Hello ECFers! Today I want to share with you my testing and experiences with the Vapefly Alberich II MTL rta that Sourcemore sent to me for the purpose of a review. The Alberich II is an updated version of the original Alberich which I never got to test out, but judging by what I'm seeing from Vapefly's site, seems to conceptually be the same. There are however a few upgrades in the Alberich II that I think are great changes and will hopefully continue to pave the way for future rta's. Vapefly is a brand that continually puts out top tier products, and Sourcemore currently has a great deal on this RTA.
As per usual, I want to thank Joyi and Sourcemore for providing this product for review. As a reviewer, this critique will be conducted in a fair and honest manner.
Alright, let's roll!
(photos can be clicked on for easier viewing and readability)
As per usual, I want to thank Joyi and Sourcemore for providing this product for review. As a reviewer, this critique will be conducted in a fair and honest manner.
Alright, let's roll!
(photos can be clicked on for easier viewing and readability)
◆ SITE OVERVIEW ◆
Colors:
> Silver
> Black
> Gunmetal
Key Features:
> Top-to-bottom airflow design
> Single coil build deck
> Leakproof design
> 4ml capacity with top refill system
> Precise airflow control and different MTL vaping with 6 airflow pins
Specs & Packaging:
Specs:
Diameter: 23.00mm
Height: 59.65mm
Drip Tip: 510
Coil Rebuildable: Single Coil Building
Tank Capacity: 4ml
Colors: Silver, Black, Gunmetal
Package Contents:
> Alberich II MTL RTA
> 4ml Glass Tube (spare)
> 1.0ohm KA1 Prebuilt Coil (2.5mm ID)
> 1.0ohm Ni80 Prebuilt Coil (2.5mm ID)
> Firebolt Cotton (x2)
> Airflow Pins (x6 ranging from 0.8 to 2.0mm diameters)
> Screws (x4)
> User Manual
> Spare O-rings
◆ REVIEW TESTING & OBSERVATIONS ◆
Intro:
The Vapefly Alberich II MTL RTA comes packaged quite simply, but as you can see above, there are plenty of goodies that come in the box. It isn't very common to be supplied with two sets of coils and firebolt cotton (a single firebolt cotton can be used to wick both coils and then some), so that is a nice touch. Also, it should be noted that both coils are single strand 2.5mm ID and while I've not tried to fit a 3mm ID coil in this atomizer, I don't see it happening. The photos below will show you just how tight the 2.5mm coils sit when fastened, so adding a spare 2.5mm coil to the kit makes it that much more of a welcomed addition.
There are plenty of spare O-rings for both the atomizer and airflow pins shown on the left. The tank I received had a 1.2mm airflow pin already pre-installed, and 6 additional airflow pins ranging from 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, and 2.0 millimeters in diameter. Additionally, there are 4 phillips post screws and a 3-in-1 tool that provides everything you need to set up this atomizer.
The Alberich II:
Pretty much all of Vapefly's products have a medieval theme which I've loved from the start. The font and aesthetic stands out to me with a very classy design. The 510 drip tip is quite skinny, but appropriate and comfortable for an MTL device.
There's knurling around the top and base cap which looks aggressive, but is rather smooth to the touch giving you just enough grip to easily twist on and off. The top cap is a quarter turn release which makes refilling an easy task.
The two airflow holes you see just below the top cap knurling are fixed, which surprised me a little. I'll get into the airflow in a bit, but was expecting this RTA to squeeze down to the tightest of airflows which to me is ideal for an atomizer that is specifically aimed for just MTL vaping.
The pre-installed glass and spare glass are identical, and both hold 4mL of juice which is more than plenty for MTL vaping. I'm not sure if they're intending on making a 2mL option for countries enforcing TPD compliance, but there's no mention of it in the package contents or on Vapefly's site.
The Components:
I realize there's a lot going on in the collage above, so I'll try to break everything down the best that I can. Two big changes were made from the OG Alberich and the Alberich II that I can see. The first is the type of airflow used which was originally bottom airflow that flowed through the 510 positive pin and into the deck. The original Alberich used interchangeable 510 with different diameter airflow pins to make adjustments to the airflow. In the Alberich II, the airflow has been switched to top airflow and this is where the second big change was made; the airflow pins are now changed on the deck as seen in the top right. This can be seen as both a positive and negative. On the negative side, the airflow cannot be changed without disassembling the tank. On the positive side, the airflow restriction converges right at the point of hitting the coil which most definitely means the airflow is almost completely hitting the coil. To me, this is where I'd say the Alberich II excels in regard to potential flavor output. The only way you could mess this up is if you position the coil completely off-center from the airflow pin. Restricted airflow means nothing if the airflow isn't hitting the coil correctly.
Another big advantage the Alberich II has over other atomizers is that the size of the chamber surrounding the deck is extremely small. If you look at the underside of the inner chamber, it has cutouts for the deck screws and airflow housing. There's even a small dome carved out for any height discrepancies you may have with the coil positioning. That's how tight this chamber fits down onto the coil. This heavily cuts down on the dilution of ambient air mixing in with the vape as you're drawing it in. This is why atomizers like the Nitrous RDA received so much praise in its reviews, because of its tight chamber size adjustable for both a single and dual coil build.
When the inner chamber piece is placed on top of the deck after you've built and wicked it, there's only one way it can go on. The deck screws have to line up with the cutouts, and the airflow hole must match up with the airflow pin, which you'll see below.
As mentioned before, one thing that really surprised me was that the two airflow inlets at the top of atomizer are static, and do not close off at all. Where this disappointed me most was when I installed the smallest airflow pin (0.8mm diameter), I was expecting a very restricted MTL draw, and instead found it to be a fairly loose MTL. I think a tight MTL or even a regular MTL draw would have been easily attainable had the airflow inlets been on an airflow ring allowing you to close them off a bit. Even plugging one of the airflow inlets, I didn't notice hardly any difference in draw; still a loose MTL. I think this was a missed opportunity, but leaves room for a third iteration of the Alberich. The 2mm diameter airflow pin is a very loose MTL, almost a very tight RDL. And if you want to open it up even more, you can simply remove the airflow pin altogether which is how I currently have it set up. I would consider this a tight RDL which is more in line with how I'd normally vape. I would not suggest changing or washing the airflow rings over an open sink or drain - the airflow rings are quite small and will easily be lost into the nether if they're dropped.
Everything else about this atomizer is pretty standard. The refill ports have a membrane that do a fine job of keeping the refills mess-free, and the 510 drip tip is pretty standard with 2x O-rings. The maximum width is 23mm which makes this a prime choice for skinnier mods and/or SbS mods.
If you have no interest in how I did my builds, feel free to skip to the concluding portion of this review.
The Builds:
(Please disregard my use of the Pulse V3 squonk mod seen in the collage above - I was testing it for review)
The build was pretty standard. As you can see from the top left picture, there really isn't a whole lot of room on either side of the 2.5mm ID coil. You might be able to get away with a 2.5mm ID clapton coil, but I'm pretty sure a 3mm single strand wire will be too big for this tight chamber.
I dry burned the coil and it ohm'd out at around 0.85Ω. I ended up thinning the wicks out considerably (probably pulled out 1/3 of each wick end) and then cut the wick ends at the outer edges of the base cap. You can probably cut them a bit shorter, but risk flooding your deck if the wick ends do not fully seal off the juice ports when you put the inner chamber on the deck. I used 3mm rayon which is a pretty tight fit in a 2.5mm ID coil however, rayon shrinks when it gets wet, so it works out perfectly. If you're using rayon, I'd suggest doing this as well. For regular cotton wicks, remember you want the wick to make the "creaking" sound when moving it back and forth inside the coil, but not so tight that you deform the coil.
Remember when putting the inner chamber on top of the deck, that the airflow hole on the inner chamber must match up with the airflow pin. When reassembled the atomizer ohm'd out at 1.05Ω.
After having vaped with the 2.0mm airflow pin for 400 or so puffs, I switched it out for the smallest airflow pin which you'll see below.
One of the great things about this atomizer is that you can flip the atomizer upside down and remove the bottom cap with almost a full tank of juice. Having to remove the base cap to change the airflow pin is a much less daunting task than it first seems like. Unless the juice is higher than the outer chamber when flipped upside down, you're completely safe to remove the bottom base cap. I'd suggest removing the 510 drip tip so that you can set the tank down upside down w/out any worry of it tipping over.
To remove the airflow pin, I used a small screwdriver and pushed it out from the inside. From there, you can use the screwdriver to kind of pry it out w/out much effort. In the bottom two pictures, you can see the vast difference between the smallest airflow pin, and not using an airflow pin at all.
◆ CONCLUSION ◆
There are a few quirks that I'd like to see ironed out in the next Alberich iteration, but as a whole, I think they did many things right with this RTA. The machining and design of the Alberich II leaves not much to be desired, assuming you like the medieval aesthetic that Vapefly so often uses in their products. Yes, I wish the airflow tightened down to a tight MTL for the sake of those that like a very tight draw. The tightest draw is like that of an unpacked cigarette for those that are or were former smokers. This didn't bother me much however, because I like an RDL draw which is how I often vape MTL devices anyway. "Toodlepuffing" as some people on ECF like to call it, which is more or less how you'd puff on a cigar, is not particularly my thing.
Where the Alberich II excels is the directional flow of the airflow which makes it almost impossible to miss the coil, and the very tight chamber which creates a more potent vape. As an MTL-focused atomizer, I think it puts out quite a tasty treat, and should be taken into consideration if you're looking for a flavor burster.
One thing I will note is that during my testing, some of the sweeter juices I'm normally accustomed to were less sweet and/or tart, and had more of a rounded, aromatic flavor profile. I think this is something I've experienced with a lot of MTL devices and I actually like it. If you're a tobacco flavor person especially, I think this atomizer will treat you right.
++ PROS ++
> Pretty easy build deck
> Great machining
> Quarter-turn top cap
> Easy refill
> Top airflow (less leaks/mess is always great)
> 4mL tank
> Tight chamber
> Almost fail-proof directional airflow onto coil
> 6 airflow pins ranging from loose MTL to tight RDL (0.8 to 2.0mm diameter)
> Deck can be removed with almost a full tank
> Removable 510 drip tip (needs O-rings if using your own)
- - CONS - -
> Tightest airflow pin is a loose MTL/Top airflow inlets cannot be closed off
+- CONSIDERATIONS -+
> Skinny profile (23mm)
> No mention of a 2mL TPD option
> Deck must be removed to change airflow pins
> Airflow pins are very small - do NOT wash over open sinks/drains
Overall Rating:
8.5-9
And that's it folks! I hope I helped in shedding some light on the Vapefly Alberich II MTL RTA. Overall a great vape if you're looking for a mess-free loose MTL to tight RDL draw. The atomizer can be found on Sourcemore's page here, and if you use the code "almr2", the price drops down to $18.39.
Again, I'd like to thank Joyi over at Sourcemore for setting me up for this review, and stay tuned for more!
Thank you for reading and happy vape hoarding!
There are plenty of spare O-rings for both the atomizer and airflow pins shown on the left. The tank I received had a 1.2mm airflow pin already pre-installed, and 6 additional airflow pins ranging from 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, and 2.0 millimeters in diameter. Additionally, there are 4 phillips post screws and a 3-in-1 tool that provides everything you need to set up this atomizer.
The Alberich II:
Pretty much all of Vapefly's products have a medieval theme which I've loved from the start. The font and aesthetic stands out to me with a very classy design. The 510 drip tip is quite skinny, but appropriate and comfortable for an MTL device.
There's knurling around the top and base cap which looks aggressive, but is rather smooth to the touch giving you just enough grip to easily twist on and off. The top cap is a quarter turn release which makes refilling an easy task.
The two airflow holes you see just below the top cap knurling are fixed, which surprised me a little. I'll get into the airflow in a bit, but was expecting this RTA to squeeze down to the tightest of airflows which to me is ideal for an atomizer that is specifically aimed for just MTL vaping.
The pre-installed glass and spare glass are identical, and both hold 4mL of juice which is more than plenty for MTL vaping. I'm not sure if they're intending on making a 2mL option for countries enforcing TPD compliance, but there's no mention of it in the package contents or on Vapefly's site.
The Components:
I realize there's a lot going on in the collage above, so I'll try to break everything down the best that I can. Two big changes were made from the OG Alberich and the Alberich II that I can see. The first is the type of airflow used which was originally bottom airflow that flowed through the 510 positive pin and into the deck. The original Alberich used interchangeable 510 with different diameter airflow pins to make adjustments to the airflow. In the Alberich II, the airflow has been switched to top airflow and this is where the second big change was made; the airflow pins are now changed on the deck as seen in the top right. This can be seen as both a positive and negative. On the negative side, the airflow cannot be changed without disassembling the tank. On the positive side, the airflow restriction converges right at the point of hitting the coil which most definitely means the airflow is almost completely hitting the coil. To me, this is where I'd say the Alberich II excels in regard to potential flavor output. The only way you could mess this up is if you position the coil completely off-center from the airflow pin. Restricted airflow means nothing if the airflow isn't hitting the coil correctly.
Another big advantage the Alberich II has over other atomizers is that the size of the chamber surrounding the deck is extremely small. If you look at the underside of the inner chamber, it has cutouts for the deck screws and airflow housing. There's even a small dome carved out for any height discrepancies you may have with the coil positioning. That's how tight this chamber fits down onto the coil. This heavily cuts down on the dilution of ambient air mixing in with the vape as you're drawing it in. This is why atomizers like the Nitrous RDA received so much praise in its reviews, because of its tight chamber size adjustable for both a single and dual coil build.
When the inner chamber piece is placed on top of the deck after you've built and wicked it, there's only one way it can go on. The deck screws have to line up with the cutouts, and the airflow hole must match up with the airflow pin, which you'll see below.
As mentioned before, one thing that really surprised me was that the two airflow inlets at the top of atomizer are static, and do not close off at all. Where this disappointed me most was when I installed the smallest airflow pin (0.8mm diameter), I was expecting a very restricted MTL draw, and instead found it to be a fairly loose MTL. I think a tight MTL or even a regular MTL draw would have been easily attainable had the airflow inlets been on an airflow ring allowing you to close them off a bit. Even plugging one of the airflow inlets, I didn't notice hardly any difference in draw; still a loose MTL. I think this was a missed opportunity, but leaves room for a third iteration of the Alberich. The 2mm diameter airflow pin is a very loose MTL, almost a very tight RDL. And if you want to open it up even more, you can simply remove the airflow pin altogether which is how I currently have it set up. I would consider this a tight RDL which is more in line with how I'd normally vape. I would not suggest changing or washing the airflow rings over an open sink or drain - the airflow rings are quite small and will easily be lost into the nether if they're dropped.
Everything else about this atomizer is pretty standard. The refill ports have a membrane that do a fine job of keeping the refills mess-free, and the 510 drip tip is pretty standard with 2x O-rings. The maximum width is 23mm which makes this a prime choice for skinnier mods and/or SbS mods.
If you have no interest in how I did my builds, feel free to skip to the concluding portion of this review.
The Builds:
(Please disregard my use of the Pulse V3 squonk mod seen in the collage above - I was testing it for review)
The build was pretty standard. As you can see from the top left picture, there really isn't a whole lot of room on either side of the 2.5mm ID coil. You might be able to get away with a 2.5mm ID clapton coil, but I'm pretty sure a 3mm single strand wire will be too big for this tight chamber.
I dry burned the coil and it ohm'd out at around 0.85Ω. I ended up thinning the wicks out considerably (probably pulled out 1/3 of each wick end) and then cut the wick ends at the outer edges of the base cap. You can probably cut them a bit shorter, but risk flooding your deck if the wick ends do not fully seal off the juice ports when you put the inner chamber on the deck. I used 3mm rayon which is a pretty tight fit in a 2.5mm ID coil however, rayon shrinks when it gets wet, so it works out perfectly. If you're using rayon, I'd suggest doing this as well. For regular cotton wicks, remember you want the wick to make the "creaking" sound when moving it back and forth inside the coil, but not so tight that you deform the coil.
Remember when putting the inner chamber on top of the deck, that the airflow hole on the inner chamber must match up with the airflow pin. When reassembled the atomizer ohm'd out at 1.05Ω.
After having vaped with the 2.0mm airflow pin for 400 or so puffs, I switched it out for the smallest airflow pin which you'll see below.
One of the great things about this atomizer is that you can flip the atomizer upside down and remove the bottom cap with almost a full tank of juice. Having to remove the base cap to change the airflow pin is a much less daunting task than it first seems like. Unless the juice is higher than the outer chamber when flipped upside down, you're completely safe to remove the bottom base cap. I'd suggest removing the 510 drip tip so that you can set the tank down upside down w/out any worry of it tipping over.
To remove the airflow pin, I used a small screwdriver and pushed it out from the inside. From there, you can use the screwdriver to kind of pry it out w/out much effort. In the bottom two pictures, you can see the vast difference between the smallest airflow pin, and not using an airflow pin at all.
◆ CONCLUSION ◆
There are a few quirks that I'd like to see ironed out in the next Alberich iteration, but as a whole, I think they did many things right with this RTA. The machining and design of the Alberich II leaves not much to be desired, assuming you like the medieval aesthetic that Vapefly so often uses in their products. Yes, I wish the airflow tightened down to a tight MTL for the sake of those that like a very tight draw. The tightest draw is like that of an unpacked cigarette for those that are or were former smokers. This didn't bother me much however, because I like an RDL draw which is how I often vape MTL devices anyway. "Toodlepuffing" as some people on ECF like to call it, which is more or less how you'd puff on a cigar, is not particularly my thing.
Where the Alberich II excels is the directional flow of the airflow which makes it almost impossible to miss the coil, and the very tight chamber which creates a more potent vape. As an MTL-focused atomizer, I think it puts out quite a tasty treat, and should be taken into consideration if you're looking for a flavor burster.
One thing I will note is that during my testing, some of the sweeter juices I'm normally accustomed to were less sweet and/or tart, and had more of a rounded, aromatic flavor profile. I think this is something I've experienced with a lot of MTL devices and I actually like it. If you're a tobacco flavor person especially, I think this atomizer will treat you right.
++ PROS ++
> Pretty easy build deck
> Great machining
> Quarter-turn top cap
> Easy refill
> Top airflow (less leaks/mess is always great)
> 4mL tank
> Tight chamber
> Almost fail-proof directional airflow onto coil
> 6 airflow pins ranging from loose MTL to tight RDL (0.8 to 2.0mm diameter)
> Deck can be removed with almost a full tank
> Removable 510 drip tip (needs O-rings if using your own)
- - CONS - -
> Tightest airflow pin is a loose MTL/Top airflow inlets cannot be closed off
+- CONSIDERATIONS -+
> Skinny profile (23mm)
> No mention of a 2mL TPD option
> Deck must be removed to change airflow pins
> Airflow pins are very small - do NOT wash over open sinks/drains
Overall Rating:
8.5-9
And that's it folks! I hope I helped in shedding some light on the Vapefly Alberich II MTL RTA. Overall a great vape if you're looking for a mess-free loose MTL to tight RDL draw. The atomizer can be found on Sourcemore's page here, and if you use the code "almr2", the price drops down to $18.39.
Again, I'd like to thank Joyi over at Sourcemore for setting me up for this review, and stay tuned for more!
Thank you for reading and happy vape hoarding!
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