Hi All, Anthony Vapes back here with my review of the Vandy vape Capstone rda, please see the bottom for disclaimers and links
Introduction:
The Capstone RDA is one of the latest RDAs from very popular manufacturer Vandy Vape. Most popular for their Pulse line of products with the pulse 24 and pulse 22 RDAs plus the pulse squonk mods they also had quite a few hits in the community like the kylin RTA as well. The Capstone is designed in conjunction with Vape Happy who i have no idea who they are and is made to be a dual coil RDA with a single post similar to the dot RTA from dotmod. It’s available in 4 colors SS, Gold, Rainbow and Black and available for 25-40 USD online
Manufacturer's Specs
album
Initial Impressions and features
When I first got this RDA It felt to me like a similar RDA to the dotmod Dot RDA i reviewed last year. 24mm dual coil RDA with a single post spring loaded deck. Their main pushing feature on this is that the squonk will drip right over the coils but the Dot also did the same thing as well so it’s nothing new. It comes with 2 caps a regular metal cap that looks kind of like a meat tenderizer in design and a PC (polycarbonate) clear cap as well both with the same side airflow. Overall i was kinda iffy on this from the start. It seemed good but not great or new feeling.
Build Deck and Wicking (pics above)
Let’s talk about the build deck now. It’s very similar to the Dot RDA from Dotmod in that they use a single post stacked deck. It’s like a giant pyramid that takes up a ton of space in the build deck. You unscrew the 1 screw for it which is a flat/phillips combo screw and good quality and pretty bulky so no issues there and it opens up and allows you to install your coils with 1 lead on the bottom and 1 on the top. You do have to install both at the same time but it’s still really easy to build on. They also include a pre-marked lead cutting tool which is great at 7mm long. Use the tool to precut your leads then just slide them in and tighten it. The main difference between this and the dot is the dot used a screw you can tighten by hand first which was nice. You only needed a tool to finish it off. With the capstone you’ll need to use a screwdriver while holding both coils in place as you tighten down. Not a big deal to me but i can see it being difficult for some. Also the large deck really takes away from build possibilities. Personally I found it best with a 2.5mm ID build. The issue with a 3mm ID build is the squonking would flow over the coils and out of the air holes. You can fix that but raising the coils up higher however this means that it won’t squonk directly on the coils and takes away one of the bonus points of the RDA. Overall not a fan of the build deck I think it’s too large and takes up too much space in the RDA
Wicking on it is quite easy. It’s an RDA so nothing fancy just drop your leads to the bottom
Performance
Performance wise, I used it as a dual coil RDA only as intended. I ran 4 builds in this a fancy 3mm ID build, 2 fancy 2.5mm ID builds and 1 simple round 2.5mm ID builds. It really isn’t made to go any bigger than 3mm ID as the deck takes up too much room and even at 3mm ID you can squonk right over the coil and out of the airflow hole. I talked to VV at ECC about this and their “solution” was moving the coils up which takes away the whole point of squonking right on the coils and also moves the coils further away from the air. Makes no sense to me. I tried it and it was pointless. My advice is to stick with a 2.5mm ID. Wraps wise you can go as many as the deck. It’s pretty universal as in you can do lots or wraps or a medium amount of wraps. It’s DTL for sure so you’ll want a decent sized coil in there especially since you can only go 2.5mm ID. Still with that said the flavor is good on it. Above average for a medium watt dual coil RDA. somewhere in the 40-80 watt range. I really enjoyed the flavor from this RDA.
Overall Impressions, Details, and Extras
Let’s talk about the airflow now. It has side airflow 2 hole on each side. The included PC cap does not have adjustable airflow. The Metal cap however does but it’s insanely hard to adjust. Personally I found it easier to pop the top part out and reseat it where you want to but it’s better to just leave it open. It should have been easier to adjust the airflow. You can’t really spin it at all.
It comes with 1 standard 810 friction fit drip tip that is a clear PC, It also comes with a 510 delrin tip and a 510 adapter as well. Personally I liked the clear Drip tip. It fits in well and has the right amount of snugness and also works with any of your own friction fit or o-ringed. The PC cap doesn't use a drip tip and won’t fit one either. It’s too big for a 510 tip and too small for an 810 tip. The quality on the Vandy Vape Capstone RDA is pretty good. The o-rings all feel right and the top cap is snug but not tight. The post screw is good quality as well. My only quality complaint is the o-ring for the AFC which is too tight and hard to adjust. Outside of that no complaints. It comes with a standard 510 pin and a BF 510 pin. The Bottom fed 510 pin has a hole in the side so it goes right on your coil when you squonk. The juice well is kinda small as well because the deck takes up so much space. It’s higher but not a lot of room for juice. Due to the deck design you can drip right down the middle as a dripper without taking the top off.
It’s a 24mm diameter so should not overhang on most mods on the market today. There is plenty of spare o-rings and a spare post screw and springs for it. It also comes with 2 coils clearly labeled which is great. Thay are Ni80 fused claptons (26g x 2 + 35g) 3mm ID 6 wrap .28 ohms. And a screwdriver tool. Branding is very simple. Nothing on the outside of the metal cap and the PC cap just has capstone on the bottom. They don’t include any cotton though a couple of cotton pads would have been nice.
Pros:
So with all that said, do I recommend this RDA?I don’t like to do a hard yes or no, i’m gonna call this one 50/50. I wouldn’t tell people to avoid it because it does have good flavor and some can overlook other issues for that, but the limited build space, over bulky build deck, not really beginner friendly building, lack of a juice well and some other odd design choices means i wouldn’t tell people to get it either. If you wanted a top squonk RDA i’d just go with the dot RDA instead which came out a year ago but manages to be a better version of the capstone regardless
This is Anthony Vapes just keeping it honest, hopefully you all can say the same and i’ll catch you on my next review.
Product Disclaimer
This product was sent to me from Vandy Vape
Review Disclaimer
Due to possible QC difference your experience may vary.
Reviewer Disclaimer
I’ve been doing vape reviews since late 2016 and have done around 200 reviews to date. I enjoy helping vapers on forums as well and helping contribute to the great vape community. I’m not an “out of the box” reviewer. I do my best to be thorough at all times and have enough experience with many products to tell what’s good and what’s not. All mods get tested with an oscilloscope and stress tested and results are posted in my reviews.
Recommendations and Past Review Links
written reviews list here
Youtube Channel here
Spreadhseet of Recommendations here
Best of 2018 so far list here
Best of 2017 list here
Introduction:
The Capstone RDA is one of the latest RDAs from very popular manufacturer Vandy Vape. Most popular for their Pulse line of products with the pulse 24 and pulse 22 RDAs plus the pulse squonk mods they also had quite a few hits in the community like the kylin RTA as well. The Capstone is designed in conjunction with Vape Happy who i have no idea who they are and is made to be a dual coil RDA with a single post similar to the dot RTA from dotmod. It’s available in 4 colors SS, Gold, Rainbow and Black and available for 25-40 USD online
Manufacturer's Specs
- 24mm Diameter
- Weight - 105g
- 6mm Deep Juice Well
- Superior Stainless Steel Construction
- Special Grooved Texture on Wall Sleeve
- Optional Frosted PC Comp Cap
- Spring-Loaded Capstone Build Deck
- Top Secured via Spring Loaded Vertical Screw
- Single or Dual Coil Configuration
- Ramp Airflow System - Side to Underneath Coils
- Dual Slotted Trapezoid Airflow Control
- Conical Competition Cap for Increased Flavor
- 810 13.8mm Frost Wide Bore Drip Tip
- 510 13.8mm Delrin Wide Bore Drip Tip
- 510 Drip Tip Adapter
- Squonk BF 510 Pin - Unique Waterfall Action
- Gold-Plated 510 Connection
- Available in Stainless Steel, Black, Gold, Rainbow
- 1 Capstone RDA
- 1 Frosted PC Comp Cap
- 1 Frosted 810 Drip Tip
- 1 Delrin 510 Drip Tip
- 1 510 Drip Tip Adapter
- 1 Coil Lead Guide
- 1 Spare Parts Bag
- 1 Instructional Manual
album
Initial Impressions and features
When I first got this RDA It felt to me like a similar RDA to the dotmod Dot RDA i reviewed last year. 24mm dual coil RDA with a single post spring loaded deck. Their main pushing feature on this is that the squonk will drip right over the coils but the Dot also did the same thing as well so it’s nothing new. It comes with 2 caps a regular metal cap that looks kind of like a meat tenderizer in design and a PC (polycarbonate) clear cap as well both with the same side airflow. Overall i was kinda iffy on this from the start. It seemed good but not great or new feeling.
Build Deck and Wicking (pics above)
Let’s talk about the build deck now. It’s very similar to the Dot RDA from Dotmod in that they use a single post stacked deck. It’s like a giant pyramid that takes up a ton of space in the build deck. You unscrew the 1 screw for it which is a flat/phillips combo screw and good quality and pretty bulky so no issues there and it opens up and allows you to install your coils with 1 lead on the bottom and 1 on the top. You do have to install both at the same time but it’s still really easy to build on. They also include a pre-marked lead cutting tool which is great at 7mm long. Use the tool to precut your leads then just slide them in and tighten it. The main difference between this and the dot is the dot used a screw you can tighten by hand first which was nice. You only needed a tool to finish it off. With the capstone you’ll need to use a screwdriver while holding both coils in place as you tighten down. Not a big deal to me but i can see it being difficult for some. Also the large deck really takes away from build possibilities. Personally I found it best with a 2.5mm ID build. The issue with a 3mm ID build is the squonking would flow over the coils and out of the air holes. You can fix that but raising the coils up higher however this means that it won’t squonk directly on the coils and takes away one of the bonus points of the RDA. Overall not a fan of the build deck I think it’s too large and takes up too much space in the RDA
Wicking on it is quite easy. It’s an RDA so nothing fancy just drop your leads to the bottom
Performance
Performance wise, I used it as a dual coil RDA only as intended. I ran 4 builds in this a fancy 3mm ID build, 2 fancy 2.5mm ID builds and 1 simple round 2.5mm ID builds. It really isn’t made to go any bigger than 3mm ID as the deck takes up too much room and even at 3mm ID you can squonk right over the coil and out of the airflow hole. I talked to VV at ECC about this and their “solution” was moving the coils up which takes away the whole point of squonking right on the coils and also moves the coils further away from the air. Makes no sense to me. I tried it and it was pointless. My advice is to stick with a 2.5mm ID. Wraps wise you can go as many as the deck. It’s pretty universal as in you can do lots or wraps or a medium amount of wraps. It’s DTL for sure so you’ll want a decent sized coil in there especially since you can only go 2.5mm ID. Still with that said the flavor is good on it. Above average for a medium watt dual coil RDA. somewhere in the 40-80 watt range. I really enjoyed the flavor from this RDA.
Overall Impressions, Details, and Extras
Let’s talk about the airflow now. It has side airflow 2 hole on each side. The included PC cap does not have adjustable airflow. The Metal cap however does but it’s insanely hard to adjust. Personally I found it easier to pop the top part out and reseat it where you want to but it’s better to just leave it open. It should have been easier to adjust the airflow. You can’t really spin it at all.
It comes with 1 standard 810 friction fit drip tip that is a clear PC, It also comes with a 510 delrin tip and a 510 adapter as well. Personally I liked the clear Drip tip. It fits in well and has the right amount of snugness and also works with any of your own friction fit or o-ringed. The PC cap doesn't use a drip tip and won’t fit one either. It’s too big for a 510 tip and too small for an 810 tip. The quality on the Vandy Vape Capstone RDA is pretty good. The o-rings all feel right and the top cap is snug but not tight. The post screw is good quality as well. My only quality complaint is the o-ring for the AFC which is too tight and hard to adjust. Outside of that no complaints. It comes with a standard 510 pin and a BF 510 pin. The Bottom fed 510 pin has a hole in the side so it goes right on your coil when you squonk. The juice well is kinda small as well because the deck takes up so much space. It’s higher but not a lot of room for juice. Due to the deck design you can drip right down the middle as a dripper without taking the top off.
It’s a 24mm diameter so should not overhang on most mods on the market today. There is plenty of spare o-rings and a spare post screw and springs for it. It also comes with 2 coils clearly labeled which is great. Thay are Ni80 fused claptons (26g x 2 + 35g) 3mm ID 6 wrap .28 ohms. And a screwdriver tool. Branding is very simple. Nothing on the outside of the metal cap and the PC cap just has capstone on the bottom. They don’t include any cotton though a couple of cotton pads would have been nice.
Pros:
- 2 Standard drip tips (510 Delrin and 810 clear PC) and 510 adapter
- standard 510 pin and squonk pin included
- plenty of spare o-rings
- simple branding
- comes with 2 clearly labeled coils
- Good Flavor
- Color Options
- 2 caps included (PC and metal)
- good quality post screw
- Not a fan looks wise of the metal cap
- Feels like a worse off version of the dot RDA
- 3mm ID coils can cause you to squonk right out of the air hole
- Deck could be easier to build on. Some may have issues
- AFC is hard to adjust
- small juice well
So with all that said, do I recommend this RDA?I don’t like to do a hard yes or no, i’m gonna call this one 50/50. I wouldn’t tell people to avoid it because it does have good flavor and some can overlook other issues for that, but the limited build space, over bulky build deck, not really beginner friendly building, lack of a juice well and some other odd design choices means i wouldn’t tell people to get it either. If you wanted a top squonk RDA i’d just go with the dot RDA instead which came out a year ago but manages to be a better version of the capstone regardless
This is Anthony Vapes just keeping it honest, hopefully you all can say the same and i’ll catch you on my next review.
Product Disclaimer
This product was sent to me from Vandy Vape
Review Disclaimer
Due to possible QC difference your experience may vary.
Reviewer Disclaimer
I’ve been doing vape reviews since late 2016 and have done around 200 reviews to date. I enjoy helping vapers on forums as well and helping contribute to the great vape community. I’m not an “out of the box” reviewer. I do my best to be thorough at all times and have enough experience with many products to tell what’s good and what’s not. All mods get tested with an oscilloscope and stress tested and results are posted in my reviews.
Recommendations and Past Review Links
written reviews list here
Youtube Channel here
Spreadhseet of Recommendations here
Best of 2018 so far list here
Best of 2017 list here
