INTRODUCTION
OFRF which is pronounced as 'OFF' is a relatively new company. It made its first debut late last year with its OFRF NexMesh for the Profile rda by Wotofo. Since then, it has gained a lot of popularity because of how good the mesh strips are. Not long after releasing the NexMesh, OFRF came out with a rta called the Gear and has gained lots of hyped through YouTube reviewers. Many of us are impressed by it and many were not. Many were suspecting that OFRF is Wotofo's sister company due to their similar packaging. So is the hype real and am I impressed by it? To find out more, let me explain and show you some of the pictures I took below.
SPECIFICATIONS
Diameter ( base ) : 24 mm
Height : 24.5 mm
Inner Diameter ( drip tip ) : 5 mm ( black drip tip ) / 5.8 mm ( frosted drip tip )
Capacity : 2.3 ml ( straight glass ) / 3.5 ml ( bubble glass / smoked poly-carbonate tank )
COLORS
Stainless Steel
Gun Metal
Black
Blue
Gold
Rainbow
IN THE BOX
1 x Gear RTA
1 x Smoked Poky-Carbonate Tank
* Newer batch will get bubble glass
1 x Frosted 510 Drip Tip
2 x 3mm Framed Staple Clapton Coils ( 0.33 ohms )
2 x 3mm Agleted Cottons
10 x O-Rings
4 x Flat Head Screws
1 x 510 Pin
1 x Flat Head Screwdriver
1 x User Manual
Gear RTA Packaging
In The Box
AESTHETICS
Outer Appearance
The Gear is a pretty small RTA. It comes with a weird but good looking black 510 drip tip and a frosted 510 drip tip. The black one has a small airflow hole and the frosted has a wider airflow hole. You are able to fit your other 510 drip tip but it will most likely cover the gear logo on the top cap. The provided drip tips are slanted on the bottom half to prevent covering the gear logo, hence the weird shape. The top cap and the airflow control ring has a slanted design too which makes the base 25 mm with the airflow control ring on. The Gear RTA looks good on both the straight and poly-carbonate tank but I would rather prefer they came with a bubble glass from the start because it looks way nicer than the provided tank in my opinion. The overall outer looks of the RTA is quite small. It will not look good on big mods and that's why I pair it up with my Revenger X.
Gear Logo and Shape Of 510 Drip Tip
Overall Looks Of The Gear RTA
Inner Appearance
The build deck has 4 posts which has 4 large and beefy flat head screws. It has 2 large wicking holes as well as a large airflow cutout in the middle of the deck. Under the build deck has a lot of space as it is a floating styled build deck. The chamber is very compact and domed. It has 2 super large kidney fill ports which makes refilling easier.
Beefy Flat Head Screws
BUILD QUALITY
The build quality of the Gear RTA is quite good. No machining oil was spotted when it first came out of the box. O-rings tensions are quite sturdy but the o-rings that is long onto the airflow control ring are too tight. The 4 beefy flat head screws are very good quality, it didn't strip on me yet. The build deck and the chamber are all well made, clean and smooth as well as the threading. But, the threading at the filling port area is a little sharp so be careful when handling it. It is not sharp to the point that it will give you a cut, but is sharp enough to scratch your nails. The interior of the chamber gets scratched easily just after a few uses and that is not the case for most of my other RTAs. After a few cleaning with my ultrasonic cleaner, the colors under the top cap starts to come off. But the outer part it is still holding it well.
EASE OF USE
The Gear RTA is made up of 6 different parts: Build deck, airflow control ring, glass section, chamber / top fill, top cap and drip tip. No special tool is required is required to take it apart. Assembling and disassembling is easy, everything is easy to take apart. If you want to deep clean your Gear RTA, every part is easily accessible. You don't have to dig your fingers in to clean it. Filling it is simple as they provided you with 2 large fill ports, thus lesser chance of making a mess. However, I find that after screwing the RTA into the mod, the tension on the AFC ring becomes tight. When I am trying to close the airflow, it tends to unscrew out of the mod.
Different Parts Of The Gear RTA
BUILD DECK
The build deck is a floating styled build deck that comes with 4 large flat head screws for easy screwing. You are able to wrap your coils clockwise or anti-clockwise because the Gear RTA gives you that option. One each corner of the posts, there is a cutout that is angled upwards to prevent your coil legs from getting out while installing the coil. There is a relatively large airflow cutout in the middle of the 2 posts that gives you bottom airflow. It is a rather spacious build deck for a 3 mm. You can also fit in a 4 mm coil but it will be very compact because it is very close to touching the post screws.
Floating Styled Build Deck
INSTALLATION OF COILS
The Gear RTA is a single coil RTA. Use either the provided coils or your own coils to install on the RTA. Usually pre-made coils, the legs end in the same direction. But for the Gear RTA, you need to either wrap or unwrap your coil half a wrap depending on your preference. Insert the coil legs into the either side of the posts. Screw down the flat head screw to trap the legs and adjust the coil as close to the airflow as possible. After that snip the leads and finally remove the hot spots.
Angled Cutout To Prevent Coil Legs From Slipping Off
PERFORMANCE
Wicking - OFRF has provided agleted cotton inside the box for easier installation. If you don't like the provided cotton, you can use any kind of organic cotton. Insert the cotton through the coil and snip both ends of the cotton off aligning to the black o-ring. Gently tuck in both sides of the cotton into the large wicking hole. Below are my wicking methods that I find useful:
3 mm: It is not necessary for you to thin out your cottons. My first attempt, I thinned out the cotton and it leaked on me. My second attempt, I thinned out just a tad bit and it still leaked on me. My third attempt I didn't thin out the cotton, just fluff it out and it didn't leak at all. The wicking catches up pretty well and have not experienced any dry hits.
3.5 mm: It is not necessary to thin out the cottons as well but thinning out a bit is acceptable without getting any leaks. Wicking catches up pretty well too.
4 mm: It is a must to fluff out the cotton as 4 mm coil uses quite a lot of cotton and the wicking hole is not big enough to cater a 4 mm coil. The cotton will just choke the wicking holes to prevent juice from traveling up the cotton. Thin and fluff out the cotton before tucking it in. Wicking is just as good as using a 3 mm coil.
Therefore, the wicking on the Gear RTA is quite good as it allows me to chain vape without getting nasty dry hits.
Airflow - The airflow is restrictive and smooth all across the board. But using a 3.5 mm coil, I noticed that the airflow starts to get turbulent when the airflow is closed to half. The airflow is a little loud for a small RTA. The reason to get your coil as close to the airflow hole as possible is because it has a large airflow cutout. The RTA itself is already very compact and putting the coil close to the airflow will ensure you are getting maximum flavor out of it.
Flavor and Vapor Production - Flavor I am getting out of the Gear RTA is just average. The flavor is not as fantastic as I was expecting it to be and that is very disappointing. Below are the different coil diameters and the kind of flavor I was getting out of it.
3 mm: Flavor is a little muted but still able to taste some of the notes very lightly.
3.5 mm: Flavor is still as muted as 3mm but a little better.
4 mm: Flavor instantly pops and able to get what I am supposed to taste in my ejuice.
When I say the flavor instantly pops, I don't mean the flavor is amazing or wow. What I meant was I am getting better flavor than getting off from the 3 mm and 3.5 mm.
Vapor production is just normal as you have to take into consideration that this is a pretty small RTA and is using a 510 drip tip. This is definitely not a RTA for cloud chasers.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Gear RTA is not as impressive as how others hyped about it. It is just a normal 24 mm RTA with nothing special about it. It won't look good on a big mod and I think it will be suitable with a smaller mod. All of this are going to be subjective as each and every one of us has different preferences. Build quality of this RTA is good except some color drop off under the top cap and a few scratches on the inner chamber after a few washing and usage. User-friendly is one good point I like about this RTA; Beefy flat screws, angled cutout to prevent coil legs from coming out, easy to assemble and disassemble, large fill ports and many more. Build deck is quite spacious for 3 mm coil but a little compact for 4 mm coil. Installation of coil is simple as they provide you with 4 posts so you can wrap your coils any way you want. Performance overall is a huge disappointment for me except for the wicking. It wicks great! But flavor and vapor production are not that great. Flavor is a little muted unless you use a 4 mm coil and vapor production is not a lot because it is a small RTA that uses 510 drip tips.
So is the hype real? I would say, no, because the Gear RTA really isn't my type of vaping style.
If I lose the Gear RTA, would I buy another one? No.
PROS
Average Flavor ( Subjective )
Provide Coils And Cottons For You To Start Out
Build Quality
Spacious Build Deck ( Subjective )
Easy Installation Of Coils
Wicks Well
Large Fill Ports
CONS
Flavor Is A Little Muted On Smaller ID Coils ( Subjective )
Airflow Control Tension Too Stiff ( Subjective )
Color Drop Off
Scratches Easily
Wouldn't Look Good On Bigger Mods ( Subjective )
Thank you for taking the time to read my review on the Gear RTA by OFRF. This is TheOneVape_Review, signing off.
REVIEWER DISCLAIMER: I only type reviews during my free time so some products may take quite some time to be posted up. All products are used for 2 weeks or more.
PRODUCT DISCLAIMER: The Gear RTA is not sponsored by any companies or shops. All products I reviewed are bought with my own money.
PICTURE DISCLAIMER: All pictures posted in my threads are purely taken by me and only me. Do not use without my acknowledgment or giving any credits.
