THUNDERHEAD CREATIONS TAUREN VORTEX RDA review by hittman

hittman

ECF Guru
Supporting Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Contest Winner!
  • Jul 13, 2009
    61,410
    179,372
    Somewhere between here and there
    Hello and welcome to yet another review by yours truly. Today I will be taking a look at the Thunderhead Creations Tauren Vortex 30 rda that was sent to me by Thunderhead Creations in order to provide you with a fair and honest review. In the past I have reviewed a few other THC products and found them to be of good quality and performed well. The Vortex is a 30mm rebuildable dripping atomizer that promises to provide exceptional flavor combined with dense clouds of vapor. The Vortex has an airflow cap with 42 holes on each of two sides for a total of 84 airflow inlet holes. It makes use of a postless build deck to provide easy building. The liquid well is 10.5mm to allow more usage between fills. It sounds pretty good on paper. I’ll let you know later if it lives up to the promises. I will have a link to the website and a discount code at the end of this review.

    8BQ74DA.jpeg


    JLMlt0Z.jpeg


    WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

    • TAUREN rda VORTEX 30
    • Accessory pack
    • User manual/ 1-QC Card
    • Allen wrenches/ Warranty Card
    CJZCwUK.jpeg

    SPECIFICATIONS:

    Size: Diameter 30x29.5mm

    Material: SS

    Capacity: 2.5ml

    Drip tip: 810

    Deck: Dual coil

    Fill Type: Top/Bottom

    6 Colors: SS/Black/Gunmetal/Gold/Purple/Silver Black
    ZWyUO2r.jpeg


    FEATURES:

    • Innovative 3D Vortex Airflow
    • 30mm Diameter Big Size
    • Heat Management System
    • 84 Holes Top Air Intake Cup
    • 10.5mm juice Well
    • Bottom Juice Filling
    • Easy to build

    PVsBH6Y.jpeg


    oBq41ZT.jpeg


    INITIAL THOUGHTS:

    The packaging for the Vortex is simple but nice. I personally like when there is a viewing window in the front of the box like this one has. The Vortex is the latest in the Tauren series of devices from Thunderhead Creations. The front has the Tauren icon on top along with the name of the device and the logo “Dual Drip Thrill 30”. The back of the box has the THC logo, a list of the contents, and the THC website listed.

    1738377323174.png


    1738377342900.png


    Once the top of the box is removed then you are greeted by the Vortex RDA and the coil cutting guide sitting very tightly in a foam insert. It was so tight in fact that I had difficulty removing the rda and cutting guide. However, this is a great condition for shipping. Underneath the foam insert is where the warranty card, user manual, and accessory bag are located. The accessory bag includes a bottom feed pin, two fused Clapton coils, two allen wrenches that are for changing the 510 pin and for use on the grub screws for the build deck. There are also spare deck screws and o rings included. I personally prefer the allen head deck screws and was happy to see them pre-installed. The coil cutting guide is clearly marked with an arrow on the side telling the user to cut the coil legs at the 6mm setting. It’s nice how the guide openings are curved to help make the coil cutting a little more accurate.

    1738377387676.png


    1738377411696.png


    1738377433904.png


    As with any new rda or tank, it’s a good idea to give the Vortex a good wash with some hot and soapy water. The Vortex can be broken down fairly easy except I had difficulty removing the 810 drip tip which was very tight and tip is short which makes it a little hard to get a grip on. The drip tip does not have any o rings on it. The o ring that secures the tip is inside the top cap as you can see in the second picture below.

    zSZfMgG.jpeg


    1738377494958.png


    As I mentioned earlier, there are 42 honeycomb airflow holes on each side of the top cap for a total of 84 holes. The Tauren logo and name are also on the top cap. It stands out nicely on the Silver Black version that I received for this review. You might also notice that the gold plated 510 center pin protrudes from the bottom of the 510 connection in the second picture below.

    1738377533118.png


    1738377553209.png


    The shape of the inner chamber is interesting. The chamber is reduced to enhance flavor production. The cap is easily turned to adjust the airflow since the top cap is one piece. I’ve had some rdas where you just turn the top piece that the tip attaches to and they can sometimes be difficult to grip to adjust the airflow. With this shape, the build deck can only go in one way to match the shape of the deck and inner chamber. It is easy to start seating the chamber on the deck and then turning the cap until it drops down into place. This design also allows for a positive stop when opening and closing the airflow which is a really nice touch in my opinion. The recessed area of the deck allows a liquid capacity rated at 2.5ml.

    1738377630246.png


    1738377655520.png
     

    hittman

    ECF Guru
    Supporting Member
    ECF Veteran
    Verified Member
    Contest Winner!
  • Jul 13, 2009
    61,410
    179,372
    Somewhere between here and there
    The Vortex is really a solid and well-built rda. I personally like that the Vortex makes use of allen head screws which makes it much easier to turn the screws with one of the two included wrenches. As you can see below, there are two very large o rings that hold the top cap onto the deck. They are really a good fit since they securely hold the cap on even when lifting the mod by the cap and also not so tight that you have difficulty removing the top cap when needed. The build deck has a single hole in the side for airflow underneath as well as multiple slotted holes for the simultaneous side airflow to create the “Vortex” airflow. Also thanks to the placement of the 84 honeycomb holes in the top cap and the deep juice wells at 10.5mm, the Vortex is virtually leak proof. Thanks to the large 30mm size of the Vortex, the included 3mm coils fit very easily with room to spare. I’m sure larger coils could be used if so desired.

    1738377704863.png


    1738377728471.png


    j1VOxEK.jpeg


    FINAL THOUGHTS:

    It was truly a pleasure testing the Tauren Vortex 30 RDA. I started out by using the included coils and trimmed them using the included coil cutting guide which is marked at 6mm. I did pulse and strum the coils before wicking as you would expect. Once installed and wicked, the resistance on my Riva DNA250C mod showed a coil resistance of .10 ohms. I knew from the dry burn that it was going to take a pretty high wattage setting to properly fire the included coils. There was not any cotton included with the Vortex. I used the same cotton thread as I use on my other tanks. I normally vape around 40-50 watts and use 6mg liquids mostly. I started out with the Vortex on the Riva and was dripping. I ran the included coils all the way up to 95 watts moving up in increments but with 6mg liquid it was just too strong. I finally mixed up some 3mg liquid and dialed the wattage back to 80 watts. The Vortex RDA can provide an immense amount of airflow if you so desire. In my testing, I found the flavor best with the airflow about ¼ open.

    1738377799312.png



    1738377815540.png



    1738377837047.png


    Since the wattage needed for the included coils was a little out of my comfort zone, I decided to install a couple of alien coils that I had on hand that were rated for .4 ohms each. I was hoping to come out around .2 ohms but after trimming them to the 6mm mark, I got a reading of .15 ohms. My second motivation was that I wanted to install the squonk pin that was included and run the Vortex on a 100 watt squonk mod. I was able to run in the 50-60 watt range with the higher resistance coils on my Centaurus squonk mod. I used the same liquid for dripping and for squonking which is a lemon pound cake mix that I make and have used for a long time. I felt like the lemon flavor was brighter in this rda than in the sub ohm tank that I normally run it in. Even with a 3mg liquid, this was a little much for me but the flavor was very good with only 2-3 rows of holes open in the top cap. Anything more was just too airy for me. I tried squonking multiple times and never did get any leaking but did notice some condensation on the airflow holes that were open. I think this rda is really designed for cloud production but I was happy with the flavor production. Was it the best I’ve ever had? No, but it was pretty good.

    I’d like to thank Thunderhead Creations and Ally for sending the Tauren Vortex 30 RDA for this review. As always, a big thanks to the readers for taking the time to read my review. Below is a link to the Thunderhead Creations website for your viewing pleasure and if you’d like to pick one up for yourself or a friend then I have a coupon code for you that will get you 20% off of your purchase.

    TAUREN RDA VORTEX 30 - Best 30 MM RDA EVER | ThunderHead Creations

    COUPON CODE FOR 20% OFF = hit01
     

    Users who are viewing this thread