Hello there,
Today I have a first timer for the brand Hotcig, the Hotcig RDS. A new single 18650 device that also is referred to as the ‘dual-system’. Reason for this is because it’s a pod and a pod-mod, not only because of an included adapter but also because the chipset has two different modes POD and MOD.
Thank you Heavengifts for sending me this kit for the purpose of this review, much appreciated.
Specifications:
More information:
https://www.heavengifts.com/product/Hotcig-RDS-Pod-Kit.html
Packaging:
1 x Hotcig RDS Device
1 x Hotcig RM Pod
1 x RM1 Mesh Coil 0.3ohm
1 x RM3 Mesh Coil 1.2ohm
1 x DL Drip Tip
1 x MTL Drip Tip
1 x 510-thread Adapter
1 x Manual
1 x Type-C Cable
1 x Warranty Card
Review:
When opening the box, you get a very nice presentation, something that most brands only do in limited editions. It describes exactly what is inserted in the box, very nice start. Also, it is the first kit I received that has a fiber cloth included to clean your device, nice.
Esthetics is very subjective, but I myself love the looks of this device. Really cool that it is transparent, and you can see the internals of the mod. Good thing about seeing the internals is that you can be sure they spent a bit more time on getting things right inside there to make it look well. There are 4 color options available and the one I received looks great, the Amber. I would have preferred the ‘Clear’ color option probably, but this one looks nice as well.
It is quite a tall device, that is because the pod entered inside is quite tall as well. It lays very nicely in the hands and the form-factor they used is just perfect. It is very light-weight and that is because the body is made out of plastic (PCTG), but it does not feel cheap by any means. It is however noticeable that the plastic body is not made out of one piece, between the ‘seams’ there is some cracking going on when holding it strongly.
The only branding will be visible on the metal battery tube, where it mentions ‘Dual System’. Battery-cap feels proper and the threading feels smooth, but it is a thin battery cap and it is hard for me to really properly get a grip to it. Have to be really careful not losing this battery-cap.
I am used to tiny venting holes on such devices, but this device simply has large open sleeves on the battery cap, extreme venting. Would have preferred to have tinier venting holes as now putting it by accident on a wet surface is a certain wet battery. One minus is that there is no + nor - marking inside the batter tube, so you need to remember to put the battery with the + side towards the top of the device (which is actually kind of the standard).
It has one of those twist-navigation buttons, which means there is basically only one button on the device. I would prefer to just have the regular up and down buttons but have to say that this one turns nicely, clicking into place each turn. The fire-button is comfortable both thumb and index-finger fire, it also reacts very well.
A nice screen on the bottom of the device is bright enough and large enough to read all the details you need. It is however built into the frame quite deeply, so only way to properly see the whole screen is looking at it straightly. There is also come color-action going on which is nice.
Here are the things you can do with the devices control wheel and fire-button:
- 5x fire-button = power on/off
- 2x fire-button while on = lock/unlock the wheel, still able to fire
- 3x fire-button while on = opening the menu
The menu is where it starts to be interesting. The device recognizes if you are using the included pod or the included adapter. When inserting the pod, the device automatically switched to POD mode. In POD mode the functions in the menu are limited to ‘POWER’ (wattage), ‘COLORS’ (change theme color) and ‘MOD’ (switch to MOD mode). Another nice feature about the POD mode is that it recognizes the coil and limits the maximum wattage output. It also remembers your wattage setting after switching back from MOD to POD. It is possible when in POD mode to switch to MOD, and the wattage limitation won’t be there any longer, but I don’t see much reason to do so.
In MOD mode the device suddenly gets many more functions in the menu. When in MOD mode, in the menu you will find: ‘POWER’ (wattage), VOLT (Voltage), BYPASS, TEMP (TC), COLORS (Color theme settings) and POD (Switch to POD mode). Point being is that it really changes into a regular 18650-mod with all those functions. Conclusion about the whole chipset is that it is very smart, maybe even the smartest I have seen so far.
Nice addition is that you can switch between 5 theme-colors, blue, red, yellow, green and white. One downside of this chipset is that there is no way to reset the puff-counter manually, and when taking out the battery it automatically resets to 0. For those that are very much into puff-counting, this is not your device. Also, it does not round-robin at 80W, but it scrolls fast enough to not be too bothered about it.
Cool that you get the adapter inside the box, good to see more brands start doing this now. It is an adapter that connects with VERY strong magnets. Once inserted you need to twist the adapter till it clicks in place, a tiny hole inside the device and a pin on the pod make the click happen. You can put a tank up to 25mm on top of this device without any overhang. I have had no issues with the adapter turning or coming off, it sits in place very well. With a tank on top it is however quite a tall set up, quite a bit taller than your regular single 18650 battery-mod set up.
Pod has an easily accessible fill-hole on the side, and it is large enough for trouble-free filling. On top of the pod is a 510-connector, so you can use your own drip-tips, always good. Capacity wise it is quite acceptable with 4.2ml (with DTL coil) and 4.5ml (with mtl-coil).
Coils push in from the bottom with no issues, they go in only when the straight bottom of the coil is lined up with the straight edges on the pod. There are two airflow sleeves on both sides of the bottom of the pod, but you do not adjust your airflow on the pod itself, but once inserted into the device.
Magnets here as well make a strong connection, and you need to turn the put till it clicks into place, kind of the same as with the adapter. Once inserted you can adjust your airflow by grabbing the top-part of the pod and twisting it. It is twisting smoothly and with some nice restrictiveness to it, so it won’t easily turn on its own.
Airflow sounds very smooth, and even when fully open it is quite restricted, but that is totally fine as these coils anyway are rated up to 40W, no need for more airflow in my opinion. On their website however I do see they have a 0.15 mesh coil rated from 65-80W, not sure if the airflow would be too little as I have simply not tried.
Even though you do get an MTL coil and drip-tip, I find the airflow to be too loose even when entirely closed off. They could have somehow sealed it better or could have included a special pod with tinier air-inlets specially for MTL.
The DTL coil vapes very smoothly and delivers good flavor. Kind of like the regular mesh coils nowadays, they are all so very close in performance with some better than average (Freemax, Vaporesso and Wotofo).
MTL coil is also a mesh coil that delivers good flavor, but nothing special. I personally prefer round-wire coils above mesh, they seem to perform more stable than mesh mtl-coils.
As you might have seen on the specifications picture, there is also 3 other coils available for this kit, which I did not receive so I cannot give my judgement on that. Nice to see there is an RBA coil.
Conclusion:
An interesting kit that provides both a proper pod-mod and mod. It looks great in my opinion and feels very nicely in the hand. Getting the 510-adapter straight into the box is generous. A very smart chip which is easy to navigate through with a proper navigation wheel.
It vapes good as a pod-mod and vapes good as a mod, what else would you need?
What I found pros on this kit:
- Beautifully packed
- Two drip-tips and fiber cloth included
- Esthetics, looks just beautiful
- Ergonomically shaped
- Minimal branding
- Adapter included in the kit
- Strong magnetic connection both adapter and pod
- 18650 external battery mod
- Lays very nicely in the hand
- Proper fire-button/wheel
- Nice looking UI
- Smart device recognizing pod/mod
- Sufficient options in the menu
- Possibility to change UI color
- Nice DTL vape
- Airflow adjustment
I found six downsides on this device;
- It is quite tall for an 18650
- puff-counter resets after taking out the battery
- battery cap is thin and hard to grip onto
- Not able to get a tight MTL draw on the pod
- No ability to set wattage in TC
- Cracking sound between the seams on the body
6 downsides sound like a lot, but I have many more positives then negatives on this device and I generally really like using it. Have been using it without any failure for a good 2 weeks now, especially using it as an MTL-mod and DTL-pod.
The kit is available on Heavengifts for $45>
https://www.heavengifts.com/product/Hotcig-RDS-Pod-Kit.html
Special thanks to Christina Zhang from Heavengifts for sending me this kit.
Take care,
Sjoerd
