- Status
1. Goon 1.5
2. Dead Rabbit
3. Apocalypse Gen 2
4. Rapture
5. Peerless SE
2. Dead Rabbit
3. Apocalypse Gen 2
4. Rapture
5. Peerless SE
- Goon 1.5
- Original 24 mm Goon
- Original Wotofo Lush
- Wismec Bambino (split center post version)
- Vandy Vape Govad
(Images only posted for the less well-known RDA's. Everyone already knows what the Goon and the Govad look like.)
The Goon is by far my favorite RDA of all time. It is incredibly versatile – the clamp system will accommodate and securely hold basically any build, from a simple 30 gauge single microcoil, to a large-diameter stapled staggered fused Clapton dual coil, and everything in between. Not having to line up your coil legs with post holes also means that coil width (number of wraps) is largely irrelevant, and you don't need to pre-bend your leads to get your build properly centered.
Vapor production is fantastic. With the right build and the airflow wide open, you get huge and very dense clouds. Flavor is also excellent – this is one of the few RDA's I've tried that can truly deliver both massive clouds and great flavor. Like I've already said, it is a very versatile RDA.
The original Wotofo Lush is old, but it has remained in my daily rotation since I bought it a few years back. It is a simple design, very easy to build on, and performs great. The angled airflow holes which supposedly generates a "vortex" of air is gimmicky, but it works just fine, and the ability to close off the airflow from either the top down, or from the left to right, is a nice feature. It also holds a lot of juice for a 22 mm RDA thanks to its deep juice well, but it is not so deep that is requires excessively long wick tails. The Lush is a solid workhorse.
The Wismec Bambino is a tiny little flavor machine. It's annoying to build on, since the center post hole is just one wide opening without any troughs or divots underneath the two tiny screws. This means the coil leads easily slip off to the side when tightening the center post screws, and it often takes several tries to get the leads captured. But once you finally do get your coils mounted, it is worth the trouble since flavor is absolutely fantastic. As you would expect with such a small chamber and a conical top cap.
The top cap has an integrated drip tip, although unfortunately because it is metal, and is extremely close to the coils due to the RDA's size, it is all but unusable. It gets way too hot even at moderate wattages. Luckily, it is also a 510 adapter, so just slap on a non-metal 510 drip tip and you're good to go off to flavor land.
The airflow is also not adjustable, but it gives a very slightly restricted lung hit that, for me, is perfect for the type of builds I use on it (usually a 2.5 mm 8-10 wrap twisted 28 or 30 gauge dual coil).
The Govad was pretty heavily hyped, and although IMO it doesn't quite live up to it, it's still a great single-coil RDA. The wide variety of airflow options let you tailer it to your specific preferences. It's fairly straightforward to build on, but you need to be pre-bend the leads in order to get the coil as low as possible (right above the bottom airflow tube). Otherwise, the coil will sit extremely high, requiring excessively long wick tails to reach the bottom of the juice well.
My main complaint about the Govad, and the reason why it is number five on my list instead of higher up, is that the clamp plates are too thin and bend very easily. The original Goon suffers this same problem, but to a much lesser degree. And while you can flip the Goon's plates upside down if they start to bend a little, this isn't an option for the Govad due to the T-shaped design of the clamps. You can minimize this by keeping the coil leads as close to the screw as possible, as well as bending each lead around the screw so that the pressure on both sides of the clamps are equalized. But Vandy Vape really shouldn't have cheaped out and used such a weak alloy for the Govad's clamps – there is only a very narrow range of torque between an insecure connection and bending the clamps.
(Images only posted for the less well-known RDA's. Everyone already knows what the Goon and the Govad look like.)
- Goon 1.5
- Original 24 mm Goon
- Original Wotofo Lush
- Wismec Bambino (split center post version)
- Vandy Vape Govad
The Goon is by far my favorite RDA of all time. It is incredibly versatile – the clamp system will accommodate and securely hold basically any build, from a simple 30 gauge single microcoil, to a large-diameter stapled staggered fused Clapton dual coil, and everything in between. Not having to line up your coil legs with post holes also means that coil width (number of wraps) is largely irrelevant, and you don't need to pre-bend your leads to get your build properly centered.
Vapor production is fantastic. With the right build and the airflow wide open, you get huge and very dense clouds. Flavor is also excellent – this is one of the few RDA's I've tried that can truly deliver both massive clouds and great flavor. Like I've already said, it is a very versatile RDA.
The original Wotofo Lush is old, but it has remained in my daily rotation since I bought it a few years back. It is a simple design, very easy to build on, and performs great. The angled airflow holes which supposedly generates a "vortex" of air is gimmicky, but it works just fine, and the ability to close off the airflow from either the top down, or from the left to right, is a nice feature. It also holds a lot of juice for a 22 mm RDA thanks to its deep juice well, but it is not so deep that is requires excessively long wick tails. The Lush is a solid workhorse.
The Wismec Bambino is a tiny little flavor machine. It's annoying to build on, since the center post hole is just one wide opening without any troughs or divots underneath the two tiny screws. This means the coil leads easily slip off to the side when tightening the center post screws, and it often takes several tries to get the leads captured. But once you finally do get your coils mounted, it is worth the trouble since flavor is absolutely fantastic. As you would expect with such a small chamber and a conical top cap.
The top cap has an integrated drip tip, although unfortunately because it is metal, and is extremely close to the coils due to the RDA's size, it is all but unusable. It gets way too hot even at moderate wattages. Luckily, it is also a 510 adapter, so just slap on a non-metal 510 drip tip and you're good to go off to flavor land.
The airflow is also not adjustable, but it gives a very slightly restricted lung hit that, for me, is perfect for the type of builds I use on it (usually a 2.5 mm 8-10 wrap twisted 28 or 30 gauge dual coil).
The Govad was pretty heavily hyped, and although IMO it doesn't quite live up to it, it's still a great single-coil RDA. The wide variety of airflow options let you tailer it to your specific preferences. It's fairly straightforward to build on, but you need to be pre-bend the leads in order to get the coil as low as possible (right above the bottom airflow tube). Otherwise, the coil will sit extremely high, requiring excessively long wick tails to reach the bottom of the juice well.
My main complaint about the Govad, and the reason why it is number five on my list instead of higher up, is that the clamp plates are too thin and bend very easily. The original Goon suffers this same problem, but to a much lesser degree. And while you can flip the Goon's plates upside down if they start to bend a little, this isn't an option for the Govad due to the T-shaped design of the clamps. You can minimize this by keeping the coil leads as close to the screw as possible, as well as bending each lead around the screw so that the pressure on both sides of the clamps are equalized. But Vandy Vape really shouldn't have cheaped out and used such a weak alloy for the Govad's clamps – there is only a very narrow range of torque between an insecure connection and bending the clamps.
That was an interesting write up. You may also enjoy this thread: RDA - RDA Round-Table Discussion and Lookout
I find it interesting how many people just really starting using RDAs closer to the end of 2017.
Lately it’s the Bonza quite a lot...
Dead Rabbit
Temple 30mm
Apocalypse
Goon
Still trying to love the VV Mesh. Just can’t do it in spite of the decent air flow and awesome flavor with mesh; the necessity to re drip/squonk every other pull keeps it mostly on the shelf.
Dead Rabbit
Temple 30mm
Apocalypse
Goon
Still trying to love the VV Mesh. Just can’t do it in spite of the decent air flow and awesome flavor with mesh; the necessity to re drip/squonk every other pull keeps it mostly on the shelf.
- Status
