I haven’t seen any real-word anecdotes about this yet, or any in the wild besides @sessiondrummer . I’m sure he’ll have a much more comprehensive review/report. This is just my initial build and first thoughts.
I like the idea of an RDTA. In theory it’s less physics shenanigans than an RTA. But in practice I’ve yet to find one that actually works that well. However, Steam Crave generally does things right, so I figured I’d at least give it a try.
I bought this direct from SC. Shipped from China. Landed about a week after ordering. They’re on top of their shipping game.
I grabbed a Matte Black version. It’s on the satin end of matte, but it is black. It did come with a purple 810 drip tip which isn’t really my jam. It is a nice wide bore piece so I’m just rocking it for now.
It comes with a 10ml straight glass installed, along with a 13ml bubble and a spare 10ml glass in the box. I fit the 13ml glass. The bubble is subtle and I’ll take the extra capacity. Fit and finish is stellar - as we’ve come to expect from these guys.
The manual suggests dangling your cotton into the tank at whatever length makes you happy. I’m not a fan of cotton swaying around in my tank like an aquarium feature. I’m also not a fan of keeping them short and having to consciously make sure I’m tipping the thing far enough to keep them wet, especially as the level gets lower.
The wick ports are fairly sizable so I decided to make my own tank wicks.
Now I’ve tried this method before on smaller RDTAs and it hasn’t worked great. Only marginally better than wire cables. But, with the size of this tank and the size of the ports I figured it might actually work here.
I used a sheet of SS mesh, 400 mesh I believe, to roll up some tank wicks. I kinda eyeballed the length. Maybe 3" or so. Rolled fairly loose into a flattened oval that fit the wicking ports. Final OAL on the wicks ended up being 23mm - touching the bottom of the tank to flush with the top of the port. I got it to fit well then gave it a quick torch to cook off any oils and harden it up.
Then I just built it up like I would an RDA. I use basically the same coils on everything - 4x30+40 SS wire in 3, 3.5, or 4mm. Low mass, high surface area. I ended up using a 3.5mm ID on this deck. The deck is spacious. The distance between the leg holes is generous. I had 6 wraps on these coils and still had to spread the legs a touch. You could run anywhere from 3-4mm ID coils just fine here.
I ended up cutting my legs to 6mm. This gave me plenty of room to get some airflow under the coils and no threat of shorting against anything above. The bottom of the coil is juuust teasing into the bottom line of airflow with this leg length.
Wicking was straightforward. I thinned the tails quite a bit and cut them so the ends landed straight into the bottom of the wells/tops of the tank wicks.
Airflow - I’m used to having to cut down my airflow to around ¾ open on pretty much everything. I don’t love this. It always disrupts exposure on the coil in some form or another. On this one wide open is perfect. The pull is buttery smooth. Smoother than anything else I have without any hollowness at all.
The picture shows it next to a Plus V3 with an equivalent airflow setting.
Finally a bigger atomizer that isn’t too airy. I’m running it at 85 - 90W and it’s everything I want a vape to be. Warm but not too hot. Thick and saturated mouthful of flavor.
It wicks like a boss. I took it all the way down to the bottom of a tank and made no extra effort to do any extra tipping. No more than I normally would. It never gave any hints of drying out at all. It sat right in that sweet spot that you get a pull or two after dripping an RDA, where the coil quits spitting the excess juice but everything is still fully wetted.
The only con to this thing might be that it’s not going to be pocket friendly. The tank is not actually sealed so if it gets laid on its side it will eventually leak. Minor quibble for me. A 30mm tank is going to live on a table or in a cup holder.
I’m 2 tanks in and this might be replacing any dual coil RTAs on my shelf that doesn’t already have Steam Crave engraved on it. I try not to be a brand fanboy with anything but these guys make it tough not to be.
I am curious to hear thoughts from anyone else who picks one up. Or answer any questions about it.