Wotofo Elder Dragon RDA
It’s fairly well documented that yours truly is quite susceptible to spinning the odd yarn within these rambling nonsensical reviews I plague your eyes with, and for the most part…at least some of you seem to enjoy it…and with both those people I am referring to…at least half will no doubt be left with one burning thought, paramount, front and centre…in the middle of their thick and slightly neanderthal skull…
Who indeed…am I to argue. Unfortunately, none of my ‘colourful’ past exploits really included any fire breathing reptiles, not real ones anyway, maybe the odd girlfriend or even the ex-wife could possibly slip into that category, and I did once own an Iguana that used to whip me across the face with its tail everytime I picked it up, the evil little fuckweasel …
But real actual Dragons…surprisingly…seemed to slip me by in my youth…odd that.
Today however…I will make good for my single perplexed reader and bestow upon him…or her…or indeed any of the known 64 genders…a real…bonafide…Dragon…no of course not an actual ‘real’ one, don’t be so fucking stupid…what’s wrong with you…have you any idea how expensive real Dragons are these days!?!..Instead…we have a Dragon that takes its name from a video game, is modelled on a Japanese Buddhist temple and is designed by a guy who’s name I can’t pronounce…
This should be fun…
…
And welcome once more my fluffy fog billowing flavour freaks, back again with even less sense than normal with a device that was sent to me by the Kings of the collaboration…Wotofo. And yet again, we have another joint venture with another vape reviewer, and this time it is the turn of Japanese reviewer 阪上龍生, or Ryusei Sakaue to those who can’t read squiggly lines…and maybe someone called Ryusei Osaka whose name also appears on this YT channel. Apparently someone called ‘Beprog’ was also involved somewhere along the lines…who the fuck knows, I mean even the name of this thing is either ‘Ryujin’ or ‘The Elder Dragon’ RDA…and seeing as ‘Ryujin’ actually means ‘The Dragon God’…and not ‘The Elder Dragon’…I for one…am left up the shit creak of confusion, without a paddle…or indeed a clue…SO…with the high probability that I will only be digging myself a bigger hole the longer I sit here and attempt to explain wtf I am doing…let’s just crack the fuck on…with the Wotofo & 阪上龍生/Ryusei Sakaue- Elder Dragon/Ryujin RDA (pfft…nailed it)
Now, to start with, a little bit of transparency. I have never heard of the reviewer Ryusei Sakaue, which is hardly surprising as he is purely a Japanese speaking reviewer. He is however a 50k sub Youtube ‘celeb’, which tells me he has his followers…which also tells me…he more than likely knows a thing or two about how an RDA should work. Regardless of any language barrier, it is a super well known fact that RDA design…is the new ‘love’…when it comes to universal language…(?) and I will indeed do my best to sink my teeth straight into the heart of this so called ‘Dragon’
nom nom nom.
The Lowdown
The Wotofo & 阪上龍生/Ryusei Sakaue- Elder Dragon/Ryujin RDA…wait a minute…if ever a nickname was needed for something, this is it. For the remainder of this review I shall simply refer to it as ‘Ed’ …Hey!..You don’t have to type this shit out!..SO…the ‘Ed’ is an ‘ickle’ 22mm single coil affair, which is something of a rarity these days in a market predominantly saturated with 24 to 25mm RDA’s…and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Smaller, more compact chambers can offer enormous amounts of flavour if done correctly, and with it solely being made for a single engine, it would appear that flavour over vast amounts of fluffies…is what the Ed is geared towards.
First, there’s the appearance. The design itself is apparently taken from that of a Pagoda - a Japanese Buddhist temple to you and me…
Now…as my tiny childlike, slightly sarcastic intelligence attempts to get to grips with this comparison…
All I actually see is a fat robot head with drag queen eyelashes…
Yeah…now you see it, it would appear that Ed may well have a side hobby starring in the odd glossy musical. Regardless, I actually kinda dig the look…and no…you can’t judge me on that. Anything these days that looks different from the usual run of the mill RDA is a winner in my eyes…and whether those eyes may or may not have fake 6 inch eyelashes attached to them at weekends…is none of your goddamn business.
Now…up on the top…the crown on this Queen of Dragons is a bog standard 810 swirly resin drip tip. This for me was really the biggest thing which let the Ed down…
It just feels so cheap, and I hate the way they have ‘trimmed’ it from the middle to make the mouthpiece smaller, it doesn’t feel right to me at all. I get that restricting it slightly is the way to go for single coil RDA’s, but it only took one ‘toot’ on the thing for me to swap it right out for one of my own…
It may not fit perfectly but it sure feels a whole lot better, let me tell you. No…not a fan of the original drip tip one little bit; I guess that could be considered as purely subjective though.
Moving down we have the airflow control - 2 tiny holes on either side that are simply adjusted by turning the chamber, which incidentally locks on wide open and completely closed - something that is very handy when it comes to unscrewing your RDA should you be a bit overzealous on screwing it on. Big fan of that. And the reason these holes are so small…becomes oh so clear when you remove the very nicely domed chamber …
And take a look at the build deck…
If you had any reservations about the outside of this RDA, those reservations will soon disperse when you see just how well machined and beautifully designed the build deck is…think ‘22mm Pulse RDA’…but curvier, and with a couple of extra post holes…which is basically what the Ed is.
It’s a four-hole postless deck with the same dual airflow ports pointed directly at your coil, with the post screws in the same place too…
The main differences between this and the Pulse are the extra post holes to cater for whichever way around your coil is wrapped, the fact that you can remove the air ports for cleaning, and the cut-out on each side of the well wall for easy coil placement and wicking…
But the idea itself…is pretty much identical. However, that’s not really a bad thing - the Pulse was an amazing RDA after all.
Building on the Ed is a piece of piss, as you would expect with a postless deck. This is only made easier with the included coil trimming tool…complete with a ‘This One Dumbass’ sticker…for those ‘men’ amongst you that (a) don’t read the manual, and (b) think numbers are vastly overrated and should be replaced by large neon green arrows.
It’s almost as if they knew me personally…
From there on in it’s pretty much the same as my sexual mantra…trim it and pop it in…
stuff it…
and make it sopping wet…
And the whole thing can pretty much be completed in 30 seconds…
I’m not even sorry (except to maybe my other half, whom I apologise to most weekends…)
Now…being a Wotofo product everything from the coils themselves to the cotton complete with aglets is included. I’ve said it many times before, but Wotofo really do set the bar incredibly high when it comes to a nice package (look…I can’t help it okay…I mean it’s a skill really)
Even the manual that comes with the Ed is one of the best I have never read…because…pictures…
And finally, underneath we have the usual accolades and an insulated protruding pre-installed BF pin (standard pin is included). They’ve continued the Japanese theme, with the whole base resembling the Tai Chi (Ying Yang) symbol, meaning balance…and harmony…unlike the name of this thing, which in its entirety…means confusion…and bewilderment.
The Vape
It’s pretty clear from the overall design that everyone involved in the Ed was aiming for a flavour machine, and they pretty much got exactly that - the flavour really is top notch. Not a HUGE fan of the airflow though - the holes are just too small for me. Yes it restricts it, which is a good thing for a single engine RDA because it generally means you get more flavour, but it also makes it more turbulent. If you turn the chamber to adjust the airflow half way…which is a skill in itself due to the tiny margin of movement you actually get, then you are rewarded with a borderline whistle…which isn’t really an issue if you’re sat at home on your own, but not really what you want if you are sat out in public with the opposite sex walking by…
On top of that, it’s actually a really good single coil squonker. You’d think that the cut-outs on either side of the build deck would take away precious space for fluid, but it’s so well sealed with the chamber on that I never had a problem. All in all you’d have to work pretty damned hard to over-squonk the Ed enough for the liquid to work it’s way up the air ports and out of the side.
The Specs
Build Deck Diameter: 22mm
Overall Height: 34.5mm (with drip tip and 510 pin)
Threading: 510 Thread
Body Material: Stainless Steel
Coil Configuration: Single Coil
Juice Feeding Method: Drip / Squonk
Insulator Material: German PEEK
What’s in the package
1pc Elder Dragon RDA
1pc Coil Trimming Tool
1pc Extra Drip Tip
1pc 510 Drip Tip Adapter
1pc User Manual
1bag Clapton Coil
1bag 3mm Agleted Cotton
1bag Extra Orings & Screws
Included coil specs:
Tri Core Fused Clapton Coil
26Gx3+38G N80
ID 3mm
0.17ohm (40W-75W)
Final thoughts
My final thoughts on the Ed RDA would be this: I really dig the look, no…it’s doesn’t particularly look like a Pagoda, in fact…it doesn’t look like one at all, but jokes aside it does very much have an ‘Asian’ influence to it, which on the right device could look slick AF. It’s appearance is also unlikeanything else I have owned…and that’s a big plus point these days. Ed is also made incredibly well, as is usually the case for Wotofo products. I couldn’t find any faults in the machining or build quality…well…apart from that God awful drip tip, so it gets extra points for that too. I can’t really say it offers any real innovation because this way of offering airflow really came from our lovely, cuddly vape Ewok Mr Tony B and his Pulse 22mm RDA. It’s essentially the same idea, and it’s not an improvement on it either because I much prefer the airflow on the Pulse. The Pulse is certainly quieter and more airy than the Ed, let’s put it that way. Which leaves the performance, or more specifically…the flavour; it’s really good - has to be said. The extra restriction and the super compact chamber really do their job, leaving me with very little to complain about in this area.
All in all…it’s a decent RDA which will…I would imagine, sell better over in the East than anywhere else, just down to it’s appearance. The fact that single battery squonkers are still very popular means that this, being a compact and single coil RDA, will still do really well everywhere else. Can I recommend it?..Sure. It’s not really my cup of green tea, but for people who swear by single coil drippers for flavour, they’ll probably dig it. Just…one…thing though.
Me being me…obsessed with bottom airflow dual coil drippers, I see a four post build deck as almost an invitation, and when I noticed the low down airflow ports and the unused two post holes…?
Now…you can fit dual coil in the Ed, and the airflow will come directly underneath the coils…
However…this is a super compact chamber, and with those air ports you have to sit the coils above them…which takes the coils mighty close to the base of your drip tip…
which doesn’t leave a great deal of room for the air to come through. So, couple the lack of air with the distance between the coils and your smackers…and what you have there…is the makings of a real fire-breathing dragon…
You also run the risk of blistering the bottom of your drip tip. Yes…you ‘could’ do this, but that doesn’t mean you should. You’d get away with a couple of micro coils…I’m just not really a micro coil kinda guy…
The Price
It’s Wotofo!..They could have coined the phrase ‘a lot of bang for your buck’…and it’s no different with Elder Dragon. Hmm…probably shoulda just called it that throughout the review…well…fuck it…I’m not going back. Anyway…the price…£27.00/$34.00 - can’t argue with that, and that’s the price straight from Wotofo. Find that here…
With everything you get in the package that’s really not a bad deal at all, as was expected.
As always the doors over at Steampugs are open 24/7, So if you want to see how the Elder Dragon scored against other pieces of awesome…and some not so awesome…vapeology, then head on over, we have a wealth of reviews from the Steam team for your perusal and even a shop choc full of highly discounted vape gear the you can find on the homepage…hope to see you there!
Until next time.
Pugs.
, I never tried a Kylin mini but I don’t think i’d ever choose a tank over a dripper for flavour, so I’d say pulse, although…I wouldn’t choose to use a single coil anything truth be told, it’s just not me lol
