Pizza Dave Delivers - COMBO REVIEW - The Recurve squonk mod and Profile rda by Wotofo

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pizzadave80

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Dec 23, 2016
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INTRODUCTION
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Hello everyone and welcome to Pizza Dave’s Vape reviews! Today I have a two for one special review brought to you by the folks over at Wotofo. The first item up for review is the Recurve Squonk mod, which is well known by now as it is a follow up to the wildly popular Recurve rda and another collaboration with reviewer Mike Vapes. The Profile rda is the latest rda from Wotofo and is a collaboration with Mr. Just right. The Profile is a mesh rda, which can also be built with a standard coil like many other mesh rebuildables on the market. I will dive down and look at the Recurve first, and then hit the details of the Profile thereafter.

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RECURVE SQUONK MOD REVIEW



WHAT YOU GET WITH THE RECURVE SQUONK MOD

  • 1 Recurve Squonk Mod
  • 1 18650 Battery Adapter
  • 1 20650 Battery Adapter
  • 1 USB Charging Cable
  • 1 User Manual
  • 1 Warranty Card
  • The Recurve is available in White, Blue, Black, Gunmetal, and Red. All with black accents.

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MOD OVERVIEW
The first thing that jumps out about the Recurve is how curvatious it really is. While some may not like the resemblance to a pistol grip, nobody can deny at how ergonomic that makes it feel. To make it even more comfortable is the fact that the coating is a rubberized coating which feels great in hand. This mod overall is basic squonk mod beyond the curved styling. It is an unregulated, single battery squonker that operates on 18650s, 20650s, 20700s, or 21700s. It provides direct output of these batteries but adds in some standard protections like we would come to expect in a regulated device. It is a very simple device, providing a solid level of power with little interference and protections to keep the vapor safe. Since this is a squonk mod, I must include the fact that it comes with an 8ml silicone squonk bottle. It uses standard style bottles, so there should be plenty on the market should you need replacement in the future.

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OPERATION
The mod is basic, so operation doesn’t require a lot of reading. Hit the fire button 5 times and it turns on, and 5 times again to turn it off. There is a dimly lit white LED behind the squonk bottle which illuminates on power up. It also indicates when faults occur. Knowing these fault flashes is probably the most important tidbit to know about the mod. One of the biggest faults of this device is with the LED. While they do serve a small purpose I wish that they could have incorporated some sort of battery notifications with it. You can feel when the voltage is dwindling down, but it would be nice to know just how much is left before leaving the house. I got in the habit of always tossing a fresh battery in just in case it was down lower than I originally thought.

The white led will flash the following in fault conditions:
5 flashes and auto shut off - short circuit
10 flashes and auto shut off – low voltage
1 second flashes - low resistance (<.08 ohms)
LED always on - overheating
Auto cutoff is 10s – no leds indicated but will stop firing
Reverse battery polarity – no indications, but will not fire


Squonking with the recurve is no different than any other squonk mod. The bottle has a nice feel to it and holds 8ml of e liquid. The only gripe I have with the bottle is that the hose is a bit loose in the bottle and slides up and down a little. I found it to be one of the messier bottles to refill. I don’t know if it is because there isn’t much to grab, or how soft it is, but I always seemed to make a mess with this. Squeezing the bottle before inserting the top and releasing slowly as you tighten will help prevent this, but it can still be a messy ordeal.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

I was beyond excited when I heard that this mod was hitting the market, but when I saw it I felt rather meh about it. It is not a “pretty” device, and I am not too wild about the non-intentional penguin silhouette than jumped out at me in the design. However, upon holding it my mindset shifted and I found it to be a nifty device. It is easily the most ergonomic mod I have ever held, and the rubberized finish makes it that much better. My white one showed lots of grime, which is a bit of an expected con, but overall it seems to be a solid finish that will last a while. Operation of this device is simple, and it vapes great for what it is. I don’t think it it’s as hard as mechanical squonks that have large solid contacts, but for having the chipset within, it performs well. For much of my review period, I paired it with the Recurve rda and they are a perfect match in my opinion. With the right build, the ramp up is minimal, and the battery life from a good 20700 or 21700 is excellent. I am not sure why they included the 20650 adapter, as I have never even heard of one before this mod, but at least it is in the box. I really had to search for cons that were “critical” on this device, but there are a few minor ones. For starters, the squonk bottle is super soft, and doesn’t have much to grab, so it tends to get messy. This can be remedied with more caution, but it took more caution than some other recent mods on the market. Another con is the covers over the squonk bottom and battery don’t have the strongest magnets. They do stay in place but are pulled off with a little bit less force than I would like. I call it a pro, but the weight of the device might be a con for some. It weighs as much as some dual battery squonks out there, which is a tough feat to accomplish, but suggests that it is built like a truck as well. The one thing I think this is missing is battery indication like I mentioned above. Seems like an easy thing to integrate since it has an LED on it already, but I wish it had some sort of flashes to let me know 25, 50, 75% etc. Overall, this device has more pros than cons, and since it is priced at around $50, I would say it is tough to beat for the price.

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PROS

  • Ergonomic
  • Lots of battery options
  • Good color selection
  • Protections with performance similar to a mechanical
  • Wallet friendly
  • Feels solidly built


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CONS

  • Heavy, which may be a con for some but not for me
  • White rubberized finish gets dirty easily (not a con on darker colors)
  • Squonk bottle can be messy (not a big deal, just takes a little more effort to not make a mess)
  • Magnets on doors are weak
  • No battery level indication



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PROFILE RDA REVIEW





WHAT YOU GET WITH THE PROFILE RDA

  • 1 Profile RDA
  • 1 6mm cotton strip
  • 1 Colored 810 drip tip
  • 1 Frosted 810 drip tip
  • 1 Coil tool for mesh or 3mm coils
  • 2 clapton coils
  • 2 pieces of pre-cut mesh
  • 1 spare parts bag
  • 1 user manual
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The Profile rda is something I had not heard much about as it hasn’t been hyped nearly as much as the Recurve mod and rda from Wotofo. This is a collaboration with Mr. Just Right, which I recently learned that he is a vape reviewer that is gaining a decent following on social media and Youtube. I don’t know how much of this was his creation, but what they developed incorporates a bit of innovation. The Profile RDA (named this for tasting the best flavor profile) is primarily a single mesh coil rda that uses a dual clamp post design to center the mesh right over the middle of the rda. To help make this a better experience, Wotofo includes, and is now selling pre-cut mesh just for this, which makes installation a breeze. This isn’t regular mesh woven mesh but is a Kanthal material with a honeycomb pattern. One of the biggest innovations in this rda is that it has a spring-loaded ceramic piece situated right under the coil which aids in pushing the cotton right up to the coil. Let’s dive down into the deck, how to build on this rda, and give my final thoughts down at the bottom.

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THE BUILD DECK

Like I said above, the build deck is a dual clamp style system. It is raised up off the bottom, and has shallow slots for the mesh to sit right in. Wotofo includes a coil tool which is designed to make the perfect arc in the mesh. Unfortunately, this coil tool doesn’t fit between the posts, but is a huge help in getting the initial shape of the mesh. Once it is formed, insert one side in, tighten down, and then move on to the other side. Boom…done…. Ready to wick. It was one of the quickest builds I have put in, and the mesh heats up even right out of the gate with no fiddling or stroking like one may have to do with advanced coil builds.
The deck isn’t limited to just mesh coils. There are cut outs in the bottom which allow you to install a single standard coil as well. Precutting is required but can easily be measured up by holding the coil next to the deck and snipping the bottom. It is a simple deck to build on with either mesh or standard coils. The clamps seem a bit wonky for a standard coil, but they work just fine and are beefy. I was worried that a coil could tweak this type of clamp and result in poor mesh contact later, but I went back and forth between mesh and standard coils and it held up great every time.

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WICK IT UP

If you have ever vaped mesh rebuildables before, then you know that cotton needs to be in solid, firm contact with the mesh throughout, or hot spots will develop across the coil. The spring-loaded ceramic section comes into play here and helps to keep constant contact without having to really jam cotton into the mesh coil. Another perk to this ceramic piece is it is also a squonking channel, pushing liquid right up into the cotton and out to the juice well. It assures that the wicking is always juiced up from the inside and out. I was able to squonk this very hard, and essentially drown the coil in liquid, which is then sucked down when the squonk bottle is released. I used the included cotton they provided, as it had the perfect width for this, but I also found that native wicks worked well with this application also. I twisted up my cotton and pushed down against the spring-loaded portion while inserting the cotton. Once it was where I wanted it, I released the spring tension and it was held in place perfectly. There isn’t a ton of room for wicking outside the coil, so I strongly suggest fluffing the wicks and then cutting them at an angle from the base of the rda, towards the coil. The combination of the spring-loaded section, and the wicking action it provides makes this by far the best experiences I have had wish a mesh rda.
Wicking this with a single standard coil is nothing new. Insert into the coil, fluff a little, and tuck down into the juice well. The build ends up being higher, and there is not coil painting action like seen with the mesh, but it still squonks well.

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AIR FLOW

The air flow of the Profile rda is a typical side air flow, which has 19 small holes which shut off as you turn the top part of the cap. Since these holes are not linear, it allows for fine adjustments without shutting off several wholes entirely at one time. I thought with holes being partially open it would whistle or have a lot of turbulence, but that is not the case. With a mesh coil, I ran it with the air flow wide open, and with a standard coil I choked it down just a bit. One of the cons to the air for is that the top cap is keyed to lock into place, so when you close off the air, it is no longer going to hit the center of the coil. With higher wattage and the air flow wide open this isn’t an issue, but for those who like reduced air flow, it will be a con as it is bound to reduce flavor.


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ON TOP OF RAGE BOX

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PROFILE FINAL THOUGHTS

I really had no idea that this rda was coming out and haven’t had a ton of experience with mesh rdas, other than dabbling with a VV mesh and Digiflavor Mesh Pro before it. I felt both of those were ok, but I hated having to shove so much cotton inside to get it to wick properly. With the small tweaks to the deck, the spring-loaded ceramic, and the squonking action, Wotofo made a formidable mesh rda here. The included .18-ohm mesh ramps up very fast and operates well in the 40-50w range. I found that it ramped up almost too fast when paired with the Recurve squonk mod and a fresh battery (in a perfect world that’s 98 watts) so I had this parked on top of my Rage squonker most of the time. The one thing to keep in mind is that there is a TON of cotton in there, so it needs a fresh squonk every few hits depending on the wattage you are at. If you don’t remember this, you will be living in dry hit city and won’t forget after that. The flavor that I get off the mesh is one of the best I have ever tasted in an rda. I don’t know if it is the short cap, or the fact that it spits just a tiny bit of liquid up in the vapor, but it really does bring out flavors in the liquid and impressed me incredibly. At one point I installed a 3.5mm fused Clapton with 7 wraps running at 70 watts, and it was hitting almost as good as the mesh. I assumed the chamber was a bit too large for a single standard coil, but I was wrong. The top cap is ungodly thick, so the inside diameter is closer to a 22mm than a 24. It performs a bit better with mesh, and it should since that is the primary design, but it also works for those who don’t want to fiddle with mesh at all. Would I recommend this rda to you? Well….it is a bit of a loaded question. Mesh isn’t for everyone, but I feel this would be a great rda for someone who wants to try it. The spring-loaded squonking section is excellent, and the deck is easy to build on. The included mesh is hard to dial in for mechanical squonkers as it hits super hard and can result in dry hits if not careful. This is easily avoided with other types of mesh with higher resistance, but the pre-cut Wotofo mesh is just so dang easy to work with and performs very well when the wattage is dialed in correctly. So yeah…a bit of a loaded question, but I think it is versatile enough to be both a good mesh rda, and a good single coil rda. The flavor really is excellent, and it feels like it is built very solid.



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PROS
  • Top notch flavor
  • Innovative build deck
  • Great squonking action
  • Easy to build (especially with the precut mesh)
  • Low price point
  • Great styling
  • Feels solidly build

CONS
  • Air flow is locked into place
  • Single coil operation is not quite as good as mesh
  • Mesh has a slight learning curve to it and the included mesh ramps up almost too fast for mechanical squonkers or even the Recurve mod.

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Thank you everyone and thank you to Wotofo for sending them my way for review. If you are interested in the Recurve squonk mod, it can be found for about $45-50 online. The Profile rda is just hitting the market, and is not on many sites yet, but it is going for the $25-35 range.



RECURVE
Wotofo Recurve Squonk Mod - Excellent rebuildable vaping devices, RDAs, RTAs from Wotofo



PROFILE
Wotofo Profile RDA - Excellent rebuildable vaping devices, RDAs, RTAs from Wotofo




Pizza Dave – delivering real reviews with no extra toppings



REVIEW CRITERIA: I use each item for about two weeks to ensure I have collected enough data to adequately write a review. I use the same e liquid in tanks or rdas throughout all my reviews to ensure that I am comparing apples to apples between all modern equipment. I do not post reviews until I feel confident that I have used it enough to give an educated review. The reason I started doing reviews was due to poor purchasing decisions in my vaping infancy about two years ago. Back then, I purchased several different pieces of hardware without really enjoying it and I hope my reviews can guide people into spending their hard-earned money more wisely than I did! ****Keep in mind that some items I receive may be pre-release and not in retail packaging. Quality may be less than the finished product and what is in the package may differ from the retail package as well.
 
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