mind of one third of this cloudy coven, one Mr Michael Samios, better known as ‘Mike Vapes’ - arguably one of the best known vape reviewers on the planet…I mean…I say it came from his mind…it actually came from my very good friend Antonio over at vape giants Wotofo…but …you get the idea…it was Mike that actually…you know…
Understood…so let’s get down to business, courtesy of Wotofo (you said that)…and Mike Vapes (you said that too…sigh)…I present to you, the Recurve Dual RDA
If C-3PO had a penis…THIS would be at the business end… (wtf?)
Now… I’m not much of a gold fan, I literally have nothing that this would go with. That being said, when I first opened this surprise piece of vape mail, even I was mesmerised by the sheer opulence that lay before me…
I mean…obviously I wasn’t smoking…but the mesmerising was definitely on point…
This is one fucking beautiful looking dripper. Although the curves of the original Recurve RDA are gone, Mike and Wotofo have certainly gone all out with regards to bling appeal…this thing was basically having sex with my eyes the moment I looked at it…and it didn’t even take me out for dinner first…I know…I’m easy…it’s been said…
So let us take a closer look at this nugget of gorgeousness, and see what Mike has in store for us with his latest ‘Recurve’ rendition…
The Lowdown
The Recurve Dual RDA is basically a 24mm side airflow dripper, yes…another one. I mean 24mm side airflow drippers are pretty much the staple diet of the dripper market, but good ones?..Not so easy to find believe me - I must have 50 or 60 of these things in my collection and only a handful see the light of day on a regular basis…not all 24mm RDA’s do the same thing, that much is obvious. So, what is it that separates the wheat from the chaff?..or…robot shaft…as the case may be…
Firstly there’s the obvious aesthetics. No…it doesn’t really make a difference to the user’s experience with any said product, but for a certain large group of advanced vapers, we take a great pride in how our gear looks, and man…does this thing look good…and not just in gold either…
I can imagine the Mech brigade with their highly polished golden stacked staffs of joy will go gaga over the one I received, but as is always the way with Wotofo, pretty much all popular finishes are catered for and each one has its own matching 810 push fit drip tip.
However…this is one area in particular…despite my shortfall in matching mods…which had me super stoked that I received the gold one.
Would you just look at that gold flake resin drip tip…it’s almost like jewellery. This attention to detail is one I have personally not seen implemented quite so well before…and I, for one, say to other manufacturers out there…more of this kind of thing please…Kthanks.
Oh and to top it off…for those die hard fans of the original Recurve drip tip?..You get that too…
Then there’s the finish itself. As I mentioned before, the curves that gave the original single coil Recurve it’s name and unique appearance are gone…I mean they had to in order to make room for the extra coil, but instead we have that super clean, super smooth one piece shell, only breaking it’s cleanliness for the deeply stamped ‘Recurve’ name and side airflow holes…
You have absolutely no idea how many times I had to stop taking pictures of this thing just to polish my finger prints off it…seriously…if anyone had seen me through the window they would’ve wondered what the fuck I was up to…
Then of course, we have the inner workings. This area alone can make or break an RDA - get this wrong and you really are up shit creek with no means of propulsion. Thankfully…very little has changed from its predecessor, apart from added space…
We still have the post-less deck, only with 2 more post holes, and two outer curved ‘wings’ which do two things…they house and direct it’s airflow…
And they sit into the domed chamber between matching notches…
so to adjust the airflow all you have to do is turn the cap itself, making it lock in place from fully open - which lines up with the holes in the cap - through to fully closed, then on to fully open over each end of the coil and bypassing the ‘wings’ completely… although…I wouldn’t particularly recommend that. It doesn’t give you anything useful except a slightly more airy vape. You will sacrifice a slight drop in vape quality if you choose this method, and that’s because those curves on the inside of the wings actually pull the air underneath the coil slightly, giving much more flavour…so…use the holes.
Building and wicking on the Recurve is as easy as you would expect from a postless deck, and this is only made easier by Wotofo supplying you with yet another new vape tool…gone is the large and bulky ‘Coily’ coil trimming tool…and in its place is this little contraption…
Kinda reminds me of a spark plug gauge tool, it’s way more compact than a Coily and super easy to use. This will give you the ideal length to cut your coil legs prior to installation - simply drop them in the post holes, and tighten them up with the very nice, large, universal screws found underneath the air holes…
Love this method. I’ve never been a fan of hex grub screws - you need a very specific tool to use them and more often than not I find myself searching through the bottom of my vape tool drawer to find the right one. At least this way you can use any small phillips or flat-head screwdriver you have to hand…big fan.
And, as ever, Wotofo provide you with a pair (not 3 like they used to…for…reasons…?) of very nicely made Ni80 quad core claptons. I’ve said this so many times before, but I don’t think anyone gives a well put together comprehensive package quite like Wotofo…and I, for one, can’t like that enough…
Wicking…once again…is made even easier by the inclusion of Wotofo’s cotton with added aglets…they even provided me with an extra box full of the stuff…
Hey Antonio!..
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never had a problem with twisting my cotton strips myself, but this does literally shave seconds of arduous labour from your life…and that can only be a good thing, right?..
As far as cotton goes…it’s not bad. It has minimal break-in, a clean flavour, and is relatively durable. I still prefer Bacon Prime truth be told, but this will more than do the job for anyone who isn’t a Bacon snob like myself. I’ve tried a huge array of vape cottons over the years and this is far better than most - if I had to judge it, I’d say it was in my top 5.
Now…as is the case with most RDA’s these days, you can go down two paths at this point; you can either drip or squonk…actually…if you squonk you can still technically drip, but not the other way around…obviously…because you need to have the included squonk pin in. This isn’t pre-installed, which I think is the correct thing to do, purely because even though the squonk posse is ever growing…there are still a lot more people that just straight drip…you have to cater for the masses and it’s no hardship to swap them out…
Loving the added seals…
Now I’m not ‘new new’ to squonking, not by a long shot, it just hasn’t been ‘agreeable’ to my personal preferences with vaping. As a rule they tend to be single battery devices, which doesn’t really cut it for me with my chunky dual-coil preferred method of vaping. Also, up until very recently any dual battery squonker I have had in my collection…has been a bit shit. The only squonker I use regularly is the original Topside with the Profile mesh RDA (with the OFRF mesh coils that come with the Profile RTA) just because it performs so well with lower power. However…now I am rocking the Topside Dual, and man am I rocking it well - that mod is simply fucking awesome and it’s up for review very soon. Because this device has given me a new love for squonking, I decided to set the Recurve Dual up accordingly…regardless of the fact that it didn’t match at all…I just really wanted to put it through its paces - and I am so glad that I did, because the Recurve is one hell of a good squonker…
Partly because post-less build decks lend themselves very well to squonking due to the coils being very close to the juice point of entry, but also because it has an impressively deep juice well. On top of that, the side airflow holes are so deep in those wings that when you pump your juice in, the liquid doesn’t have time to flow all the way through the holes before it’s sucked back into the squonk bottle. Yes…you can over squonk it if you really, really try…but if you do that then…well…
And last, but by no means least…we have the undercarriage. Nothing particularly eventful, but I do like to be thorough with bottoms…
all the usual accolades and an insulated protruding gold plated pin, so for all you hybrid mech users out there - thumbs up.
The Vape
Well…if I turned around at this point and said “actually…it’s really shit”…it wouldn’t be in keeping with everything I have said so far, because the truth is, it’s really…really good. I mean yes, obviously there are variables - you need the right build for starters, and so far…out of the 5 or so different builds I put into this, I’m yet to find anything I could label as shit. What I will tell you, is that the 7mm coil leg length recommended by Wotofo is bang on the nail. I tried to pretend I was clever by lifting the coils slightly on one of the builds, thinking it would bring the air more underneath the coils. But it doesn’t need it, and it won’t do the squonk capabilities any favours either - the testing Wotofo and Mike did in order to suggest the 7mm length was obviously spot on.
With regards to the airflow…well, at first I was sceptical. I do own all of Mike’s devices apart from the Recurve squonk mod, and I have always found them just a touch on the restrictive side. Whenever you try a device that was designed by a reviewer, you are more often than not…trying something that suits their own personal style of vaping - and this is obviously his. I mean it’s not a bad thing by any stretch - less air generally means more flavour - but once again, I have heard other people say that this RDA is a bit too restrictive. However, on this occasion I don’t agree. No…it’s by no means as airy as some RDA’s out there, but fully open the Recurve Dual has enough airflow to satisfy without it impeding the flavour in any way, it’s very much in the ‘Goldilocks zone’; it’s just enough.
The Specs
Specifications:
Diameter: 24mm
Overall Height: 34mm (with drip tip and 510 pin)
Threading: 510 thread
Drip Tip: 810
Body Material: Stainless steel
Coil Configuration: Dual coil
Juice Feeding Method: Drip/Squonk
Insulator Material: German PEEK
Wattage Range: 40-120W
What’s in the package:
1pc Recurve Dual RDA
1pc Coil Trimming Tool
1pc Squonk Pin
1pc User Manual
1bag Coils
1bag Organic Cotton*1
1bag Extra O rings & Screws
Included Coil Specs:
Coil: Quad Core Fused Clapton
Material: Ni80
Inner Core: 28G × 4
Outer wire: 36G
Internal Diameter: 3mm
Single Build Resistance: 0.26ohm
Dual Build Resistance: 0.13ohm
Final Thoughts
My final thoughts on the Wotofo & Mike Vapes Recurve Dual RDA would be thus…it’s an absolute home run, and nothing short of that. The build quality is impressive, the finish is superb and the vape performance is outstanding in terms of both flavour and cloud production. It also looks fucking beautiful and that gold leaf resin drip tip is the crown on C-3PO’s helmet…whatever that means…I mean if you asked him, he’d probably say the chances of him actually having a dick are approximately 3720…to 1…
In fact…the only thing I can find at all wrong with this RDA - and this might just be the one I received, because I’ve only seen this one and have nothing to compare it to - but with mine, when you turn the cap until it locks so that the airflow is fully open, the holes don’t quite marry up. It just goes a smidge too far, leaving them around a third closed, which effectively - if you add all the holes up - is like having two of them completely closed and the rest fully open. It’s no hardship, it just needs a little nudge back the other way and all is good in the world once again…and if that’s the only thing I can find wrong with it, well…it’s doing pretty fucking well. It’s also incredibly easy to build on, very forgiving with coil placement and wicking, and one hell of a good squonker…what more do you need out of an RDA?..How about being budget friendly…?
The Price
And finally…this is a Wotofo product. Just because it’s endorsed and designed by one of the most popular ‘vape celebrities’ around…doesn’t alter Wotofo’s habit of providing good value for money. At the time of writing, Wotofo have the Recurve Dual on for £27.50/$34.99 - which for something of this quality, with a comprehensive package included, is an absolute steal. Find that here…
Wotofo & Mike Vapes Recurve Dual RDA
So, does the Recurve Dual get a Steampugs recommendation?..Absolutely! The true beauty of the Recurve is just how many people it caters for. It’s got practically every sub division of vapers in its sights, from straight forward regulated drippers to advanced Mech users - it’s one shoe fits all…and it’s a really fucking nice shoe…
And I lied…I found something that it looks spectacular on…and it’s even got that internationally known award winning writer etched onto the side of it…(ever the narcissist)
As always, the doors over at Steampugs are open 24/7. So if you would like to see how the Recurve Dual stood up against other pieces of awesome (and some not so awesome) vapeology then feel free to peruse the site, where you will find a cornucopia of reviews from the Steamteam.
And of course, if you would also like to come and meet the team, as well as a bunch of very knowledgeable vaping folk, then head on over to our own little corner of the internet we like to call our forum, where we promise the welcome to be warm and drama free. We even have a very clever little juice calculator for all you budding mixologists out there - find us by clicking on this link: Vaping Community Forum
Until next time
Pugs.
, thank you for your kind words man, very much appreciated