Introduction
I really fell in love with the original Pioneer MTL RTA from Dovpo/BP Mods, I’d go so far to say that it’s probably my favorite MTL RTA of all time.
So, a chance to review the Labs MTL RTA from Dovpo/BP Mods is something that couldn’t turn down.
Product overview
The Labs RTA is a 22mm, 2.7ml gravity feed MTL RTA with a swappable airflow pins and four different ‘flavoring bells’ designed for specific flavor profiles.
What do you get?
- Labs RTA
- Six airflow pins (2×0.8mm, 0.8mm, 1mm, 1.1mm, 1.2mm, 1.5mm)
- Four flavoring bells
- Pin/bell removal tool
- 1×0.7ohm 26g round wire coil
- 1×0.85ohm 30g clapton coil
- 1×0.55ohm 28 clapton coil
- Spares
First impressions
The Labs RTA is gorgeous and classy. It’s quite minimalist but with a few design details to make it interesting. Engraved on the top-cap is ‘sol lucet omnibus’, which is Latin for ‘the Sun shines on everyone’.
The base of the RTA is held in place very securely by a pair of O-rings and a notch, I struggled to remove the deck while the RTA was in my hands, but as soon as I put it on a mod, I could remove it without any problems.
As far as aesthetics and build are concerned, it’s all good.
Build
Putting a build in the Labs RTA is about as easy as it gets, there are two large flat-head screws to secure your coil and a pair of notches on the deck to lay a coiling rod in, so that the height and alignment of the coil are perfect.
This is all very simple, however you can’t swap out airflow pins once the coil is secured, so make sure that gets done first.
Wicking a gravity feed RTA isn’t hard, but it’s different. The way that works well for me on this RTA is cut the wicks a little longer than you would for a regular RTA, fluff the wicks a lot, don’t thin them out and let the end of the wicks just sit in the deck, without forcing or stuffing them into place. I’ve had issues with some gravity feed RTAs in the past, but this one works like a dream, it’s wicked perfectly with every build that I’ve put in there.
Care is required when juicing up the fresh wicks, I overdid it the first time and ended up with a minor leak; the leak stopped as soon as I started vaping and didn’t return, but it’s something to be aware of.
Airflow
The actual airflow is nice, the pins offer a lot of options that suit this RTA well and it’s all very smooth and all very MTL, with no attempt or claims to offer a restricted DL draw but…
…it’s not implemented in a very convenient manner; there is no airflow control on the actual RTA, the only way to adjust the airflow is by swapping out the airflow pins. This in itself shouldn’t be an issue, however in the Labs RTA the only way to change the pin is to remove the coil and then remove the pin with the supplied tool.
Juice flow control
The juice flow can be adjusted by rotating the top-cap, however I left the juice flow fully open without any issues.
Flavoring bells
The Labs RTA comes with four different ‘flavoring bells’ that form the top of the chamber, these are removable using the supplied tool.
The bells are designed to suit tobacco, dessert, dessert/fruit and mixtures/spices.
I couldn’t taste any difference between them, maybe I need better quality juice, maybe I need more sensitive taste buds, or maybe they are just a gimmick that don’t really do anything.
How does it perform?
- 30g 2.5mm MTL fused clapton with the 1.5mm airflow pin at 18.5w, this build was just about perfect. The throat hit was satisfying but without any harshness, and the strawberry RY4 juice was as good as it has tasted in any other MTL RTA. All of the inconvenient airflow woes are forgiven, this is a great vape.
- 28g 2.5mm round wire with the 1.0mm airflow pin at 12w, this was my tobacco build. Again, the throat hit was perfectly judged and the flavor was excellent. This build wasn’t quite as impressive as the MTL clapton build, mainly because I usually prefer short and compact RTAs for round wire/tobacco builds, such as the Hastur Mini or Siren V4, but it’s still pretty good.
Note: I didn’t enjoy using the supplied drip-tip and swapped it out for one of my own.
Conclusion
Some elements of the Labs RTA are annoying, some are ineffective; but this doesn’t stop it from being a top-tier MTL RTA.
Throat hit and flavor are all that matters and the Labs MTL RTA delivers both very well, add to that the fact that it looks amazing, and the pros heavily outweigh the cons.
Disclaimer
The Labs MTL RTA was provided for the purposes of this review by Sourcemore, who were kind enough to provide the discount code BMLR giving a discount of $17.71
