TBH even being a HUGE SteamCrave fan from the FIRST Aromamizer, I’d stopped checking in on the SteamCrave site because I hadn’t seen any new models for sale. Well those days are OVER !!!
Not only did I purchase this Aromamizer Plus v.4 direct from them, I received it in about a week. Pretty impressive. Another big change I noticed was this was the FIRST SteamCrave released that did NOT have BJ SHI’s name on the bottom. What ?? !!! Yes. Are things changing over at SteamCrave ?? Perhaps. For the first time, the bottom plate was branded “Empowered by HAJOY”. Maybe I missed it, but the SteamCrave site now states …
Steam Crave is US and EU registered brand designed by International intelligent engineer team, owned and made by professional China ecig manufacturer HAJOY TECHNOLOGY LIMITED who has 13 years of personal vaporizer design experience.
Top coiler ?? Hajoy ?? Let’s get into it, and see what’s what.
What’s Included:
- Aromamizer Plus V4 RDTA
- Mesh deck
- Postless deck (pre-installed)
- Pyrex straight glass tank (11ml)
- Pyrex bubble glass tank (13ml)
- Vape band (Steam Crave)
- Sticker (Steam Crave)
- Accessory bag
- User manual
Specs:
- Size (RDA) : 38.9 x Ø30mm
- Size (RDTA) : 57.3 x Ø30mm
- Weight : 240g
- Capacity : 2ml/11ml/13ml
- Material : Stainless steel
- Single/dual coil deck
- Mesh deck
- Adjustable airflow
- RDL to DL draw
- BF compatible
One of the neater things was the Plus v.4 could be run in RDA mode, RDTA mode, and you could squonk it !!!
The very typical red and black packaging with magnetic clasping …
Very well packaged, and there were a LOT of extras …
They not only included a spare 11ml straight tank, but also a 13ml bubble glass, AND, the rubber band …
Lot’s of goodies including a multi tool, orings, grubs/screws, coils, mesh strip, coil and mesh cotton …
A more detailed view …
The spare screws, grubs, and mesh screws were all high quality …
A better look at the pins, (2) long (squonk, and regular (installed)), (2) short (squonk, and regular) …
Visible juice inlets on the (2) squonk pins …
The Mesh Kit Box …
Included SS316 mesh, mesh deck, and mesh forming tool …
Mesh, and postless deck comparison …
And finally, the User’s Manual …
I like to include scanned images of User’s Manuals whenever I can …
And finally, the star of the show, the Top Coiler Plus v.4. Check out the great knurling on the bottom plate, and center shaft, as well as the massive juice flow ports (oblong) …
Beefy 810 chuffer accented in SS, and o-ringed in the top cap …
16 air flow ports per side …
Very good 3 row combination air flow ports on each side, with upper, middle, and lower slots …
Bottom plate, with gold plated pin, and with the brand new HAJOY badging …
A good look at the peek insulator, and pin protrusion for solid contact …
Inside the top cap are the double duty pins that not only align the cap/airflow but also close the juice fill ports. Double o-ringed …
The centering pins and air flow inlets …
A closeup of the deck, juice flow ports (top/bottom), and juice fill ports (left/right) …
Side shot of deck …
To disassemble, change pins, or switch from RDTA to RDA mode, the pin needed to be removed …
Deck un-threaded …
Pin removed …
Disassembled …
Great shot of the squonk dual juice flow channels …
The deck had a centering plate for correct alignment …
The side cutouts allowed for easy multi tool use …
Very generous coil leg ports for all of your exotic coiling needs …
I chose to use the included Ni80 Tri Core 28/3+36 coils …
I also trimmed the coils to the recommended 5mm length …
Rodding the coils …
Side shot of the coil height and spacing off of the deck …
I used the red tipped shoelace for the coils. Black tipped was for the mesh deck …
I didn’t really want “dangling” tails, so I trimmed the tails with just enough to enter, and slightly protrude through the juice ports …
A closeup of the empty ports, and how they looked after I landed the tails, lightly thinned and trimmed …
The Money Shot !!!
I initially filled with the typical needle tipped bottle, but also was able to slowly fill using my bigger cosmo twist top bottles. BIG PLUS !!! No need to worry about a “gravity dump” when filling !!!
Fully sauced …
Ready for testing riding on top of the Lost Vapes Hyperion running at 100 watts …
Testing/Usage:
TBH, I went into this review with a lot of hesitations. Firstly, NOT designed by BJ SHI ?? !!! Who was HAJOY ?? Top Coiler, dangling coils or dry hits ?? And finally how about the flavor, and/or leaking ??
Well, I have never been MORE surprised. I still don’t know where BJ SHI is, or who HAJOY is, but this, the 4th version of the SteamCrave Aromamizer RDTA WAS a winner !!! The fit, finish, and precision looks are exactly what we’ve grown accustomed to from SteamCrave. Very well designed, machined, and with all of the well thought out o-rings to keep it tight, and dry. I struggled when I first received the v.4 on how in depth to go. I decided to JUST test it in RDTA mode, using the supplied coils, and with normal cotton tail lengths to mimic what MOST users would encounter. I may at some point dive back into it in RDA mode, and/or hook up my SteamCrave Pumper, but for now, let’s just get into the tanked, RDTA mode testing.
The flavor on this v.4 was very good, very saturated, and accurate, which was a surprise as very often, top coilers (top air flow) can often sacrifice some flavor. I didn’t do a ful inversion leak test, BUT, I did lay it completely on it’s side with the airflow wide open, and guess what. NO LEAKS !!! I couldn’t do that with any of my other SteamCraves. Building on the postless deck was very easy, and the provide coils, actually worked very well. Wicking it was very easy, and I was VERY surprised with without using long, dangling tails in the tank I didn’t experience any dry hits at all during all of my tests. The knurling, which is very often overlooked was perfectly implemented, and exactly where you needed it. VERY smooth airflow across all of the combinations I tried, with no whistling or port noise. And, as if it needed to be mentioned, I LOVED not having to shut of the juice flow (there isn’t any), before filling !!!
Pros:
- Great looks and design
- Top juice filling worked flawlessly with needle tipped, and cosmo twist tops
- Outstandingly rich, dense, saturated flavor, with little to no perceivable flavor reduction
- Perfectly implemented o-rings, and knurling
- Spacious juice/wicking ports
- Postless and Mesh decks included (with cotton !!!)
- RDA 2ml, RDTA 11ml, and 13ml options
- Spare tank glass included
- Numerous airflow options available
- Passed Leak Test
Cons:
- Filling with larger (specifically Cosmo Twist Tops) required slower filling
- Included multi tool flat head driver could be wider to better meet tip slotting
- It isn’t free
Conclusion:
I was very glad to see all of my hesitations were unfounded after really getting into this one. I had very real concerns about dry hits without using extended wick tails, but during ALL of my testing, with normal tipping even when almost empty was enough to keep the party rolling. The whole “Where’s BJ SHI” thing is still weighing on me, but I’ll research that more. Great looks, saturated flavor, no leaking on it’s side, easy to build on and fill, it’s very hard to fault this one. If you want to RDA, RDTA, or even sqounk with a plethora of airflow options, you may want to pick this one up. I can honestly tell you this, at about the half way point of my testing, I already ordered another as a spare, if that helps you decide.
Colors:
***** Check out @2whiskymike’s write up, and VERY interesting alternate mesh wicking here. *****
As always, out to my faithful readers, if you HAVE indeed made it all the way down here, I thank you, and salute you for giving up some of YOUR free time to read this review. There is/was/is very little information out on this Plus v.4, so I hope this helps you out in that regard. Bonus shots for the worthy …
