What's the story on RDAs?

[Moxienator]

I went from egos to a mech mod with a KFL+V2 and this was what helped me to quit analogs. I've been vaping exclusively for a couple weeks or so, and a buddy suggested I try dripping (as does every vaper that I meet in person). He turned me towards the Veritas by Faceless/iHybrid mods. Ok, I thought, touted as a "flavor chaser's dripper", and "practically leak-proof" and so on and so forth. I confess that the real selling point on a dripper was not having to dump a tank and re-wick to change flavors.

Mind you, these people enjoy the sub-ohm realms, and I do not. I do enjoy VG heavy blends (currently the Millenium Potion "Black Tea" at 65%VG / 35%PG), and decent yet cool clouds that burst with flavor.
So far, the KFL+V2 with a 1.3ohm coil on a tarsius customs brass 4nine clone has been fantastic! but I figured, is there more?

So I drop the $120 on the Veritas, get a telescoping mech (M16/Sentinel clone, brass) and wrap a 28ga 2.5mm 1.5ohm single coil on it...
meh.... ok. More cloud, less dense, a third of the flavor.

So, I wrap it with 28ga 1.2ohm 1mm dual coils, and though slightly better, with the AFC almost closed its still too airy and light feeling.
Not satisfying.

So... I wrap a 26ga 0.125" 1ohm single coil on it, thicker cloud, AFC still almost closed, better flavor, but nowhere near my KFL+ @ 1.3ohms, and completely unsatisfying as an analog substitute. 0 Throat hit, even with juice that has great TH in the KFL+. Feels like 0 Nic even though its 1.8%. I'm not what anyone would consider a "Cloud chaser" so the clouds do nothing except piss me off. They have very little flavor compared to the KFL+, and feel like air.

And now, I'm here, putting it to you guys. Am I doing something wrong? Is an airy, light throat hit as good as drippers get? What am I missing in the equation that others seem to think is the cat's meow? Am I the kind of vaper that should be relegated to tanks forever? Do I need a 30watt box mod? Do I need to tap the 480v plugs at work and wire them straight to my atty?

How do I, as a lover of Throat Hit and Flavor above all else, get a satisfying vape from my RDA?

 

[Froth]

There's simply too much air space in the Veritas for a 1.0 ohm build to produce anything like a Kayfun style vape IMO, I know you said you're not into the sub-ohm thing but realistically the Veritas isn't exactly meant for a 1.0 ohm build on top of a mechanical, that's 17W at 4.2V...really not sufficient for the style of atomizer IMO, especially if you're used to a Kayfun type of performance. Personally, I wouldn't have dove right in to a Veritas for a "first" RDA as it can be a bit fiddly to get right.

Honestly, with an RDA on a mechanical the next logical step if you don't like the heat/flavor/throat hit you're getting at 1.0 ohms the next step is to further drop your resistance down into the "Sub-ohm" realm you spoke of. I have been using my Veritas for two weeks or so and I love it, but it took me a few days to get a build on it that I like, I settled on a .41 ohm Twisted 24ga setup and I've been in love with it. I've been using a 80VG/20PG juice with it at 3mg Nicotine, truly a very satisfying vape with quite a lot of flavor.

I would personally say you should stick with it, try some things you feel you may not exactly like, perhaps with the Kayfun you certainly don't like to sub-ohm(as they perform best around 1.0-1.3 ohms) but with a dripper you may find that to produce a satisfying vape the builds must be a bit lower in resistance than you've become accustomed to.

Edit: Now, it is entirely possible that RDA's simply aren't your thing, if you feel you've truly exhausted all of the options for building/using your Veritas and you still don't like it then that's just how you are. I'd give a few different RDA's a shot before I wrote them off completely though.

 

[_sidekick_]

You may want to look into something with a smaller chamber to get closer to the kayfun flavor. Quasars have very small chambers and will probably be closer to the kayfun in terms of flavor. Most regard the kayfun as one of the best atties for flavor and it's a totally different vape than an RDA. I've never used the veritas personally, but it doesn't seem like the greatest RDA, especially for someone just getting into RDAs.

 

[Nomoreash]

As others have said you really need more power to bring the flavor out on most RDAs than a mech is going to provide unless you delv into subohming. If you're going to continue with those and don't want to sub ohm you'll need a regulated device capable of higher power like a DNA30.

There are RDAs that don't require higher wattage to an extent to preform well, one is the Magma. It take some design features from the Kayfun and preforms well with a single coil build at 1.0 ohm or higher so if you want to continue with a mech and don't want to sub ohm you might give it a shot.

 

[Moxienator]

Thanks guys! Guess I've got some vape budget hands to consider! In the mean time, ill tinker with it and see what happens. The advice I was given by my friend had been spot on about everything else, though the kfl was my choice, not his. That was probably the best decision so far. I haven't written off rda's...yet. Just got pretty frustrated when it wasn't the best thing since sliced bread right out of the gate, like the kayfun was. You all have given me my homework, so now I gotta go do it.

Sent from my Droid Mini.

 

[Moxienator]

Also, any tips on good wicking technique for drippers in general? Or in Froth's case, the veritas in particular?

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[MrPlink]

Theres no reason a veritas wont easily spank a kayfun for flavor, esp with high vg juice.
Its all in your build, and unfortunately the Veritas has a lot of nuance to bringing the best out of it.

Try copying some builds from youtube and report back.

 

[bholcomb22]

I would definitely look into getting something like the dna 30 or the ipv2. If you want to stay above 1 ohm you will need a high wattage capable regulated mod. A mechanical is simply not going to give enough power to the coil with an rda with a lot of air flow.

From what you have said it sounds like you enjoy mouth to lung hits as do I. I have gotten used to taking big lung hits, but I will always enjoy my mouth to lungs with the throat hit more. I would recommend finding RDAs that have highly adjustable airflow so you can make it very restrictive so you can take mouth to lung hits...

 

[KurrptSenate]

I run my veritas at 50-65 watts

definitely find the vertical, micro, tiger coil works out the best for me

 

[eratikmind]

My Veritas works best for me at 1.5 ohm/1x coil on a VS rDNA or a 0.7 ohm/2x coil on a mech.

 

[roxynoodle]

I recently got a magma as my first rda. Have a single 1.5ohm coil on it for my first build and its a flavor monster on a mech.

 

[Moxienator]

So between the magma or the quasar, which to get?

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[CharliesTheMan]

So between the magma or the quasar, which to get?

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My personal opinion would be the magma first, based on your previous posts, but it's going to be a close call.

 

[Moxienator]

Bumped down to 0.8. Put A LOT more wick in there, especially around the vertical coil. Getting a much better vape now!

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[Moxienator]

OK guys/gals. Bumped my veritas back up to 1ohm with a single horizontal coil. I think the majority of my issues were wicking related. Getting a dense, flavorful cloud now. Still not in the same league as the KFL+, but good.

I had to try quite a few different wicking methods, but I think I finally get the idea. About half the coil is exposed above a deep cotton bed. Coil directly (horizontally mind you) in front of the airhole. Seems to work great. Vaping a 70/30 VG heavy "tobacco" flavor called liberty boys made by my semi local b&m.

Thanks everyone! I'll be looking into a few more rdas for the future due to all of your input.

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[Moxienator]

here's a gut shot of the wicking I've been using. Coil is a little gunked up, but still serviceable. The thing is, I'm only getting like 8-10 drags or so before the cotton (organic cotton ball bed with japenese organic cotton pad wick through coil) starts to dry up. Do I need less wick?

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[Moxienator]

Pulled out a bunch of wick. Both channels on the sides of the deck are cleared, and this thing rocks now. Vaped it the rest of the work day, got maybe 20-25 drags/ 6 drops or so. Vaped all the way home from work - an hour drive - with 0 dry hits and no added drops. Veritas for the win.

 

[Froth]

Pulled out a bunch of wick. Both channels on the sides of the deck are cleared, and this thing rocks now. Vaped it the rest of the work day, got maybe 20-25 drags/ 6 drops or so. Vaped all the way home from work - an hour drive - with 0 dry hits and no added drops. Veritas for the win.

Glad to see you stuck with it and pulled through and got it! I consider myself a very experienced builder and it still took me several builds to get my Veritas to a point were I was completely satisfied with it, it's just a bit fiddly to build on. Coincidentally enough, I ended up setting it up about how you did, albeit much lower in resistance. Single horizontal coil, medium/small amount of wick in the wells.

Good stuff, welcome to RDA land!

 

[Moxienator]

Glad to see you stuck with it and pulled through and got it! I consider myself a very experienced builder and it still took me several builds to get my Veritas to a point were I was completely satisfied with it, it's just a bit fiddly to build on. Coincidentally enough, I ended up setting it up about how you did, albeit much lower in resistance. Single horizontal coil, medium/small amount of wick in the wells.

Good stuff, welcome to RDA land!

Thanks! I'm glad I did too. Thank you everyone for your input, advice, and thoughts.

Next piece of the puzzle:
Which drip tip to pair it with?
I was thinking one of the SOV micro bore drip tips or an innovape silencer drip tip (also a small bore). Anyone use either of these?

I have a titanium ultra wide (8mm?) Bore DT on there now, and the airflow 1/2 open.

Presumably, I should be able to increase flavor intensity by opening airflow all the way and restricting the DT bore allowing the vapor to condense more, right?


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[suspectK]

View attachment 374057 here's a gut shot of the wicking I've been using. Coil is a little gunked up, but still serviceable. The thing is, I'm only getting like 8-10 drags or so before the cotton (organic cotton ball bed with japenese organic cotton pad wick through coil) starts to dry up. Do I need less wick?

Sent from my Droid Mini.

Cotton does a great job as being a sponge. It keeps liquid evenly distributed throughout the wick. I always use as little as possible. With the veritas, you can take advantage of the almost leak proof design with using the well for liquid, not wicking..

Also...you have a bed and the wick through the coil? In my experience, that causes coils to be choked/flooded by excess amount of wick/liquid... really it has more to do with a lack of airflow around the coil.