RDA Want to buy my first rda

[Kagey K]

im really interested in getting into dripping and rdas. I'm so confused as to where to start. I am able to use and build subtank rbas at .05 to .07 on the magic screwdriver and have a wealth of occ at my disposal.

I have an istick 50 and a subbox mini at my disposal right now and very rarely go past 25w on either. In fact I was at 15 forever on them it seems. My nic is between 0 and 4 so I average it at 3.

What rba out of these choices would be a good place to start? I know I can handle single coils, but once I get into dual and quad coils I get lost....

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[Mr.Mann]

Based on your experience, I say go for a two-post design RDA if they have it. I will check what they have...hold...

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That's a really good starter atty. You can learn a lot about positioning your coils without having to do a true center-post build (google images of "center-post builds" and notice the three-post or split-post decks they are on). But with a two-post deck like what I linked to, you will automatically be doing a center-post build since the coils leads will fit into the posts like a plug in a socket vs. having to do any kind of calculated bends in the leads or having the coils all off-center.

There's a number of other reasons I think that is good for you to begin with, but I have to kinda rush through this post. You don't have to trust me, I am just one opinion, but I think you would also benefit from an amazing amount of help with that one being that sooooooo many here have used it (me included).

As with most of these things, wrapping a coil is the easy part, but wicking it and getting the coil in the best spot i more challenging. With a two-post design you should be better set.

For dual coils, basically you take the resistance of one of the coils and halve it. If you wrap to 1Ω coils, your resistance will be .5Ω. Just make the same amount of wraps and the same internal diameter.

p.s. Building on a Subtank is more related to using a two-post deck than a three-post deck. A different orientation, but you should be able to figure it out lickity-split..

 

[TKS]

Also if you are doing those kind of builds on those ohms, make sure to have an arty with small airflow setting and a reduced chamber as possible. Most decent flavor and cloud builds demand lots of power in he 40+ watt range.

 

[sofarsogood]

You didn't say if you do mouth-to-lung (describes me) and need restricted air flow.

 

[Tom Forde]

Based off the store's list, my top choices (no specific order), and atty's that support single coils would be the:
Web Store
Twisted Messes Atty Clone - pretty much can fit any size coil onto the deck without having to worry about the negative lead touching the inner barrel. Massive post holes, with a positive post block (2 post holes to make dual coils easier), and it comes with extra top caps, the SS chuff cap, a 510 drip tip cap, & a derlin chuff cap which won't heat up on you.
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Dotmod Petri Clone - 2 post design with 4 post holes, which should be 1.5mm each, but it's a clone so I don't know what the deck looks like. The con is that the airflow is fixed with 2x 3mm airholes. I have an authentic and since I got it, I haven't really used any of my other atty's.
Web Store
Dark Horse RDA Clone - 3 post design with massive post holes, tons of airflow options, and supports single coils. Also, the barrel fits on a Petri (on the authentics I have, not 100% sure on the clones), so if you were to get both you could use the 2 post deck with the ridiculous airflow of the dark horse. Also it comes with both a chuff or 510 drip tip.
Web Store
Doge X V2: it's a doge v2 deck with the AFC of a mutation x. No center post spin to worry about, supports single coil, nice wide bore drip tip, and comes with a whole bag of extra goodies like an extra stainless steel center post & stainless post screws along with the copper center post, as well as a full set of extra PEEK insulators for the center post.

My recommendations may be biased, but I'm just going off the list you provided.
Off that website, Check out the prax1s Derringer, the Velocity, mutation x v4 XS, and the STRO V1 & STRO Mini.
The STRO v1 basically has the deck of a competition Kennedy (4x bottom airflow holes) with side AFC. It looks like a taller Royal Hunter. The STRO mini has slotted airflow and a 2 post/4 post hole deck.
Hope this helps!
- Tom Forde

 

[Kagey K]

You didn't say if you do mouth-to-lung (describes me) and need restricted air flow.

No I've gotten used to direct lung hits. Use my subtank with wide open air most days.

Based off the store's list, my top choices (no specific order), and atty's that support single coils would be the:
Web Store
Twisted Messes Atty Clone - pretty much can fit any size coil onto the deck without having to worry about the negative lead touching the inner barrel. Massive post holes, with a positive post block (2 post holes to make dual coils easier), and it comes with extra top caps, the SS chuff cap, a 510 drip tip cap, & a derlin chuff cap which won't heat up on you.
Web Store
Dotmod Petri Clone - 2 post design with 4 post holes, which should be 1.5mm each, but it's a clone so I don't know what the deck looks like. The con is that the airflow is fixed with 2x 3mm airholes. I have an authentic and since I got it, I haven't really used any of my other atty's.
Web Store
Dark Horse RDA Clone - 3 post design with massive post holes, tons of airflow options, and supports single coils. Also, the barrel fits on a Petri (on the authentics I have, not 100% sure on the clones), so if you were to get both you could use the 2 post deck with the ridiculous airflow of the dark horse. Also it comes with both a chuff or 510 drip tip.
Web Store
Doge X V2: it's a doge v2 deck with the AFC of a mutation x. No center post spin to worry about, supports single coil, nice wide bore drip tip, and comes with a whole bag of extra goodies like an extra stainless steel center post & stainless post screws along with the copper center post, as well as a full set of extra PEEK insulators for the center post.

My recommendations may be biased, but I'm just going off the list you provided.
Off that website, Check out the prax1s Derringer, the Velocity, mutation x v4 XS, and the STRO V1 & STRO Mini.
The STRO v1 basically has the deck of a competition Kennedy (4x bottom airflow

It looks like a taller Royal Hunter.
Hope this helps!
- Tom Forde

They have authentic royal hunters there and I almost bought that as my first, but they were sold out of the green and gold.

I am split right now on the freak show, the doge and mutation.

Again I use high veg 70/30 pg 3 nic and prefer my draws a bit cooler. I used my istick 50 at about 15w and see my subbox mini at 25w

I want a big cloud and big flavour ( I know I can't have both) with something that looks decent on my battery.

 

[Darth Omerta]

Based off the store's list, my top choices (no specific order), and atty's that support single coils would be the:
Web Store
Twisted Messes Atty Clone - pretty much can fit any size coil onto the deck without having to worry about the negative lead touching the inner barrel. Massive post holes, with a positive post block (2 post holes to make dual coils easier), and it comes with extra top caps, the SS chuff cap, a 510 drip tip cap, & a derlin chuff cap which won't heat up on you.
Web Store
Dotmod Petri Clone - 2 post design with 4 post holes, which should be 1.5mm each, but it's a clone so I don't know what the deck looks like. The con is that the airflow is fixed with 2x 3mm airholes. I have an authentic and since I got it, I haven't really used any of my other atty's.
Web Store
Dark Horse RDA Clone - 3 post design with massive post holes, tons of airflow options, and supports single coils. Also, the barrel fits on a Petri (on the authentics I have, not 100% sure on the clones), so if you were to get both you could use the 2 post deck with the ridiculous airflow of the dark horse. Also it comes with both a chuff or 510 drip tip.
Web Store
Doge X V2: it's a doge v2 deck with the AFC of a mutation x. No center post spin to worry about, supports single coil, nice wide bore drip tip, and comes with a whole bag of extra goodies like an extra stainless steel center post & stainless post screws along with the copper center post, as well as a full set of extra PEEK insulators for the center post.

My recommendations may be biased, but I'm just going off the list you provided.
Off that website, Check out the prax1s Derringer, the Velocity, mutation x v4 XS, and the STRO V1 & STRO Mini.
The STRO v1 basically has the deck of a competition Kennedy (4x bottom airflow holes) with side AFC. It looks like a taller Royal Hunter. The STRO mini has slotted airflow and a 2 post/4 post hole deck.
Hope this helps!
- Tom Forde

Agreed on the list but i think i would put the Dark Horse either first or second. Nothing wrong with the order apart from that but its just my opinion. I love the Dark Horse, its a great rda. Building duals on it is a touch tricky but after 2 or 3 builds it becomes second nature.

 

[Tom Forde]

Agreed on the list but i think i would put the Dark Horse either first or second. Nothing wrong with the order apart from that but its just my opinion. I love the Dark Horse, its a great rda. Building duals on it is a touch tricky but after 2 or 3 builds it becomes second nature.

I have a Dark Horse, it is a great RDA, post holes are gigantic but for a first RDA, I'd suggest something different because of the edge on the inside of the AFC that makes the area for coils smaller.

No I've gotten used to direct lung hits. Use my subtank with wide open air most days.



They have authentic royal hunters there and I almost bought that as my first, but they were sold out of the green and gold.

I am split right now on the freak show, the doge and mutation.

Again I use high veg 70/30 pg 3 nic and prefer my draws a bit cooler. I used my istick 50 at about 15w and see my subbox mini at 25w

I want a big cloud and big flavour ( I know I can't have both) with something that looks decent on my battery.

If you're split between the freakshow, mutation x v4 & doge v2, why not just get a Doge X v2? Same design as the Doge v2 with the Mutation x v3 airflow. I have the mutation x v3 & v4, & Doge v2, the only way I get flavor off my Doge is by using fused claptons in it. The flavor off the mutation x V3 is similar to the doge. Might I suggest a Mutation x v4 XS? Pretty much a freakshow mini with side airflow.

 

[sanguinesolitude]

i haven't used a ton, but my go to rda is a vertex. fairly easy to build, and super flavorful vape. Just ordered a velocity rda and look forward to trying it. I think the 2 post design will be better for building on, and have heard nothing but good things about it.

or just order a bunch of clones from fastech and try em all.

 

[Hitcat44]

I was a Huge Fan of the Infinite Magma Clones till tried the El Cabron and the Twisted Messes and now the 13 Heavens and 9 Hells (my new ADV RDA perched atop the Hollowpoint Mech).
"3/4 Post" Design but very easy to build, very Deep Juice Wells, awesome Air Flow, Hits great producing an unbelievable Combo of Vapor & Flavor, and looks great.
the Magma by Infinite is still a great little RDA but I prefer the others.
Had a Freakshow and sold it. Nice but just didn't compare to the CompVape Trio IMO.
Heard great things about the Mutation as well but no 1st hand experience Pro or Con.

 

[Tom Forde]

i haven't used a ton, but my go to rda is a vertex. fairly easy to build, and super flavorful vape. Just ordered a velocity rda and look forward to trying it. I think the 2 post design will be better for building on, and have heard nothing but good things about it.

or just order a bunch of clones from fastech and try em all.

The two post design is incredibly easy to build on. It's the best way to design an atty imo. 3 posts are a PITA sometimes and atty's with center post blocks can be annoying to fit large surface area coils in as well. The Twisted Messes atty being the exclusion from that list because of the way the AFC doesn't mess with your coils. I have a Petri as my all day RDA, and I can fit huge coils inside of it, plus the two post design is super easy to build on, even though the design is different than the velocity.

 

[Hitcat44]

I believe that putting the Legs of 2 Coils on the same Posts a heckuva lot more of a PITA than the 3/4 Post design RDAs by a HUGE margin. If only running single Coils,,,, then Agree with you. But, Dual Coils preferred for Flavor and Vapor so then limiting yourself and your Vaping Experience unnecessarily.

Do agree there is absolutely ZERO Issues with Air Flow on the Twisted Messes or any RDA made by CompVape.
Prefer the 13 Heavens and 9 Hells over the other 2 as it has a monstrous "cleaned out" Juice Well which gives more Vape time and less Drip time.

 

[Two_Bears]

im really interested in getting into dripping and rdas. I'm so confused as to where to start. I am able to use and build subtank rbas at .05 to .07 on the magic screwdriver and have a wealth of occ at my disposal.

I have an istick 50 and a subbox mini at my disposal right now and very rarely go past 25w on either. In fact I was at 15 forever on them it seems. My nic is between 0 and 4 so I average it at 3.

What rba out of these choices would be a good place to start? I know I can handle single coils, but once I get into dual and quad coils I get lost....

Web Store

This all depends on whether you want flavor, flavor with big clouds of just big clouds.

I like flavor so I will answer in that vein.

Magma or Freak Show or Freakshow mini. These has air holes that go in near the bottom then the internal air flow turns 90 degrees and goes over the coil or coils.

The Veritas has one opening behind the coils and the back is only partially milled out. It has two juice channels the juice runs in to prevent leaking as you tip the RDA to vape.

Installing coils in an RDA with holes for the wire is much easier than getting wire under the head of a screw is much easier for me especially since three fingers on my left hand are curled up with Dupodrens contracture.

 

[Tom Forde]

I believe that putting the Legs of 2 Coils on the same Posts a heckuva lot more of a PITA than the 3/4 Post design RDAs by a HUGE margin. If only running single Coils,,,, then Agree with you. But, Dual Coils preferred for Flavor and Vapor so then limiting yourself and your Vaping Experience unnecessarily.

Do agree there is absolutely ZERO Issues with Air Flow on the Twisted Messes or any RDA made by CompVape.
Prefer the 13 Heavens and 9 Hells over the other 2 as it has a monstrous "cleaned out" Juice Well which gives more Vape time and less Drip time.

If the OP starts building larger coils like staggered fused claptons and the like, 3 post rda's will limit building significantly.
However the TM Atty accommodates ginormous coils. The post holes are extra large and the AFC is on the outside of the deck & the inner barrel has a ton of clearance to fit large coils.
2 post/4 post hole atty's are great as well though. If you want a great flavor atty, check the Petri out. It's my main dripper, everything else is secondary to it, however the cloned version may have smaller post holes and the webstore the OP is using doesn't show the deck. The one drawback you may not like is fixed airflow. It only has 2x3mm airholes, yet, can accommodate a single coil perfectly with them if you build a coil between the posts aligned with the airholes. I've done some between the posts single coil builds, and you can fit a fairly large coil there.

It looks like they added more stock to the site, check out the Motofo Atty3..it's got the center post block with 4 post holes, and the AFC doesn't look like it would be too intrusive on touching your coils when installed.
Last note from me; the N23 RDA looks intriguing..I've never seen it before. It has 3 AFC rings, along with top and bottom airflow. Same kind of center post block design with 2 positive post holes. The bottom AFC is controlled by one of the AFC rings, and the top AFC is controlled by loosening or tightening up the top cap. Looks like it has the same topcap design as the velocity, with more AFC rings and top airflow. With all of the side airflow control it looks like it can accommodate a single coil, but the website does not specify. I'd definitely check it out.

 

[Hitcat44]

Interesting looking RDA. Dig the Design. How deep is the Juice Well? How much does it hold approx.?

 

[DaveSignal]

im really interested in getting into dripping and rdas. I'm so confused as to where to start. I am able to use and build subtank rbas at .05 to .07 on the magic screwdriver and have a wealth of occ at my disposal.

This is really low. Probably the loweset I have built is .08 and I build RDAs every day. Its not really safe unless you have a mod with multiple parallel batteries. And still, its pretty low.
Right now I am using an authentic Velocity that I have built at .15 ohm. This is still pretty low for a beginner, but I find it totally fantastic. I think the Velocity is probably the easiest RDA to build that I own, and I own about 35 RDAs. It is dual post, so you don't have to worry about centering your coils... they are just always centered. It has huge adjustable airflow for any style you want. The top cap locks into place with the air openings directly in front of the coils everytime. It doesn't leak, you won't suck up juice, it has great flavor, and can make loads of vapor.

 

[Tom Forde]

Interesting looking RDA. Dig the Design. How deep is the Juice Well? How much does it hold approx.?

The well looks pretty deep even with the bottom AFC. I'd say a lot haha