RDA Help pick first RDA

[Silent1]

Hey folks,

This old woman could really use help choosing my first rda, and wire size. I have spent the last 2 months researching, and still just don't know what to purchase.
My preferences are:
under 50 dollars please
flavor
easy build deck
air control
no leaking
changeable drip tips

And I also could use some suggestions for wire gauge to get a 1.5 to 1.8 coil, and suggestions for a good tester and maybe a coil building kit. Please include where I can purchase.

Thanks,

 

[Verb]

At that resistance you want something with a pretty small chamber.

Around six wraps of 32 gauge Kanthal for a single coil and 7 wraps each of 34 gauge Kanthal for a dual coil will put your resisitance between 1.5 and 1.8 ohm.

The aromamizer rda might be a good fit for what you are looking for.

 

[Bonskibon]

I have had both the Magma and Derringer recommend to me as a MTL vaper. I have purchased both of those, but have yet to try them.

 

[Silent1]

Thanks guys, Verb, thank you for the info on the wire and coil building. I have never heard of the aromamizer will look at it. Bonskibon, thanks for the suggestions.
I have also been looking at the EHPro clones Zenith V2, Marquis, Atomic and Tobh any opinions on these

 

[CagedSpam]

Been using the clone Magma and Atomic for a few weeks now. More time spent on the Atomic. No leaking per se' but definitely juice on the o-rings for the cap. The juice well is quite small. As in 2-3 over drops might get you to spillage. Been doing 1.7 ohms @8 watts or so, pretty tasty and maybe ten puffs until dry.

It appears the only way the Magma will leak is if tipped or over dripped so liquid falls from the middle of the coil/wick into the airflow. Juicewell is generous but undetermined if it will wick the distance to the coil.

The absolute smallest RDAs I have found have been The RM2 for bottom feed mods and the Vicious Ant Cyclone, which I think can be found with air flow control cap and solid 510 pin.

Temco has killer wire and good prices. Probably start with 29/30/ at least. I can't recommend the other gauges as I haven't tried them.

TEMCo Kanthal A1 Resistance Wire TEMCo Industrial

Hope this helps you

 

[sketchness]

Sapor V2 is a great RDA for flavor. But velocity style decks are a bit fiddly. Hex screws are super hard to see. But it is wide open for building which outweighs the negatives.

Are you totally set on 1.5 - 1.8 ohm coils? The reason I ask is that 30 or 32 gauge is super springy and a bit delicate when getting the hotspots out of the coil. I much prefer 26-28 gauge. Single coil is pretty easy to hit 1-1.2 ohms with these.

So far no leaking. But if it was layed on its side it would leak.

Edit- all RDAs will leak, some are just more prone than others. Bottom airflow is pretty much guaranteed to leak.

 

[ddirtyvapes]

If you aren't sure yet whether or not you will like dripping and aren't opposed to clones, my Lawless Steamboat (Tugboat V2 clone) from 101vape is absolutely great. Probably some of the best build quality I've seen on a clone... pretty much my only complaint is that the paint detailing is coming off a bit after a year of use and the post holes are a little small. However, I doubt the latter will be an issue considering you're looking at slightly higher resistances and they're not microscopic or anything. I've had no trouble fitting dual twisted 28g and some pretty thick-wired single coil builds in there, so I really don't anticipate your preferred builds will pose an issue. Honestly, you don't want huge post-holes anyway if you're mostly going to be using thinner wire. This atomizer is also single-coil capable, and while there may be others slightly better suited to MTL, it is totally possible and enjoyable with the Steamboat IMO.

Whatever you do, unless you have used someone else's dripper and are pretty certain you'll love it, I almost always recommend trying to keep the cost down as much as possible for your first atomizer (while still ensuring you are buying something of at least decent quality). If you end up really like dripping, chances are you will end up with another RDA or ten pretty soon. If you don't like dripping, you haven't spent too much money.

So yeah, I'd recommend that Steamboat but there are certainly other good recommendations in this thread.

 

[jersey_emt]

A compact two-post RDA with either side or top airflow would be what I would be looking at. I also agree with the recommendation to use thicker wire at a bit lower resistance. The thin 30 or 32 gauge wire like you would need for a 1.8 ohm coil is more difficult to work with. A 2 mm 10-wrap coil with 28 gauge wire will be around 1.5 ohms and should work well at 10 - 15 watts. The same build with 26 gauge wire will be around 1.0 ohms and should work well at 15 - 20 watts.

 

[sofarsogood]

Hey folks,

This old woman could really use help choosing my first RDA, and wire size. I have spent the last 2 months researching, and still just don't know what to purchase.
My preferences are:
under 50 dollars please
flavor
easy build deck
air control
no leaking
changeable drip tips

And I also could use some suggestions for wire gauge to get a 1.5 to 1.8 coil, and suggestions for a good tester and maybe a coil building kit. Please include where I can purchase.

Thanks,

I build 1.3 - 1.4 ohm coils with 28 guage stainless. My first rda was a tugboat v2. Easy to build on. Derringer is also easy to build on. Today I use the SV rda clone from fasttech exclusively because I can control leaking for pocket carry, it does MTL, and it's very good at flavors in low percentages. These rda's are available for under $10 from fasttech. The drawback of the SV is it's a bit fiddly to build horizontal coils on the vertical posts but that's what I do. If you are lazy and want to drip through the drip tip then you need one that's wide bore. As soon as I got my first rda working I completely lost interest in tanks. Then I tried a bunch and settled on the SV.
https://goo.gl/photos/zDg1crEVrMGizVRm9

 

[sketchness]

Super cheap RDA to see it you like RDA's. $2.50 free shipping.

Sigelei Sig-S 22mm RDA Rebuildable Atty

 

[Silent1]

Thanks everybody

I have purchased the aromamizer v rda, bit pricey but I like its looks and reviews, blame Verb he recommended it lol. Still have to order a meter and a coil building jig any suggestions for those. I think I will buy a spool of 28 and 30 gauge wire for starters.

Thanks again,

 

[r055co]

Thanks everybody

I have purchased the aromamizer v rda, bit pricey but I like its looks and reviews, blame Verb he recommended it lol. Still have to order a meter and a coil building jig any suggestions for those. I think I will buy a spool of 28 and 30 gauge wire for starters.

Thanks again,

You can get a "kit" that will pretty much have a lot of items in there. They are not the best but will get you by and then when you get more experienced started replacing for higher quality that is more expensive.

Both UD and Coil Master have starter kits, get one that includes at the minimum, Ohm Meter, Coil Jig, Ceramic Tweezers.

 

[r055co]

Thanks everybody

I have purchased the aromamizer v rda, bit pricey but I like its looks and reviews, blame Verb he recommended it lol. Still have to order a meter and a coil building jig any suggestions for those. I think I will buy a spool of 28 and 30 gauge wire for starters.

Thanks again,

Additionally I very highly recommend getting quality wire. Contrary to some wire is "not" wire, just like anything there are levels of quality.

My preferred sources of wire are Kidney Puncher, then followed up with KBee and Temco. Get a spool of around 30 feet (very inexpensive) between 26 gauge and 28 gauge for Kanthal. If you want to try SS (my favorite) 28 gauge and 30 gauge. SS has less resistance.

To find out how many wraps to use and what diameter, Steam Engine is your best friend -

Coil wrapping

 

[jersey_emt]

Thanks everybody

I have purchased the aromamizer v rda, bit pricey but I like its looks and reviews, blame Verb he recommended it lol. Still have to order a meter and a coil building jig any suggestions for those. I think I will buy a spool of 28 and 30 gauge wire for starters.

Thanks again,

If you need a tool kit, meter, and wire, your best bet would probably be getting it all from Lightning Vapes. They sell Temco wire at great prices (go with 100 foot spools, they're usually less than a dollar more than 50 foot spools), have a tool kit with meter and ceramic tweezers for $50, free shipping, and you can use the LV15 coupon code for 15% off.

 

[Jim Marshall]

Thanks guys, Verb, thank you for the info on the wire and coil building. I have never heard of the aromamizer will look at it. Bonskibon, thanks for the suggestions.
I have also been looking at the EHPro clones Zenith V2, Marquis, Atomic and Tobh any opinions on these

Nice old school RDA's. I'd personally go with Tobeco clones. I'd also suggest the veritas, mephisto v1, Vulcan, and origen v1-3 as well.

 

[mcclintock]

While an ohmmeter is very important if you're pushing the limits of a mech, I don't see any need if you have a regulated mod with a meter on it, using low power. At this point, I wind the coil, etc. all the way through vaping on it and then look at the meter .

Also with regulated mods, you can use a tiny coil of thick wire or a big coil of thin wire, etc. The former does heat up the mod a little more. If for some reason you're using a mech or something with a small range, wire selection becomes critical.

I have a crappy Veritas clone and really don't like the design for MTL-ish stuff. I have an Atomic that so far I've kept to 7.4 W with 30 gauge, middle airhole, and it doesn't even get hot at all, if the juice capacity was better I'd try going bigger, but it's not. The Derringer is another flavor atty but I've definitely had it get too hot. Also, while the well is good sized, the coil drags in the juice if you go over, and any time it gets hot it bakes the juice in the well and kills its flavor. I mostly use a very mid-size Doge clone, this was originally a "competition" atty but now not so much. Side airflow allows focusing the air on my relatively small coil, usually #28 Kanthal 1.3Ω 7.5 wrap 5/64" dia., running at 14.2 W.