RDA My Review/Rant on the Magma RDA Clone!!

[ellejewell]

Okay, I've been vaping for over 2 months now. I started out with those cheapo ce5 clearos and have since upgraded to a nautilus and then I was given an IGO L RDA to test my flavors. I love this little RDA so much that I looked into getting a different one. I read all the wonderful reviews on the Magma clone by infinite so I got one.

Let me just say that I am highly dissappointed. First off the flavor is no where near as good as it is on my Igo L!!! that for me is the worst part because I am a flavor chaser

I also don't like their adjustable air hole set up. I was expecting for it to work similar to my nautilus, just turn and it clicks into place. but no you have to loosen the top section, spin it to the setting you want and make sure you hold the ring and the top part when you screw it back down or it will turn on you.

It doesn't sit flush on the istick 50w! its not a jumbo gap but if I where to bump this the wrong way I would potentially damage the threads on my istick. NOT COOL!

and finally! The deep wells! Yes, I knew it had them when I got them, but I didn't realize what a pain it would be. With my igo L all of have to do is pull out the cotton wipe down the well, do a quick dry burn and pop in a new wick. with this thing I have to take everything apart, run it under water, blow the crap out of it because I can't fit a qtip in the well to dry it out and then reassemble everything. Not to mention that it leaks like crazy between the ring and the atomizer I have to keep constantly wiping it. Yes I have enough cotton and no I did not put too much juice in it. and in order to fix it I have to unscrew and take apart everything. with my IGO L if I fill it too much it leaks out the air hole but only a dribble and it will gurgle and all I have to do is hold a piece of tissue next to the hole and give a gentle blow and quick wipe and i am good to go.

Overall, I am not impressed with this thing I wanted to be able to dual coil. I should have gotten the igo w but all the wonderful reviews on the magma clone were so great I couldn't resist.

Anyway, I hope that if you are looking to buy a magma clone by infinite that this little rant will help you with your purchase. If you can get past all the issue I had then you will like it but it is definitely not for me. I like convenience and quality and only the IGO L has given me that so far and it is half the price of the magma clone.

 

[Jonner]

If you just started 2 months ago, and it turns into a hobby, like it does for many of us, this will likely be the first of many disappointments with equipment. Some of it you will love, and some you will hate, and some will be just right. But you definitely won't like everything you buy, even if it has great reviews. I have a Magma, and I like it when I use it, which isn't often. Different strokes for different folks...

 

[RavenZ]

Every product & review is subjective to whom ever is using it, it's all trial & error. What you hate someone else will love. Sorry to hear your experience was a bad one. My take is if you find something that works for you & you love it don't change it. I don't play keep up with the "Jones"

 

[Fuzzy Bruce]

I do internet research before I but anything. From what I have found on the Magma, it is a decent sub-ohm RDA for the cloud chasers.

If you are looking for a dripper for flavor, look at the Derringer, Rogue or almost any dripper with a reduced size chamber. I have two Rogues and they are a flavor chasers dream and almost impossible to leak.

 

[ellejewell]

I do internet research before I but anything. From what I have found on the Magma, it is a decent sub-ohm RDA for the cloud chasers.

If you are looking for a dripper for flavor, look at the Derringer, Rogue or almost any dripper with a reduced size chamber. I have two Rogues and they are a flavor chasers dream and almost impossible to leak.

Thats the thing, on all the reviews I read and there were a ton of them they were all bragging about how much flavor the magma put off. That is why I decided to get it even though I didn't care about the deep well. When I was looking for reviews I never found 1 review that named off all the downfalls that this RDA has. That is the reason I wanted to post my opinion so others could see potential negatives that they may not like and thus decide for themselves.

 

[ellejewell]

Every product & review is subjective to whom ever is using it, it's all trial & error. What you hate someone else will love. Sorry to hear your experience was a bad one. My take is if you find something that works for you & you love it don't change it. I don't play keep up with the "Jones"

I wasn't trying to play keep up. I simply wanted an RDA that put out top quality flavor at a price I could afford and the magma was claimed to be the best for that which is the only reason I got it.

 

[rangerrobin]

I do internet research before I but anything. From what I have found on the Magma, it is a decent sub-ohm RDA for the cloud chasers.

I'm waiting on a Magma Infinite clone that I ordered last weekend. It'll be my 1st RDA. I chose it for flavor and a simple build. Is it only for sub-ohming? I was hoping to build non sub-ohm with it.

 

[AndriaD]

I'm waiting on a Magma Infinite clone that I ordered last weekend. It'll be my 1st RDA. I chose it for flavor and a simple build. Is it only for sub-ohming? I was hoping to build non sub-ohm with it.

I use it with 1.3-1.4 ohms, and it's excellent. All that stuff she said is more-or-less true, except about flavor -- the flavor is every bit as good as from my kayfuns, and the smallest single airhole lets me shut off the airflow nicely for MtL hits. I really don't think it's considered a "cloud chasing" RDA at all.

The airflow control ring can be put over a spare 15mm o-ring, which will keep it at the airflow setting you choose, indeed it takes a serious effort to move it, with an o-ring under it. The o-ring also *helps* a bit with the leaking, but it's not a perfect fix; if you try to take advantage of the depth of that well and really fill it, it will leak. to keep it from leaking, you'd need to keep the ejuice at less than half the well's capacity -- and it's not good at all for taking out and about, because of the leak problem, it has to be kept vertical at all times. But for at-home use, it's an excellent RDA, you just have to keep its limitations in mind or spend a lot of time wiping it up.

Andria

 

[rangerrobin]

Andria - Thanks for the info! I planned to only use it at home anyway.

 

[Woofer]

I just stick a round toothpick in the air hole before opening and leave it until it is closed.
No more ring movement.
The Magma is very flavor rich.

 

[Cullin Kin]

I'm not sure who said it was a sub-ohm RDA... It definitely isn't. As said before, you're not going to like everything you get. I love my Magma. I have a 1.2Ω dual coil build on there and the flavor has my Derringer and Freakshow Mini on the shelf.

 

[ellejewell]

i ordered a wide boar mouth piece for it and i am waiting on more wire so i will rebuild it and give it another try before calling it quits. What type of builds are you guys using to get the great flavor cause I really am not getting much at all! Or maybe my hopes were just too high for this RDA.

 

[retic1959]

i ordered a wide boar mouth piece for it and i am waiting on more wire so i will rebuild it and give it another try before calling it quits. What type of builds are you guys using to get the great flavor cause I really am not getting much at all! Or maybe my hopes were just too high for this RDA.

You can't expect to get lucky and nail the build first time out with every atty you purchase , that tends to come with experience . I would suggest trying dual coils , 7 wraps of 28ga with a 2mm internal diameter that should put you in the .6 - .7 ohm range . I prefer rayon as my wicking material in my rebuildables . You want to make sure your wick doesn't contact the deck of the Magma or you will get juice flowing out of the airducts . You can do this by raising your coils and pushing the wick back away from the deck . Make sure you don't overfill the well , some people treat it like a bathtub and have juice going everywhere , try filling it half to 3/4 full . Lastly , some people mistake condensation for leakage , if you let off the fire button a second before you stop drawing it will get most of the vapor out of the chamber , otherwise the leftover vapor will condense and run out the airducts . I have other RDA's that are more leak resistant than the Magma but the Magma with duals is still my go to for maximum flavor .

 

[Cullin Kin]

i ordered a wide boar mouth piece for it and i am waiting on more wire so i will rebuild it and give it another try before calling it quits. What type of builds are you guys using to get the great flavor cause I really am not getting much at all! Or maybe my hopes were just too high for this RDA.

I didn't like my Magma until I went dual coil with it. Now it and my Lemo II are the only two atty's I vapor with. Build a dual coil setup with 28 gauge Kanthal somewhere between 0.8-1.2 on a 3mm drill bit. That's my happy zone. This time I went a bit lower than I usually do and made a dual coil at 0.7 with 26g on a 3mm drill bit and it's warm but delicious. Also, make sure your coils are 1.5mm above the airholes.

 

[AndriaD]

Actually I believe one gets better flavor with a more narrow-bore driptip; wide bores give lots of vapor, but the flavor is far less concentrated -- I discovered this by actually using one of my kayfun stock driptips -- the ones that come on the kayfuns that are so ugly. They're ugly alright, but they really do concentrate the flavor. Also, I just got a genie driptip, and the bore is VERY narrow, about the same as the kayfun's driptip, and it also gives really excellent flavor, because it's concentrated in such a small space. Wide bores just cause more dispersion, which dilutes the flavor.

With the Magma, I always use my swivel "knucklehead" driptip, to prevent it spitting hot juice on my lips; I'm more used to my kayfuns' long chimney, which tends to prevent some of that spitting, and puts some space between my mouth and the hot coil; being so close to the hot coil is a bad thing for my lips. The knucklehead I have is one of the regular delrin black ones, and it works really well to prevent those hot spats, giving some distance as well as the angle -- the hot spats go directly upward, but don't go around that curve/angle, so never reach my mouth.

Andria

 

[rangerrobin]

Actually I believe one gets better flavor with a more narrow-bore driptip; wide bores give lots of vapor, but the flavor is far less concentrated -- I discovered this by actually using one of my kayfun stock driptips -- the ones that come on the kayfuns that are so ugly. They're ugly alright, but they really do concentrate the flavor. Also, I just got a genie driptip, and the bore is VERY narrow, about the same as the kayfun's driptip, and it also gives really excellent flavor, because it's concentrated in such a small space. Wide bores just cause more dispersion, which dilutes the flavor.

With the Magma, I always use my swivel "knucklehead" driptip, to prevent it spitting hot juice on my lips; I'm more used to my kayfuns' long chimney, which tends to prevent some of that spitting, and puts some space between my mouth and the hot coil; being so close to the hot coil is a bad thing for my lips. The knucklehead I have is one of the regular delrin black ones, and it works really well to prevent those hot spats, giving some distance as well as the angle -- the hot spats go directly upward, but don't go around that curve/angle, so never reach my mouth.

Andria

My Magma clone is finally "Out for Delivery"!
Since I prefer cooler vapes, I hope to build over 1.2 ohm or higher. Does this RDA really spit that much?

 

[ellejewell]

I have the istick which is variable voltage if you guys are using mechanical mods what votage are your batteries? I tried the dual coil with 32g since I was out of the 28 so this may have been my problem. 1.5ohm at 3.7 volts is not too hot or too cool but it just doesnt seem to put out much flavor or vapor. I got a smaller drip tip coming for the igo L so maybe I will put the smaller one of the magma and the larger one of the igo since the air hole on the igo is a bit small Thanks for sharing your builds with me.

on a side note I was treating the deep wells like I do with my igo and filled the bottom layer with cotton. Is this a bad idea and the potential cause for all the leakage on the magma? either way I will give it a shot and update here my stuff should be here tomorrow. Thanks everyone!

 

[jefsview]

I have 2 Magma clones, and have performed flawlessly since the day I got them.

Currently, I run them around .7 - .5 ohms, single coil and I have no issues with flavor or vapor. I also use a Plume Veil clone and that has been troublesome, but works fantastically on my IPV mini, not so much on the mechs. I always run the Magma's on my Stringray clones, since the 510 pin is too large for anything else, adjustment wise. Currently, I'm enjoying the spaced coils over my previous micro-coil builds. It changes the flavors, brings out more high notes while the micro-coils was low notes, but with greater impact.

I don't have a lot of money to throw at equipment, and have been content with the Magma's. I've eyed the Freakshows, but haven't been able to try one out yet. All of my RDA's have leaked in some fashion... it's just part of RDAs, but I use them on the desktop and never take them out.

Sorry you're not liking it. Hopefully you'll find a build that works for you.

 

[AndriaD]

My Magma clone is finally "Out for Delivery"!
Since I prefer cooler vapes, I hope to build over 1.2 ohm or higher. Does this RDA really spit that much?

Once the coil/wick settles in, not too much, but I'm used to all that distance between mouth and coil with the kayfuns, so the longer/angled driptip keeps it cooler on my mouth.

I may also have my coil mounted too high; was looking at it yesterday, and it's a lot more than 1.5mm from the airhole!

Andria

 

[AndriaD]

I have the istick which is variable voltage if you guys are using mechanical mods what votage are your batteries? I tried the dual coil with 32g since I was out of the 28 so this may have been my problem. 1.5ohm at 3.7 volts is not too hot or too cool but it just doesnt seem to put out much flavor or vapor. I got a smaller drip tip coming for the igo L so maybe I will put the smaller one of the magma and the larger one of the igo since the air hole on the igo is a bit small Thanks for sharing your builds with me.

on a side note I was treating the deep wells like I do with my igo and filled the bottom layer with cotton. Is this a bad idea and the potential cause for all the leakage on the magma? either way I will give it a shot and update here my stuff should be here tomorrow. Thanks everyone!

I rarely use my mechs, to be honest, and even when I do, I always use a Kick, so I get the benefit of variable wattage -- always around 10w for me, whether from a Kick in a mech, or, my usual, regulated mod at 10w, 1.4-1.6 ohm coils, so that would translate to about 3.75-4v.

I don't think the Magma needs that nest-type wicking, but I dunno if that's the cause of the leaking; I think just over-filling the well is the chief cause; also, if the wick is touching the deck (the part that's up out of the well, before it leads into the coil), then the juice can get into the airholes very easily, and I think that's the biggest cause of the leaking; the airholes should actually be raised up a bit, away from the deck, the way the kayfun's airhole is raised up. The o-ring that I have under the AFC ring helps a little, though still not a total fix. I expect we'll see a magma v2 at some point, with those airholes a bit taller than the deck, some kind of raised ring around them. The deck itself being perfectly flat also seems to be a problem; it should have little "runnels" or something, to encourage any juice that runs down the inside of the cap to flow back into the well, instead of sitting on that flat deck and eventually getting into the airholes.

Andria