Apollo ~The suave powerhouse!
Every now and then comes a product that intrigues your inner senses. You get that titilation - to know more, to get one, to play with it. The Apollo rda is one such. Many of us at the "By Leo thread followed this atty since its design stages - and knew it from the start that it was meant to be had!
Same folks who got you the immensely popular eBaron Dripper, one of the earliest and wildly successful rda, now bring forth another ace - The Apollo!
WHAT IS IT?
A Rebuildable Dripping Atomizer with some neat feats! For one, it looks cool, its different. For two, it can be setup in a myriad of different wick & coil configs. For three, it has voluminous airflow and can be controlled from the bottom as well as the sides. For four, it can be airy but yet remain flavourful. For five, it can be stripped down to its bare bones (user friendly complete disassembly) and be put back together with ease. For six, its robust, built well and comes with all spares and tools. And there are a few more whichd be revealed as this writeup continues!
Key Features & Specs:
1. Four post system (2 x negs and 2 x pos)
2. Bottom air hole (can be used with Squonkers)
3. Side air holes (can be fully closed or regulated)
4. Pos pole can be swapped between either hollow or solid core (both provided)
5. Two tone finish (all polished body with brushed AFC ring)
6. Customizable chamber with optional XTR attachment
7. Cyclops AFC on XTR mode (holes & slots otherwise)
8. Tri-design AFC (fit for multi-coils &/or single-coil setups)
9. Adjustable 510
10. Split cup deck (extremely affable to single coil builds)
11. Conical chamber
12. Unique and massive heat sinks
13. Bottom air slots under the base
14. Deep laser engravings
15. User Manual
The only RDA with one! And a detailed one at that!
16. Removable deck
Dimensions & Materials:
~OD: .............22mm
~Length: ........25.5mm
~Main unit: .....304L (food grade) stainless steel
~O-rings: ........Delrin
~Pos Insulator: Acetal
Package Contents:
1x Apollo
1x Mini Screwdriver
1x Brass Spacer rod
3x Spare O-rings
2x Spare screws
1x Solid Pos pole
1x Long pin
The Apollo comes exceptionally neat & clean (ultrasonic cleaned), in a ready to use condition straight out of the box. A good spares bag is added, which includes all the tools needed as well (everything is in it to get us going, including a pin to tweak our coils). Shipping is thru DHL - and it reaches you in 3 days.
BUILD QUALITY AND FINISH:
Mostly mirror polished - but the AFC ring is in satin / brushed, which gives the atty a smart two-tone outlook. The bottom end of the top cap carries all the engravings, which are deeply etched (laser engraved). It has the name of the atty - Apollo, the serial # and the modders name - By Leo. A striking visual feature of the Apollo is its conical top cap head, which is cut with four massive holes, acting as heat sinkers, but make the unit look very space capsulish - thus the apt name!
Pioneering design apart (more on it later) the workmanship is par excellent on this RDA. Every sub-part sits flush on each other, the edges are rounded, machining is perfect, fits all drip tips and surprisingly it looks good on every device that I tried, be it a mechanical or regulated - tubular or box mod. The fact is - it has been milled well and looks classy.
Design Concept:
A RDA it is - but a very adaptable one at that. It behaves above its class as a flavour dripper ~ it behaves equally superior as a volume vaping device. What with the enormous air inlets it is designed with, both as a bottom air-fed dripper (flavour shot) as well as a side intake atty (volume shot) - and each airway is adjustable. The build deck is actually a stainless steel cup, with four screws (two at each end - 2x Pos & 2x Negs) thru which drops down a Pos Pole that is hollow cored (2mm bore), which draws air from the bottom. This Pos Pole can be swapped with a solid core pin as well (provided in the spares bag), which is particularly useful when building traditional side mounted wick & coils.
Disassembly and Main Parts:
Apollo can be stripped down into six main parts. First disassembly will consist of two parts - (1)the base with deck and (2)the chamber with top cap. Both of these two can be further stripped into two parts each, thus leaving us with a total of six sub-parts:
(1) BASE UNIT INCLUDES:
-Deck cup
-Pos Pole
(2) CHAMBER UNIT INCLUDES:
-Topcp
-AFC Ring
Needless to say even the deck cup can be further dismantled into two pieces, the Pos unit and the Neg unit ~ but it is not required to be stripped during our day-to-day use.
#2 and #3 can be further broken down to two subparts each
Air Flow and AFC:
Apollo is fed with a tonnage of air! Both from the bottom as well as the sides. And as I mentioned before, each airway can be adjusted or blocked. There is a hollow core Pos Pole in the bottom (2mm air hole), which can be plugged using a solid core Pos Pole (available in the spares bag). In the side there are three sets of air holes ~ two sets for use in dual-coil or multi-coil modes and one set for single coil setups.
Each set consists of three air holes of 1.5mm each (total 3 x 1.5mm), which can be controlled by the cyclops styled slotted AFC ring. Thus in dual-coil mode there would be 2 x (3 x 1.5mm) air holes at two opposing ends, while in single-coil mode it will be just 3 x 1.5mm air holes at one side. And remember theres also the bottom air hole of 2mm. Thus together the Apollo can be setup for a very airy dripper. Notwithstanding the optional XTR mode, which can take it much further!
Replacing the Pos Pole:
As pictured above we can swap between two types of Pos Poles (hollow or solid core) by simply unscrewing one from the deck cup and screwing in the other. The tools required to do so is also provided in the spares bag (brass rod and mini screwdriver).
The XTR Module (optional):
If "cloud chasing" is your forte, the Apollo has it covered! This Extreme (XTR for short) module adds volume into the chamber, for adding more air-mix into the draw, thus has two additional features:
1. Larger chamber than the stock mode
2. Slotted Airholes* in the body replacing the 3 x 1.5mm holes
*Remember, the AFC was already slotted
This makes the apollo even more "open draw. And I have found it to be typically useful while using tri-coils and quad-coil setups. Yes, I have build them all. However, pls note that even under the stock mode - Apollo is actually a very much lung inhalable atty. XTR mode just changes / enhances the game!
~*SETTING-UP THE APOLLO*~
The Deck:
Our wick & coil setup is placed within a "deck cup" - and as pictured above this cup can be removed from the base to assist in rebuilding it. Not necessary (when building a single or dual coils) but the possibility enhances the ease of setting up. It is just a matter of screwing & unscrewing the deck cup from the base, which can be done by hand with no further requirement of excessive tightening (but if needed the 'brass rod can be used to apply some leverage).
Removing the Deck Cup:
The thinner curved half is the negative, the other being its positive post (which is slightly raised as well)
The Juice Well:
Apollo also has a sizeable juice well. At 5.5mm deep it holds sufficient e-liquid to give us a pretty good run before we need to refill. Depending on my build (# of coils and amount of cotton) I could easily soak in between 25-30 drops into this dripper. Yes, a helluva belly this atty indeed has!
(1) Single-Coil Setup:
28AWG Nichrome wire
CelluCotton Rayon
(2) Dual-Coil Setup:
This time I 'looped' the wires first into the terminal - and then made the coils on board
28AWG Nichrome wire
Same procedure repeated on the other end of the deck
CelluCotton Rayon
(3) Quad-Coil Setup:
Essentially the same setup as the Duals - just added another pair
All coils are built on board
PROS & CONS OF THE APOLLO:
Pros: The Apollo is unique and a wonderful dripper to deal with. Ive described above many of its superb qualities, some of them being ~ (1)very customizable atty to rebuild, (2)easy to attach coil (in single and dual-coil modes), (3)flavour chunker, (3)can be setup for very airy draw, (4)adjustable Pos pin (sits flush with all mods), (5)short & compact (no unnecessary real estate wastage), (6)drip tip doesnt get hot (due to heat vents on the top cap), (7)sturdy top cap fitment (dual O-rings on the base), (8)dark, deep & precise engravings, (9)good sized juice well (holds enough e-liquid), and (10)keep the AFC closed and it doesnt leak (nada from the bottom Pos pin).
Cons: There is just one imo. The tiny terminal screws (3.2mm nonetheless). Which makes attaching lower gauge wires very difficult. 28AWG (0.30mm) is just manageable, but anything lower could be a nightmare to mount in this atty. And unfortunately most RDA users prefer 24-28AWG only in their drippers. It would have been better if the modder could drill holes into the posts for easy entrapment of the wires. Im told they tried, but ran into space constraints.
BOTTOMLINE:
Im not seriously into dripping, yet Ive been constantly using my Apollo since the last few weeks. I believe thats bcoz of three good reasons: One - its an enticing lil fella, Two - its easy to drip and holds more juice than most other RDAs, and Three - it gives out a full-bodied and pleasurable vape experience! It seems a fit gear for dual-coils and with the bottom air hole intact our flavours really shine thru. Nonetheless, Ive been running a single-coil lately, about a week now ~ and it rocks!
The Apollo really is amazing. It will be noob friendly bcoz of its ease of rebuilding in single & duals - and yet doling out some top quality VTF. It will also be friendly to advance drippers bcoz of the diverse wick & coil configs it can handle - as well us favour super low Ohms.
Overall I see the Apollo as a serious contender in today's RDA scenario bcoz it handles both "flavour and vapour mix" so very well. It is a Magma and a Veritas amalgamated into one, if that analogy makes sense. And upped by its own neat feats - especially with some head-turner looks! This is one of those devices where you feel the love and deliberation put by the modder into his/her creation.
Thanks to Team Leo I am a Happy Dripper once again!
--------------------------------------------------
Get it at: www.byleo.eu/bl/en/45-apollo-rda
--------------------------------------------------
Every now and then comes a product that intrigues your inner senses. You get that titilation - to know more, to get one, to play with it. The Apollo rda is one such. Many of us at the "By Leo thread followed this atty since its design stages - and knew it from the start that it was meant to be had!
Same folks who got you the immensely popular eBaron Dripper, one of the earliest and wildly successful rda, now bring forth another ace - The Apollo!
WHAT IS IT?
A Rebuildable Dripping Atomizer with some neat feats! For one, it looks cool, its different. For two, it can be setup in a myriad of different wick & coil configs. For three, it has voluminous airflow and can be controlled from the bottom as well as the sides. For four, it can be airy but yet remain flavourful. For five, it can be stripped down to its bare bones (user friendly complete disassembly) and be put back together with ease. For six, its robust, built well and comes with all spares and tools. And there are a few more whichd be revealed as this writeup continues!
Key Features & Specs:
1. Four post system (2 x negs and 2 x pos)
2. Bottom air hole (can be used with Squonkers)
3. Side air holes (can be fully closed or regulated)
4. Pos pole can be swapped between either hollow or solid core (both provided)
5. Two tone finish (all polished body with brushed AFC ring)
6. Customizable chamber with optional XTR attachment
7. Cyclops AFC on XTR mode (holes & slots otherwise)
8. Tri-design AFC (fit for multi-coils &/or single-coil setups)
9. Adjustable 510
10. Split cup deck (extremely affable to single coil builds)
11. Conical chamber
12. Unique and massive heat sinks
13. Bottom air slots under the base
14. Deep laser engravings
15. User Manual
16. Removable deck
Dimensions & Materials:
~OD: .............22mm
~Length: ........25.5mm
~Main unit: .....304L (food grade) stainless steel
~O-rings: ........Delrin
~Pos Insulator: Acetal
Package Contents:
1x Apollo
1x Mini Screwdriver
1x Brass Spacer rod
3x Spare O-rings
2x Spare screws
1x Solid Pos pole
1x Long pin
The Apollo comes exceptionally neat & clean (ultrasonic cleaned), in a ready to use condition straight out of the box. A good spares bag is added, which includes all the tools needed as well (everything is in it to get us going, including a pin to tweak our coils). Shipping is thru DHL - and it reaches you in 3 days.
BUILD QUALITY AND FINISH:
Mostly mirror polished - but the AFC ring is in satin / brushed, which gives the atty a smart two-tone outlook. The bottom end of the top cap carries all the engravings, which are deeply etched (laser engraved). It has the name of the atty - Apollo, the serial # and the modders name - By Leo. A striking visual feature of the Apollo is its conical top cap head, which is cut with four massive holes, acting as heat sinkers, but make the unit look very space capsulish - thus the apt name!
Pioneering design apart (more on it later) the workmanship is par excellent on this RDA. Every sub-part sits flush on each other, the edges are rounded, machining is perfect, fits all drip tips and surprisingly it looks good on every device that I tried, be it a mechanical or regulated - tubular or box mod. The fact is - it has been milled well and looks classy.
Design Concept:
A RDA it is - but a very adaptable one at that. It behaves above its class as a flavour dripper ~ it behaves equally superior as a volume vaping device. What with the enormous air inlets it is designed with, both as a bottom air-fed dripper (flavour shot) as well as a side intake atty (volume shot) - and each airway is adjustable. The build deck is actually a stainless steel cup, with four screws (two at each end - 2x Pos & 2x Negs) thru which drops down a Pos Pole that is hollow cored (2mm bore), which draws air from the bottom. This Pos Pole can be swapped with a solid core pin as well (provided in the spares bag), which is particularly useful when building traditional side mounted wick & coils.
Disassembly and Main Parts:
Apollo can be stripped down into six main parts. First disassembly will consist of two parts - (1)the base with deck and (2)the chamber with top cap. Both of these two can be further stripped into two parts each, thus leaving us with a total of six sub-parts:
(1) BASE UNIT INCLUDES:
-Deck cup
-Pos Pole
(2) CHAMBER UNIT INCLUDES:
-Topcp
-AFC Ring
Needless to say even the deck cup can be further dismantled into two pieces, the Pos unit and the Neg unit ~ but it is not required to be stripped during our day-to-day use.
#2 and #3 can be further broken down to two subparts each
Air Flow and AFC:
Apollo is fed with a tonnage of air! Both from the bottom as well as the sides. And as I mentioned before, each airway can be adjusted or blocked. There is a hollow core Pos Pole in the bottom (2mm air hole), which can be plugged using a solid core Pos Pole (available in the spares bag). In the side there are three sets of air holes ~ two sets for use in dual-coil or multi-coil modes and one set for single coil setups.
Each set consists of three air holes of 1.5mm each (total 3 x 1.5mm), which can be controlled by the cyclops styled slotted AFC ring. Thus in dual-coil mode there would be 2 x (3 x 1.5mm) air holes at two opposing ends, while in single-coil mode it will be just 3 x 1.5mm air holes at one side. And remember theres also the bottom air hole of 2mm. Thus together the Apollo can be setup for a very airy dripper. Notwithstanding the optional XTR mode, which can take it much further!
Replacing the Pos Pole:
As pictured above we can swap between two types of Pos Poles (hollow or solid core) by simply unscrewing one from the deck cup and screwing in the other. The tools required to do so is also provided in the spares bag (brass rod and mini screwdriver).
The XTR Module (optional):
If "cloud chasing" is your forte, the Apollo has it covered! This Extreme (XTR for short) module adds volume into the chamber, for adding more air-mix into the draw, thus has two additional features:
1. Larger chamber than the stock mode
2. Slotted Airholes* in the body replacing the 3 x 1.5mm holes
*Remember, the AFC was already slotted
This makes the apollo even more "open draw. And I have found it to be typically useful while using tri-coils and quad-coil setups. Yes, I have build them all. However, pls note that even under the stock mode - Apollo is actually a very much lung inhalable atty. XTR mode just changes / enhances the game!
~*SETTING-UP THE APOLLO*~
The Deck:
Our wick & coil setup is placed within a "deck cup" - and as pictured above this cup can be removed from the base to assist in rebuilding it. Not necessary (when building a single or dual coils) but the possibility enhances the ease of setting up. It is just a matter of screwing & unscrewing the deck cup from the base, which can be done by hand with no further requirement of excessive tightening (but if needed the 'brass rod can be used to apply some leverage).
Removing the Deck Cup:
The thinner curved half is the negative, the other being its positive post (which is slightly raised as well)
The Juice Well:
Apollo also has a sizeable juice well. At 5.5mm deep it holds sufficient e-liquid to give us a pretty good run before we need to refill. Depending on my build (# of coils and amount of cotton) I could easily soak in between 25-30 drops into this dripper. Yes, a helluva belly this atty indeed has!
(1) Single-Coil Setup:
28AWG Nichrome wire
CelluCotton Rayon
(2) Dual-Coil Setup:
This time I 'looped' the wires first into the terminal - and then made the coils on board
28AWG Nichrome wire
Same procedure repeated on the other end of the deck
CelluCotton Rayon
(3) Quad-Coil Setup:
Essentially the same setup as the Duals - just added another pair
All coils are built on board
PROS & CONS OF THE APOLLO:
Pros: The Apollo is unique and a wonderful dripper to deal with. Ive described above many of its superb qualities, some of them being ~ (1)very customizable atty to rebuild, (2)easy to attach coil (in single and dual-coil modes), (3)flavour chunker, (3)can be setup for very airy draw, (4)adjustable Pos pin (sits flush with all mods), (5)short & compact (no unnecessary real estate wastage), (6)drip tip doesnt get hot (due to heat vents on the top cap), (7)sturdy top cap fitment (dual O-rings on the base), (8)dark, deep & precise engravings, (9)good sized juice well (holds enough e-liquid), and (10)keep the AFC closed and it doesnt leak (nada from the bottom Pos pin).
Cons: There is just one imo. The tiny terminal screws (3.2mm nonetheless). Which makes attaching lower gauge wires very difficult. 28AWG (0.30mm) is just manageable, but anything lower could be a nightmare to mount in this atty. And unfortunately most RDA users prefer 24-28AWG only in their drippers. It would have been better if the modder could drill holes into the posts for easy entrapment of the wires. Im told they tried, but ran into space constraints.
BOTTOMLINE:
Im not seriously into dripping, yet Ive been constantly using my Apollo since the last few weeks. I believe thats bcoz of three good reasons: One - its an enticing lil fella, Two - its easy to drip and holds more juice than most other RDAs, and Three - it gives out a full-bodied and pleasurable vape experience! It seems a fit gear for dual-coils and with the bottom air hole intact our flavours really shine thru. Nonetheless, Ive been running a single-coil lately, about a week now ~ and it rocks!
The Apollo really is amazing. It will be noob friendly bcoz of its ease of rebuilding in single & duals - and yet doling out some top quality VTF. It will also be friendly to advance drippers bcoz of the diverse wick & coil configs it can handle - as well us favour super low Ohms.
Overall I see the Apollo as a serious contender in today's RDA scenario bcoz it handles both "flavour and vapour mix" so very well. It is a Magma and a Veritas amalgamated into one, if that analogy makes sense. And upped by its own neat feats - especially with some head-turner looks! This is one of those devices where you feel the love and deliberation put by the modder into his/her creation.
Thanks to Team Leo I am a Happy Dripper once again!
--------------------------------------------------
Get it at: www.byleo.eu/bl/en/45-apollo-rda
--------------------------------------------------
