I received this rda free of charge from a company that would like to remain anonymous for the purpose of this review. Regardless of this, it will not color my opinion on this review in any way, shape or form.
Before I continue with this review I want to point out that if the company who sent me this rda hadn’t sent the Ultem cap that you see in the pictures (which costs extra), I wouldn’t have done this review at all. Therefore I am basically doing the review outside the parameters of what is included in the package when you purchase this rda, and I am only doing that to be able to review it’s performance. You will understand the reason for this if you continue reading…
Packaging
It comes in a small pouch made of imitation leather with the SLY logo embossed on it. Inside you find the RDA and a goodie bag with a few spare o-rings, 4 extra grub screws and a certificate of authenticity badge made out of plastic.
The RDA
It is a 24mm 3-piece RDA with both bottom and top airflow design. You can get it in 3 different colors, Black, Gold and SS and the one I received is Black. Like many other manufacturers of exotic RDA’s, this one does also have it’s own proprietary drip tip size. I don’t own any drip tips that would fit into this one and even if I did, it would have to have threading since the drip tip is threaded. In addition to that, the included drip tip has a spit guard.
Adjusting the airflow with the original Black AFC ring is a breeze - but not in a good way - as the o-rings don’t do anywhere near what they are intended to do. The AFC ring would fall off just by me looking at it the wrong way, and I was about to give up on using this RDA due to the hassle of that cap sitting so loose and the resulting leaking. Had it not been for the Ultem cap, this review would have looked very differently.
I have tried all the o-rings that came with it (all 2 of them) and neither are worthy of being called o-rings - at least not on this RDA; it’s like using the RDA without any o-rings attached to it. I must say that Pinoy Underground Customs have done a crap job of selecting the o-rings and that’s not all she wrote…
The deck itself has flaws - it’s a hassle to build on since the coil legs have to go into the posts at an angle. When I built on it they did get stuck in the post and I had to use a screwdriver to free the leg so I could continue, but thats just a minor flaw to be honest.
A bigger flaw is the shallow deck with basically no juice well, and to top it off it is really cramped, leaving you with very little room for cotton. Those two factors, combined with the bottom airflow, make this RDA a leaking son of a ...... When you are dripping you kinda need to paint the coils carefully, have a few toots, and then paint the coils yet again in order to be able to have a few toots - and despite that it will still leak on you. Such a shame as it does produce great flavor!
Had it not been been for all the flaws I’d have liked this RDA - I think it has the potential to be a good RDA if they take it back to the drawing board and give it a design overhaul. Personally, I would make the juice well a lot deeper and at the same time elevate the bottom airflow tubes so they are above the deck. That way you will avoid some direct leaking from juice sitting in the well and running down the airflow tubes.
I might also reconsider redesigning the deck a tad, perhaps making it a post-less deck to make it easier to build. While they’re at it they could redesign the airflow system, making it a lot easier to set what kind of airflow you want and fine tune it. As it is right now, it is kinda difficult to set the airflow and that again is a con for me.
Assessment
If every single one of the SLY’s produced is like the one I received, all I can say is that it is a crap RDA. So much so that they should seriously consider taking it off the market, considering how bad the shortcomings are and how much it costs, about $85. I am actually offended that an RDA costing as much as this one can be so ....ing bad (excuse my profanity) and I feel truly sorry for those who have bought one and gotten something as bad as me - especially if they haven’t been able to get their money back.
Just the hassle of having to put up with something this bad, then trying to convince a dealer it is crap, and the time and effort that went into doing this shouldn’t have to happen either.
Needless to say, Pinoy Underground Customs lack at least one basic thing and that is Quality Control, since crap like this should never have left their company in the first place. Another thing they should consider is firing the designer, since he appears to have no clue what he is doing - the outcome clearly shows that.
Can I recommend it to others?
To that question there is only one honest answer and that is HELL NO! I could never recommend anything like this to anyone who is reading this review, as it would make me the worst reviewer ever - and that my friends, is something I think I’m not.
Steer clear of the SLY RDA and spend you hard earned money on something that is actually well-built and will serve you well for a long time. Something that will give you a really nice vaping experience.
Pros and Cons
I won’t be doing any pros or cons on this RDA. Let’s be real honest here… it would serve no purpose since I do not rate the RDA as a whole.
It is a total fail - at least the one sent to me.
I would like to inform you that I contacted Pinoy Underground Customs and explained to them how bad the RDA I had received was, giving them the opportunity to save face and ship me another one for the purpose of this review. Unfortunately they haven’t had the courtesy to reply in any way whatsoever. This kinda gives me the impression that they don’t really give a ...., which in turn is a great shame, demonstrating an evident flaw in Customer Service on top of everything else.
You can get it here:
Needless to say I won’t post any links on where to find this RDA, based on how this review has turned out. Those of you that wanna try your luck anyway will be able to find a place to buy this I’m sure.
Thanks for reading this far and Vape On!
Norseman
