What’s up VC’ers? I’m here again with another review. This time it’s for the Vapefly Brunhilde 1o3 RTA which was supplied to me for this review by Joyi from Sourcemore.
I was looking forward to testing this one out as I liked the look of the build deck design and also was interested to see how well the steel wicking wires performed. Lets dive right in with the specs:
Specifications:
- Designed by German 1o3 and Vapefly
- 25.2mm Diameter
- 69.9mm Height (with drip tip)
- 7ml Juice capacity
- Gold plated 510 pin
- 810 Drip tip
- Single and dual coil
- Stainless steel wicking wire
- Spring loaded refill system
- 12 Adjustable honeycomb airflow holes on either side
- 2 Interchangeable airflow slots
- Independent side and below coil airflow
- 3 Colours available (black, stainless steel and gun metal)
Box Contents:
- 1x Complete Brunhilde 1o3 RTA
- 1x 7ml Spare straight glass
- 2x 3mm ID, KA1, 26ga*3+38ga, 0.35Ω coils
- 2x Vapefly firebolt cotton
- 1x Stainless steel 810 to 510 converter
- 1x Allen key
- 1x Tri-tool
- 4x Spare build deck screws
- 4x Wicking port screws
- 4x Stainless steel wicking wires (4 also installed in the RTA)
- 1x Alternate bottom airflow slot
- 1x Wicking wire port plastic plug for single coil build
- 1x Bag of spare o-rings
- User manual
- Warranty card
The Vapefly Brunhilde 1o3 is an upgraded version of the Brunhilde RTA but unfortunately I’ve not tried the previous version so can’t compare the two. This new RTA boasts independently controlled side and below coil airflow. The below coil airflow also features a changeable insert which sits between the coils and can be swapped for either a slotted version or honeycomb version.
The RTA can be used in either dual or single coil mode. In single coil mode the stainless steel wicking wires are removed from one side and there is a white plastic plug which slots in their place, plugging the holes and filling the space where the second coil would have been.
The Brunhilde 1o3 uses a stainless steel wicking wire system which incorporates either 4 or 6 wires in dual coil mode and 2 or 3 wires in single coil mode. By default there are 4 wires installed with 4 in the box and the 2 empty holes are blocked with screws. There are a total of 4 of these screws included in the package.
The Brunhilde RTA features a spring-loaded side refill port which many will not be a fan of, myself included, as it severely limits which bottle types can be used and is also prone to spillage during filling.
Packaging:
The package consists of a sturdy black box with an outer sleeve which features a wireframe image of the RTA on the front next to a sticker showing the colour included. One side is blank and the other displays the name of the RTA. On the back we have the name of the RTA again across the top. Below that there is a brief list of the RTA’s features and a list of the manufacturers social media links. At the bottom there is manufacturer information and safety certificates alongside a scratch-off authenticity checker.
Once the sleeve is removed you’re greeted by a plain black box with ‘Vapefly’ and its logo across the centre.
Opening the black box shows you the RTA, spare glass and a points card.
Lifting out the RTA and the foam insert it is sat inside with the spare glass will show you the manual and accessories etc. Once all are removed you will have this little lot:
One baggie contains the 2 kanthal coils and 2 pieces of firebolt cotton:
A second baggie contains the allen key, tri-tool, spare screws, alternate airflow insert and 4 stainless steel wicking wires (the 50g weight was used to hold the bag up 
):
The airflow inserts:
The third baggie contains spare o-rings and the plastic plug for the single coil setup:
The plastic plug:
A fourth baggie contains a stainless steel 810 to 510 converter:
The Vapefly Brunhilde 1o3 RTA:
The RTA itself is quite a tall one at almost 70mm. The bottom half is mostly taken up with the 7ml glass and it’s stainless steel protective cover, which can be freely rotated to suit and also is replaceable. On the front is etched ‘Brunhilde 1o3’ and on the back just the word ‘Brunhilde’. There is a wing design etched on either side of the glass protector. The hole you see on the third pic here is where the below coil airflow enters the RTA and also where the spring-loaded fill port is accessed.
On the base we see the name ‘Brunhilde 1o3’ across the top, safety certificates in the centre either side of the 510 pin and the serial number and manufacturer info across the bottom.
Up top we have a proprietary 810 drip tip which perfectly follows the curves of the RTA so even though any 810 drip tip can be fitted, most would look odd.
Here you can see the small round hole which is used as both the inlet for the below coil airflow and the spring-loaded fill port when the entire top cap is turned 180° and the hole lines up with the 3 liquid drops symbol below. Only needle-tip bottles will fit into this spring-loaded refilling port and even that is a tight fit. I was really not keen on it at all.
This first image shows the underside of the inner juice chamber and you can see the inside of the spring-loaded fill port. The second image shows a close-up of the outside of the fill port with the top cap removed.
The top cap simply pulls off to reveal the build deck and allow access to swap out the airflow insert if needed or maybe add or remove steel wicking wire.
Inside the top cap you can see the inner-top cap which is rotated by holding the indented pattern right below the drip tip and turning. On my test model this airflow adjustment was super stiff and took a lot of effort to get moving initially and is still very tight now. It looks like it comes out but I can’t get the thing out so I have no idea.
The Brunhilde 1o3 RTA features a top coil build deck with the juice reservoir sitting at the bottom. The coil posts are in the centre with the airflow insert situated between them. This can be swapped out at any time, even with a build in place. 2 of the coil leg screws are on top of the posts and 2 are on the sides. You can also see here the screws used to block unused steel wicking wire holes and the steel wick itself occupying 4 of the 6 holes. These wires are just dropped into place and not held in place by anything other than gravity and your cotton once the build is finished.
Here is the airflow insert fitted and removed. This is fed air from the hole on the side of the RTA and can be closed off if required. The insert only fits on one way.
The Build:
For the build I used my own SS316 SSFC coils as I prefer SS over KA1. I did a dual coil build and fitted all 6 of the steel wicking wires.
First coil fitted:
Coils fitted and hotspots strummed out:
Cotton fitted, combed and folded underneath the coil to cover the tops of the wicking wires before being juiced up. The last pic shows the microscopic fill port:
This image shows a single coil build with only 3 wicking wires fitted and the plastic plug placed in the vacant wire holes:
Pro’s:
- 25mm Diameter will make this a good fit for the majority of mods
- Large 7ml Juice capacity
- Independently controlled below-coil and side airflow
- Single and dual coil compatible
- Great flavour
- Protective shield over glass
- Very good quality machining and build
- changeable airflow insert for below coil airflow
Cons:
- RTA Shape makes using third-party drip tips challenging as most wont suit
- Spring-loaded refill port is very small and is only suitable for needle tip bottles
- Top coiler means the top cap gets VERY hot with continued use
- Very tall RTA at almost 7cm
Final thoughts:
I’m kind of disappointed with the Brunhilde 1o3 RTA. I’d been wanting to try one for quite a while before receiving it for review as I love the look of the build deck and the RTA design in general. It’s performance is great. It gives excellent flavour, is very easy to build on, has a generous 7ml juice capacity. It delivers in every aspect you would want from an RTA apart from the filling system. This just lets down an otherwise great product. Besides limiting its users to needle tip bottles only, the spring system is quite stiff so requires a fair amount of pressure and inevitably leads to drips running down the RTA and making unwanted mess.
Of the 2 different airflow inserts, I preferred the one with the 6 honeycomb airflow holes in it as it gave a smoother, more airy vape.
I had zero issues with wicking from the steel wires either using 4/6 in dual coil or 2/3 in single coil mode. I did much prefer single coil mode though over the two for the obvious flavour gain.
Conclusion:
Despite the poor filling mechanism, I would still happily recommend this RTA based on all of its other qualities which outweigh the negatives. If you can live with the push-to-fill system then you can’t go far wrong with the Vapefly Brunhilde RTA.
Thanks go out once again to Joyi from Sourcemore for providing me with this RTA for review.
This is currently $45.99 on Sourcemore but using the following code will get you one for $25.39:
Vapefly Brunhilde 1o3 RTA - Code: 1O3R
Thank you for reading!
