Has anything dethroned the Kennedy 24 yet?

[MrNobody]

I quit vaping for some time and have once again come back. I've picked up an Isolation RTA, also plan to get the Helo RTA. I currently own the new drop dead rda and while it's good I'm finding it increasingly hard to resist the Kennedy. I found the Kennedy 24 nearly perfect with the only flaw it getting a bit warm but now that they have the ultem cap it should make that rda perfect.

Has anything come out that's better and higher end? If I do pick up the Kennedy again should I go for the 24 or 25mm?

EDIT: When I had my gear before I have two K24's and a K25.

 

[Fidola13]

I love my Kennedy 24s. I have 15 other RDAs but the K24 is always in the rotation. The flavor and clouds are too notch.

 

[mimöschen]

Although I still enjoy my Kennedy 24, there are some other RDAs that see a lot more use.
The TwistedMesses 24Pro for example beats it in every aspect and the DropDead is a an incredible atty as well, but the airflow is slightly more restricted.
The Reload 1.5 and MadDog both provide a bit better flavor, but are a bit more fiddly to build as well, wheras the Goon 1.5 and Nova are right on par flavorwise but are much easier to handle as drippers.

So for me the Kennedy might be dethroned, but it's still not hopelessly outdated, because there still are worse newer atties out there.

 

[MrNobody]

Although I still enjoy my Kennedy 24, there are some other RDAs that see a lot more use.
The TwistedMesses 24Pro for example beats it in every aspect and the DropDead is a an incredible atty as well, but the airflow is slightly more restricted.
The Reload 1.5 and MadDog both provide a bit better flavor, but are a bit more fiddly to build as well, wheras the Goon 1.5 and Nova are right on par flavorwise but are much easier to handle as drippers.

So for me the Kennedy might be dethroned, but it's still not hopelessly outdated, because there still are worse newer atties out there.

I have the DropDead and while it's good I seem to get some spitback with it, maybe my coils are too high but I built it based off of some review videos.

As for the TM24Pro I was actually looking at that with the eclipse cap but I remember not being a particular fan of the TM squared. What's improved with the TM pro and what do you like about it over the kennedy?

 

[dripster]

What's improved with the TM pro and what do you like about it over the kennedy?

The TM 24Pro is cheaper than the Kennedy. But the 2-post Kennedy 25 equipped with the Stub Dogg drip tip has better flavor and feel of the vape, and it is more leak proof despite it being bottom air. There are a few other RDAs that I rate equally as high as the Kennedy or thereabout, each having its own unique pros and cons apart from similarities. But the TM 24Pro isn't one of them, even though I do think it's actually pretty good. But I own only one TM 24Pro (blue), one 2-post Kennedy 24 (brass), and eight 2-post Kennedy 25 (brass, black/brass, copper, black/copper, stainless, black/stainless, black, and black) RDAs so I'm not much biased. Only just a little bit. You know... just a hair.

 

[mimöschen]

I have the DropDead and while it's good I seem to get some spitback with it, maybe my coils are too high but I built it based off of some review videos.

As for the TM24Pro I was actually looking at that with the eclipse cap but I remember not being a particular fan of the TM squared. What's improved with the TM pro and what do you like about it over the kennedy?

The DropDead is my goto atty for my squonkers. Spitback hasn't been an issue so far. I run it with 26*2/38 fused claptons, 5wraps, 2.5mm ID contact coils.

The TM 24Pro is my first of the line, so I can't compare it to the other versions.
Comparing the Pro to the K24, the TM has a much smoother and quieter airflow that can be dialed in to your heart's desire, the flavor is more crisp and it's much more resistant to leaks. I prefer the looks, the lower profile and the 4-post builddeck of the TM over the Kennedy's 2-post design, but ymmv of course.

 

[MrNobody]

The TM 24Pro is cheaper than the Kennedy. But the 2-post Kennedy 25 equipped with the Stub Dogg drip tip has better flavor and feel of the vape, and it is more leak proof despite it being bottom air. There are a few other RDAs that I rate equally as high as the Kennedy or thereabout, each having its own unique pros and cons apart from similarities. But the TM 24Pro isn't one of them, even though I do think it's actually pretty good. But I own only one TM 24Pro (blue), one 2-post Kennedy 24 (brass), and eight 2-post Kennedy 25 (brass, black/brass, copper, black/copper, stainless, black/stainless, black, and black) RDAs so I'm not much biased. Only just a little bit. You know... just a hair.

What are these other RDA's you rate just as high?

 

[dripster]

What are these other RDA's you rate just as high?

• Purge Mods Head Shot, Maelstrom (or Silencer, it's the same except for the looks), PRG-24, Carnage (clamp or post, it really depends on what coil build you want to put inside), Carnage deck equipped with the Enforcer cap, Money Shot,...
  
• Scoundrels Genießen
• Comp Lyfe Battle Deck
  
• CSMNT with the Shawty cap
  
• Goon 1.5 deck with the custom SBTR cap by Jeff Palladino (@thevapemachinist) or with the cap that comes with the Totem tube mech mod by Vaper's Mood
  
• Vapergate Mason V2
• Deathwish Modz Deathtrap, Unholy V2

Drip tips can, and do make a difference to the flavor and the feel of the vape. I use drip tips by District F5VE or Half Moon Mods, and use them not only for their cosmetics; the Stub Dogg also does matter on the Kennedy like I said earlier. Fixed airflow (i.e. non-adjustable type of airflow) is not for everyone, but I guess you already know that.

 

[MrNobody]

• Purge Mods Head Shot, Maelstrom (or Silencer, it's the same except for the looks), PRG-24, Carnage (clamp or post, it really depends on what coil build you want to put inside), Carnage deck equipped with the Enforcer cap, Money Shot,...
  
• Scoundrels Genießen
• Comp Lyfe Battle Deck
  
• CSMNT with the Shawty cap
  
• Goon 1.5 deck with the custom SBTR cap by Jeff Palladino (@thevapemachinist) or with the cap that comes with the Totem tube mech mod by Vaper's Mood
  
• Vapergate Mason V2
• Deathwish Modz Deathtrap, Unholy V2

Drip tips can, and do make a difference to the flavor and the feel of the vape. I use drip tips by District F5VE or Half Moon Mods, and use them not only for their cosmetics; the Stub Dogg also does matter on the Kennedy like I said earlier. Fixed airflow (i.e. non-adjustable type of airflow) is not for everyone, but I guess you already know that.

Thanks for the list, may end up looking into the RDA's by death wish. I have their isolation rta and it's really good though I haven't quite go the wicking down yet. Of all those RDA's which is your favorite and which is your second favorite?

 

[Don29palms]

Thanks for the list, may end up looking into the RDA's by death wish. I have their isolation rta and it's really good though I haven't quite go the wicking down yet. Of all those RDA's which is your favorite and which is your second favorite?

You'll be sadly disappointed if you take any advice from dripster. You've been warned.

 

[dripster]

Thanks for the list, may end up looking into the RDA's by death wish. I have their isolation rta and it's really good though I haven't quite go the wicking down yet. Of all those RDA's which is your favorite and which is your second favorite?

For single battery mech, the CSMNT with Shawty cap. The downsides are 1/ these can be hard to find now, and 2/ to get the best flavor from them the coils need to be positioned at a close distance from the air holes and at the same height as the air holes so as a result the edges of the post block are making it impossible to use coils bigger than 2.5mm ID. But the flavor and feel of the vape are right up there if building it in this fashion (with 4.5 wraps 2.5mm ID Ni80 aliens 27/36 dual coil at .11 ohms and using a single Samsung 20S battery, which I can't factually recommend to anyone due to potential unknown factors that might affect the safety especially if you don't know what you're doing, but then again if you don't knowwhat you're doing you probably shouldn't be using a mech as your primary choice anyway in the first place, and, unlike some self-defined "experienced" vapers I don't try to push my own personal opinion on others, instead I just make the common observation that on a single battery mech almost nobody vapes at anything higher than .11 ohms).

For series mech it is a very close call between the various options from Purge Mods, the Mason V2, the Deathtrap, and the Unholy V2. It almost strictly depends on what coil build I want to put inside, but the Mason V2 will probably be very hard to find now. Please note, I pretty much striclty use mechs these days. They give me better flavor and especially better feel of the vape when compared to a regulated mod. There exist several advanced coil types that, while they aren't necessarily THE most advanced ones of them all, produce significantly better flavor (and also feel of the vape) when compared to, say, any pair of fused clapton coils. For example, in my book a pair of the alien coils I described above can easily give 20% better flavor than fused claptons can. So if you don't already know the basics of advanced coil building and you don't want to learn, none of the stuff I told you is going to matter that much. (Not trying to point any fingers here, but IMO some certain individuals on the internet appear to be stuck in some kind of fantasy universe when it comes to talk about advanced coil builds and/or mech mods, and about what exactly defines "high end" or what doesn't, even though this hobby is always part science, part subjectiveness of course.)

 

[MrNobody]

For single battery mech, the CSMNT with Shawty cap. The downsides are 1/ these can be hard to find now, and 2/ to get the best flavor from them the coils need to be positioned at a close distance from the air holes and at the same height as the air holes so as a result the edges of the post block are making it impossible to use coils bigger than 2.5mm ID. But the flavor and feel of the vape are right up there if building it in this fashion (with 4.5 wraps 2.5mm ID Ni80 aliens 27/36 dual coil at .11 ohms and using a single Samsung 20S battery, which I can't factually recommend to anyone due to potential unknown factors that might affect the safety especially if you don't know what you're doing, but then again if you don't knowwhat you're doing you probably shouldn't be using a mech as your primary choice anyway in the first place, and, unlike some self-defined "experienced" vapers I don't try to push my own personal opinion on others, instead I just make the common observation that on a single battery mech almost nobody vapes at anything higher than .11 ohms).

For series mech it is a very close call between the various options from Purge Mods, the Mason V2, the Deathtrap, and the Unholy V2. It almost strictly depends on what coil build I want to put inside, but the Mason V2 will probably be very hard to find now. Please note, I pretty much striclty use mechs these days. They give me better flavor and especially better feel of the vape when compared to a regulated mod. There exist several advanced coil types that, while they aren't necessarily THE most advanced ones of them all, produce significantly better flavor (and also feel of the vape) when compared to, say, any pair of fused clapton coils. For example, in my book a pair of the alien coils I described above can easily give 20% better flavor than fused claptons can. So if you don't already know the basics of advanced coil building and you don't want to learn, none of the stuff I told you is going to matter that much. (Not trying to point any fingers here, but IMO some certain individuals on the internet appear to be stuck in some kind of fantasy universe when it comes to talk about advanced coil builds and/or mech mods, and about what exactly defines "high end" or what doesn't, even though this hobby is always part science, part subjectiveness of course.)

Before I quit I used a few mecs primarily the Dos and Tres Equis. I also used the Underground Series and a PWM mod from Signature Mods. I know quite a bit about battery safety and building. Thanks for the input.

 

[dripster]

Before I quit I used a few mecs primarily the Dos and Tres Equis. I also used the Underground Series and a PWM mod from Signature Mods. I know quite a bit about battery safety and building. Thanks for the input.

I still use my Surric X-Vault PWM mods, very occasionally. PWM mods like these allow me to get the most flavor out of the single coil option on the Goon 1.5 with this coil that I built myself the other day:

 

[MrNobody]

Got my Kennedy in today, as well as the ultem slam cap. Put in some 3mm ID staplestaggerton coils from Ohmland coming in at .14. The vape has been really good with the stock cap and the stubb dog drip tip. I tried out the ultem cap (85w) and it takes the Kennedy to an entirely new level. The vape off the slam cap is insane. I don't think you could get better flavor if you drank the juice. The coils are mere milimeters from the top so all of that vapor has a direct path to your mouth and becasue it's ultem nothing gets hot and surprisingly there's no spitback. I don't know how else to describe it except the best vape I've ever had.

 

[Berkiz]

Has anything come out that's better and higher end? If I do pick up the Kennedy again should I go for the 24 or 25mm?

Reload 1.5 is really impressive about flavor and clouds. Can't compare it now with Kennedy, but comparing their airflow sizes I think Reload 1.5 (and original Reload also) gives a better flavor.

 

[dripster]

Reload 1.5 is really impressive about flavor and clouds. Can't compare it now with Kennedy, but comparing their airflow sizes I think Reload 1.5 (and original Reload also) gives a better flavor.

If you dump juice down the middle the Reload 1.5 just leaks like a sieve whereas with the Kennedy you have enough space next to the little air tubes to make sure your cotton isn't touching the edges of the air tubes so if you do that the Kennedy is genuinely leak resistant (yes really...), and, both the flavor production and the feel of the vape IMO are still better on the Kennedy (again, if using the Stub Dogg drip tip on the Kennedy). The Reload X is obviously more leak resistant by comparison, but the flavor production is still better by a narrow margin on the Kennedy, and in terms of the feel of the vape the Kennedy is significantly better (also really...).

 

[Berkiz]

If you dump juice down the middle the Reload 1.5 just leaks like a sieve

I always dump juice on cotton, never have problems with leaking. Reload 1.5 is great for me about juice capacity.

The Reload X is obviously more leak resistant by comparison, but the flavor production is still better by a narrow margin on the Kennedy, and in terms of the feel of the vape the Kennedy is significantly better (also really...).

For me Reload X is terrible about flavor. Terrible comparing to my actual Reload 1.5 and Blitzen RTA

 

[dripster]

I always dump juice on cotton, never have problems with leaking. Reload 1.5 is great for me about juice capacity.

I wasn't referring to dumping juice on cotton. If you navigate to 10:00 in the video below, you can see exactly what I was referring to, as you can clearly see the leaking if you keep watching this same video to 10:21 so basically his own camera footage just shows him wrong EXACTLY how I had expected.

 

[Berkiz]

I was referring to, as you can clearly see the leaking if you keep watching this same video to 10:21 so basically his own camera footage just shows him wrong EXACTLY how I had expected

lul I have like x2 times less cotton. This guy on the video can't even see how much liquid does he fill. That's the main problem seems like

 

[dripster]

lul I have like x2 times less cotton. This guy on the video can't even see how much liquid does he fill. That's the main problem seems like

He uses the same amount of cotton that most people would use, as shown at 9:11 in the video. If you use Cotton Bacon Prime (I do), then if you use half the amount of cotton that he uses and you vape at fairly high wattage the wicks will have a tendency to get burned in half easily, and, he fills his liquid pretty much the same way I usually do, so nope, anyone can verify my point about preventing the cotton from touching the top edges of the air tubes, as in fact the same holds true for any and all bottom air RDAs that have the air mounds located directly below the coils.