On paper these two rba's look very similar. The differences are, one you can buy for $94 shipped and the other, if you can find it, will likely cost you north of $200.
Behold the Aero BF (dragonfly ecigs) and the Chalice second run (classifieds).
The Aero BF is a strange animal. It is sweet in concept because the juice hole and posts relationship is similar to the chalice. But the juice hole on the Aero is tiny.
The air source for the Aero is weird - it's thru the 510. Easy enough to fix - just drill the SS top cap (thanks turbo and pdibby for describing how to drill virgin SS) and put an oring in the well and your good right? Not exactly.
Notice the oring between the cap and base on the Aero. That's because I had to significantly raise my micro coil from where I typically run it in my chalice. Why? Because that little tiny feed hole doesn't drain that well. It does if you leave the oring out of the 510 but who the heck wants a catchcup full of juice? It was like a flashback to the carto days.
So in with the oring, up with the coil and on with the oring in the cap to give a little more height to the airhole. Oh, and the Aero is tall because the base is about double the height of the chalice.
Here's the builds:
Have to also use a little more cotton to sop up the juice because of the coil height. But atleast the coil isn't partially submerged in juice now.
The other thing that sucks about the Aero is that every drip tip I tried basically falls out of it. Yep. It's loose. Also, the cap is straight thru, not ported like the chalice.
So most Orings were too small, one was too big and one holds the tip with just barely enough friction to keep it from sticking to your lips and extracting itself from the cap. This is probably the worst issue with the Aero. Who the hell builds an atty that barely holds a drip tip?
The vape is ok but, but hard to enjoy with a wiggly drip tip. The feed is ok, but drain not so great.
The Aero seems like a solid RBA - well crafted and SS, but I would have a hard time recommending this atty, an RM2 vapes better, builds easier and drains / feeds like a dream. Ditto for chalice, except I hate building it cause those finger screws decimate my fingertips
You can buy 2 RM2s for one Aero too.
My wife is on this "I heard brass is not good for you" trend right now. I'm not gonna argue with her cause I'm glad she's gaining an interest in my hobby / addiction. Means I can buy more RBAs. I wish there was a SS version of RM2 cause I love the RM2.
So I must find SS bottomfed RBAs.
Addendum #1: the more I tweak it the better it's getting. Definitely not a plug and play RBA like RM2 or chalice - more of trial and error getting the build tweaked. Also, rather than superglue my drip tip I wrapped a sliver of Teflon tape around the oring and it's tighter
Still not my favorite RBA but I'm getting it where it's vapable. Still don't see how I could ever take it out / pocket it cause its so tall (the base is actually like 2.5 times as tall as the chalice) and drip tip is not as secure as I like
.
Addendum # 2:
I got this Aero BF nailed now
Turns out that even with the slightly higher coil, less cotton is more. I trimmed it so a very short amount of wick protrudes on each side like my chalice and damn. It actually vapes perfect now.
The drainage was solved by playing with the oring in my bottle. It drains better now.
Took the oring off my drip tip and installed one wrap of Teflon tape in the groove. Reinstalled the oring, pushed in the drip tip and it's tight.
The last 3 days of tweaking resulted in a vape that ranged from the lamest to the best.
Trick is, build it just like chalice with a slightly higher ( by .5mm) coil. Squonk longer and vape like a Rockstar.
This thing is kickin AYuss now
But it's still tall. It's my in house vape
Behold the Aero BF (dragonfly ecigs) and the Chalice second run (classifieds).

The Aero BF is a strange animal. It is sweet in concept because the juice hole and posts relationship is similar to the chalice. But the juice hole on the Aero is tiny.
The air source for the Aero is weird - it's thru the 510. Easy enough to fix - just drill the SS top cap (thanks turbo and pdibby for describing how to drill virgin SS) and put an oring in the well and your good right? Not exactly.
Notice the oring between the cap and base on the Aero. That's because I had to significantly raise my micro coil from where I typically run it in my chalice. Why? Because that little tiny feed hole doesn't drain that well. It does if you leave the oring out of the 510 but who the heck wants a catchcup full of juice? It was like a flashback to the carto days.
So in with the oring, up with the coil and on with the oring in the cap to give a little more height to the airhole. Oh, and the Aero is tall because the base is about double the height of the chalice.
Here's the builds:

Have to also use a little more cotton to sop up the juice because of the coil height. But atleast the coil isn't partially submerged in juice now.
The other thing that sucks about the Aero is that every drip tip I tried basically falls out of it. Yep. It's loose. Also, the cap is straight thru, not ported like the chalice.
So most Orings were too small, one was too big and one holds the tip with just barely enough friction to keep it from sticking to your lips and extracting itself from the cap. This is probably the worst issue with the Aero. Who the hell builds an atty that barely holds a drip tip?
The vape is ok but, but hard to enjoy with a wiggly drip tip. The feed is ok, but drain not so great.
The Aero seems like a solid RBA - well crafted and SS, but I would have a hard time recommending this atty, an RM2 vapes better, builds easier and drains / feeds like a dream. Ditto for chalice, except I hate building it cause those finger screws decimate my fingertips
My wife is on this "I heard brass is not good for you" trend right now. I'm not gonna argue with her cause I'm glad she's gaining an interest in my hobby / addiction. Means I can buy more RBAs. I wish there was a SS version of RM2 cause I love the RM2.
So I must find SS bottomfed RBAs.
Addendum #1: the more I tweak it the better it's getting. Definitely not a plug and play RBA like RM2 or chalice - more of trial and error getting the build tweaked. Also, rather than superglue my drip tip I wrapped a sliver of Teflon tape around the oring and it's tighter
Still not my favorite RBA but I'm getting it where it's vapable. Still don't see how I could ever take it out / pocket it cause its so tall (the base is actually like 2.5 times as tall as the chalice) and drip tip is not as secure as I like
Addendum # 2:
I got this Aero BF nailed now
Turns out that even with the slightly higher coil, less cotton is more. I trimmed it so a very short amount of wick protrudes on each side like my chalice and damn. It actually vapes perfect now.
The drainage was solved by playing with the oring in my bottle. It drains better now.
Took the oring off my drip tip and installed one wrap of Teflon tape in the groove. Reinstalled the oring, pushed in the drip tip and it's tight.
The last 3 days of tweaking resulted in a vape that ranged from the lamest to the best.
Trick is, build it just like chalice with a slightly higher ( by .5mm) coil. Squonk longer and vape like a Rockstar.
This thing is kickin AYuss now

But it's still tall. It's my in house vape
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