I've been building on rda's for several years now, and have built just about every type of coil build out there from thin-gauge single microcoils, to dual staple staggered fused Clapton coils, and everything in between. I've settled on simple dual-coil builds for my typical day-to-day use, but also enjoy making some more exotic builds from time to time.
I'm looking for an RTA for convenience when I'm out and about, but since for the past few years I've only been following developments with rda's, I'm basically clueless when it comes to RTA's. Here are my criteria:
I know I'm asking for a lot here, but as I have absolutely zero experience with RTA's and have never kept up with what's available in the RTA department, you can probably understand the difficulty I am having wading through the huge variety of RTA models currently available. Any recommendations on an RTA which meets as many of these criteria as possible is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for reading through my very long list of criteria -- I doubt there is one which meets them all, but I am hoping that there exists an RTA which at least meets most of them.
I'm looking for an RTA for convenience when I'm out and about, but since for the past few years I've only been following developments with rda's, I'm basically clueless when it comes to RTA's. Here are my criteria:
- Small juice capacity and relatively compact: I switch out flavors constantly with my RDA's, so I would like to have a small juice capacity in an RTA, something on the order of 2 - 3 mL. I also want it to be compact in overall size. I can go with up to a 25 mm diameter, and might actually prefer a 24 or 25 mm RTA (if there even are any with a small juice capacity) if it is shorter in height compared to a 22 mm RTA.
- Dual coil deck: I run with dual coil builds in my RDA's probably about 90% of the time, so this is a must. Support for single-coil builds would be nice, but it is definitely not a requirement.
- Two post deck: Whether it is a Velocity-style deck, a clamp system like the Goon RDA, or just a simple deck with a single positive post hole and a single negative post hole doesn't matter too much. I really like the clamp system on my 24 mm Goon, so an RTA with a similar deck would be great, but as long as it has a two post deck I will be happy.
- Works with short wick tails: I've always gotten better performance in my RDA's which don't have an extra deep drip well, only needing very short wick tails to reach the bottom of the well. In my experience with RDA's, shorter tails wick juice more efficiently than longer tails, so I find myself using my RDA's with moderately deep juice wells (like the 5 mm well on my Goon) much more than my Lush, Magma, and Holmes V2, all of which have rather deep juice wells.
- Moderately loose draw: Most of the time, I don't vape MTL, but I also don't do "true" direct lung hits either. It's kind of hard to explain the way I vape -- part goes into my lungs, but a good part also stays in my mouth, and I exhale it all (without first inhaling what's in my mouth). My Goon RDA with two of its 3 mm air holes open on each side is my "perfect draw". From time to time, however, I do like to close off the airflow and vape MTL, or set it wide open and do direct lung hits, so an adjustable airflow with enough range to do either would be awesome. But I know I am already asking a lot from an RTA, so as long as it can support a draw similar to a total of four round 3 mm air holes, I'll be happy.
- Flavor is more important that clouds, but not by much: I do love being able to blow large clouds, but overall, better flavor is preferable. Since I mix my own juice, I can always adjust the amount of flavorings to help make up for an atomizer's lack of flavor. And since I already own multiple RDA's which are quite capable of great vapor production that I can turn to if I'm in the mood to blow massive clouds, I'm a bit more flexible with this criteria than the others.
- Works with high VG juice...: I mix my juice with VG, and use PG-based flavoring and PG nicotine. Depending on the total flavor concentration of each recipe, the final product ends up somewhere between 75% VG / 25% PG and 85% VG / 15% PG, so the RTA I go with must be able to run well with fairly thick juice. I suppose I could buy some unflavored PG to mix juice specifically for an RTA which meets my other needs, but I'd prefer to avoid having to do so if at all possible.
- ...vaped at 50 - 75 watts: My "go-to" build on my RDA's is a 24 gauge 0.5 ohm dual coil, and depending on the specific juice, I will vape it at somewhere between 50 watts and 75 watts. Having the capability of handling even higher wattages is of course a plus, but is definitely not a requirement.
- Supports coil diameter of at least 2.5 mm: Depending on the build space of each of my RDA's, I use 2.5 mm - 3.5 mm diameter coils. Going with a smaller diameter has never worked well for me with the high-VG juice and the wattages I vape at, so having enough room for at least a 2.5 mm diameter dual coil build is what I am looking for. If it can handle larger than 2.5 mm diameter coils, that would be great, but I'l be happy as long as it supports 2.5 mm diameter builds.
I know I'm asking for a lot here, but as I have absolutely zero experience with RTA's and have never kept up with what's available in the RTA department, you can probably understand the difficulty I am having wading through the huge variety of RTA models currently available. Any recommendations on an RTA which meets as many of these criteria as possible is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for reading through my very long list of criteria -- I doubt there is one which meets them all, but I am hoping that there exists an RTA which at least meets most of them.
