Disclaimer: I bought this for myself. any and all opinions are my own.
So I've had the Aura ever since I picked up my first Pulse, so I've been messing around with it for about a month now. The atomizer now comes in 5 flavors, Black, SS, Gold, Red and Blue, which all come with an ultem 510 disc that serves as the base for the bottom airflow.
The black and SS come with black only 810 driptips (one wide and one tall), but the gold comes with a yellow ultem wide 810, while the red and blue come with a red and blue ultem (?) wide 810 drip tip respectively. the three colored attys come also come with a black delrin thinner 810 drip tip, and all versions come with a 510 adapter
I picked the gold one, because I was foolishly considering using this atomizer as an RDA and an RSA (rebuildable squonking atomizer) and I have a gold regulated mod. The thing has not left the top of my Pulse since I got it so I'm reviewing this atty in terms of a squonking atomizer.
Now this is probably the easiest build deck I've ever worked with. I love clamp decks, but flat clamps piss me off because i have to fiddle with the coil. This one is stepped, so you can leave your coil legs where they are, much like a velocity deck and its got 2 MASSIVE clamp screws. So you can throw your build in mighty quick, but since it's bottom airflow you want the coils over top of it yeah? Here lies the first issue. if you're using wide coils ( parallel or fused exotics) it is a ..... to get the center of the coil over the bottom airflow because of the step system and how close the middle of the clamps are. you can pre bend the outer legs to kind of help with this, but be prepared to fight the deck.
Now bottom airflow is great for flavor, but the Aura has the option for side airflow as well. Second problem, I can not get the bottom and side airflow to work together without being louder than all ..... in the month I've had it, I've had 5 build in it, all in different positions. If i position the coil to work with the side airflow, i get meh flavor when using the bottom. If i do the opposite, I get 0 flavor from the side. But no matter what I do, if I open up both airflows, it sounds like I'm a damn train whistle. I appreciate the option to use both bottom and side or bottom or side, but how loud it is is just bad.
That said, I used the Aura primarily as a bottom airflow RSA. In the month I have had it, I've only over squonked 6 times which is impressive considering its bottom airflow. I credit the fact that the juice well is super deep to why it squonks pretty well. the sqounk pin is also raised up above the deck so you can get a good 1 or 2 mls in the deck and leave it there.
Now, for the biggest con, this ....er gets HOT. Not warm and slightly uncomfortable, hot like you're getting a bowl of oatmeal out of the microwave hot. While i currently have a 24g ni80 fused clapton in there, it was getting just as hot with a simple 22g ni80 build in it. I wish i could tell you why it gets as hot as it does, but if you pick one up, do yourself a favor and don't use the wide driptip when vaping it, and try not to chain vape.
and a curious point. every single build that I put in it ohms out .02 lower than in any other atomizer for the same build. no idea why, it's never shorting out on or touching anything and all my posts are secured tightly. it might have something to do with the squonk pen, but I'm not 100% sure
So would I buy one again? Probably. It's not bad for what it is, but how hot this thing gets, I'd have a hard time justifying buying it again. I mean, no other atomizer i have owned has gotten this hot.
TL;DR and Rating
6.5/10. I love you DJLSB, and you made a mighty fine flavor atty, but the fact that I felt like I kissed the dragon with the top cap on and how loud the thing can be knocks it down a lot.
a 6.5 isn't terrible. it's got a lot going for it, I love the deck, I love the squonk experience, and I love the flavor i get, but I would consider this atomizer as a second or third pick up, not a first choice. If i had to do it all over, I'd probably wouldn't grab this as my first RSA.
So I've had the Aura ever since I picked up my first Pulse, so I've been messing around with it for about a month now. The atomizer now comes in 5 flavors, Black, SS, Gold, Red and Blue, which all come with an ultem 510 disc that serves as the base for the bottom airflow.
The black and SS come with black only 810 driptips (one wide and one tall), but the gold comes with a yellow ultem wide 810, while the red and blue come with a red and blue ultem (?) wide 810 drip tip respectively. the three colored attys come also come with a black delrin thinner 810 drip tip, and all versions come with a 510 adapter
I picked the gold one, because I was foolishly considering using this atomizer as an RDA and an RSA (rebuildable squonking atomizer) and I have a gold regulated mod. The thing has not left the top of my Pulse since I got it so I'm reviewing this atty in terms of a squonking atomizer.
Now this is probably the easiest build deck I've ever worked with. I love clamp decks, but flat clamps piss me off because i have to fiddle with the coil. This one is stepped, so you can leave your coil legs where they are, much like a velocity deck and its got 2 MASSIVE clamp screws. So you can throw your build in mighty quick, but since it's bottom airflow you want the coils over top of it yeah? Here lies the first issue. if you're using wide coils ( parallel or fused exotics) it is a ..... to get the center of the coil over the bottom airflow because of the step system and how close the middle of the clamps are. you can pre bend the outer legs to kind of help with this, but be prepared to fight the deck.
Now bottom airflow is great for flavor, but the Aura has the option for side airflow as well. Second problem, I can not get the bottom and side airflow to work together without being louder than all ..... in the month I've had it, I've had 5 build in it, all in different positions. If i position the coil to work with the side airflow, i get meh flavor when using the bottom. If i do the opposite, I get 0 flavor from the side. But no matter what I do, if I open up both airflows, it sounds like I'm a damn train whistle. I appreciate the option to use both bottom and side or bottom or side, but how loud it is is just bad.
That said, I used the Aura primarily as a bottom airflow RSA. In the month I have had it, I've only over squonked 6 times which is impressive considering its bottom airflow. I credit the fact that the juice well is super deep to why it squonks pretty well. the sqounk pin is also raised up above the deck so you can get a good 1 or 2 mls in the deck and leave it there.
Now, for the biggest con, this ....er gets HOT. Not warm and slightly uncomfortable, hot like you're getting a bowl of oatmeal out of the microwave hot. While i currently have a 24g ni80 fused clapton in there, it was getting just as hot with a simple 22g ni80 build in it. I wish i could tell you why it gets as hot as it does, but if you pick one up, do yourself a favor and don't use the wide driptip when vaping it, and try not to chain vape.
and a curious point. every single build that I put in it ohms out .02 lower than in any other atomizer for the same build. no idea why, it's never shorting out on or touching anything and all my posts are secured tightly. it might have something to do with the squonk pen, but I'm not 100% sure
So would I buy one again? Probably. It's not bad for what it is, but how hot this thing gets, I'd have a hard time justifying buying it again. I mean, no other atomizer i have owned has gotten this hot.
TL;DR and Rating
6.5/10. I love you DJLSB, and you made a mighty fine flavor atty, but the fact that I felt like I kissed the dragon with the top cap on and how loud the thing can be knocks it down a lot.
a 6.5 isn't terrible. it's got a lot going for it, I love the deck, I love the squonk experience, and I love the flavor i get, but I would consider this atomizer as a second or third pick up, not a first choice. If i had to do it all over, I'd probably wouldn't grab this as my first RSA.
