Having watched @MikeVapes’s vids waaay back when I FIRST started vaping, and liking his style, I was damned curious to see what he and Yacht Vape came up with. As is often the case, this review was NOT sponsored by anyone, except ME, so buckle up. #NoTeamFreeShitToday
Designed by Mike Vapes, and manufactured by Yacht Vape, the Eclipse was billed as a “5 Star Flavor Banger”. Let’s just see about that.
Yachtvape ECLIPSE 24mm RTA Features:
- Collaboration Between Yachtvape and Mike Vapes
- 24mm Diameter
- 3.5mL Bubble Glass
- Optional 2mL Straight Glass
- Pyrex Glass Reinforcement
- Stainless Steel Tank Construction
- Threaded Top Fill System
- Postless Build Deck - 4 Deck Based Terminals
- Single Coil Configuration
- Side Secured via Hexagon Screws
- Peek Insulator
- Dual Bottom Airflow Control Ring
- Threaded 510 Connection
- Available in Stainless Steel, Matte Black, Gunmetal, Matte Stainless Steel, Gold, and Rainbow
What’s Included:
- 1 Eclipse RTA
- 1 0.3ohm Prebuilt Coil
- 1 510 Drip Tip Adapter
- 1 Cotton
- 1 Bubble Glass
- 1 User Manual
- 1 Extra 810 Drip Tip
- 1 Coil Lead Guide
- 1 Accessory Bag
- 1 User Manual
The component overview appeared to be fairly standard, and had a total of 5 parts.
As a 24mm x 30/37mm tank with plenty of extras, I was curious to see how it fared, and if it was the compact flavor chucker it claimed to be.
Let’s get INTO it !!!
Nicely packaged with an outer sleeve, and 2 piece box …
A fairly typical presentation, along with the extras box …
Never leave home without your multi-language fold out poster user’s manual …
Lots of goodies thrown in, including gaskets/o-rings, grub screws, 810 wide bore tip, 510 adapter, and allen key …
But that wasn’t all, as Yacht Vape also threw in a bigger 3.5ml bubble glass (straight glass installed was 2ml), a 3.0mm I.D. coil, shoelace cotton wick, and a coil cutting guide …
When disassembling for pre-review cleaning, the 5 parts looked well thought out, machined, and o-ringed where necessary …
Except for the styling lines, and logo on the chamber, the Eclipse was fairly non-descript, and stealthy …
The bottom had all of the typical markings, and a nice protruding gold plated 510 pin. Mine had a MFG flaw (chip) in it …
I personally liked the design lines that were present on the top and bottom …
Onto one of the more UNIQUE features were the dual airflow slots, that doubled as grub screw access ports …
With the understanding that Mike Vapes designed this to be smaller, the chimney was domed, and fairly flattened …
The stealthy looks continued on the outside of the chamber, with the YV Logo …
The installed drip tip looked good on the Eclipse …
It was held snugly in place by a large o-ring …
The inside of the top cap was leak proofed by a generous gasket …
Another look at the installed drip tip …
Despite only having 2ml (flat glass), and 3.5ml (bubble glass) capacities, there were three massive fill ports for easy filling …
Moving down to the deck assembly, the 26 air flow inlets (13 per side) could easily be seen …
Peek insulated, ample coil leg room, and mid-deep juice wells …
The dual duty airflow / grub screw access did allow for easy access. More on this feature later …
When moving onto the coiling, I was surprised there was NO mention of coil leg height, especially because they included the coil cutting guide …
Closeup of the provided 3mm I.D. 5 wrap clapton …
I finally decided on 6mm, and I liked the added bonus of the small cut outs on the deck, for resting/centering your coiling rod …
As always, a little pulsing to remove the hot spots …
Pulsed, stroked, ready for cotton-ing …
While I loved having the shoelace cotton included, mine was actually TOO tight to fit in the provided coil, without risking deforming. I actually slid the clear tip off before I decided to slim it down a hair …
Once wicked, I cut the tails fairly short, as their wasn’t much distance to cover, and the juice wells were not overly deep …
Using the included cotton, I decided to rake and thin them a bit, as with the 3mm I.D., the tails seemed a bit tight in the wells, until thinned …
As is the case MOST times, I ran some alt coils for comparison, including my super simple, go to, 7 wrap, 24 ga. Kanthal single wires …
This is ALWAYS the hardest pic to get right !!!
Fully sauced, with NO issues keeping the tails inside the deck …
With THREE gi-normous fill ports, I considered filling it with my eyes closed !!!
Two mls later, quarter turned the top on, and ready for testing …
Testing and Usage:
Overall the fit and finish were very good on the Eclipse, with one minor issue of a grub screw that stripped out while inserted, which proved to be a pain to get out, but I did. The o-rings and gasket sealed up nicely, with NO leaks, and despite trying different levels of cotton, I had ZERO issues with flooding, or dry hits, pretty impressive. I liked the low key, almost stealthy look of it, and the design lines as well. I didn’t notice any incredible difference when changing coils, and/or height which surprised me. I will continue testing after this review, and downsize and try some 2.5mm I.D. coils to see what happens. As it was, a fairly NOT picky tank to setup, load, and run.
Pros:
- Good flavor
- Compact
- Hidden Screws (also a Con)
- Easy to build on deck with rod centering grooves
- Ample air flow, with nice solid stop at full bore
- Stealthy
- Lots of extras
- Quick quarter turn top cap removal (may be a con for some)
Cons:
- Malformed included allen key or grub screws, one stripped during testing
- Slight cosmetic flaw on 510 pin
- Fairly loud airflow, but no whistling
- Hidden screws, if OVER extended, COULD fall out, into internals
- Quarter turn top cap removal had very short throw, possible accidental off cap ??
- NO coil length on packaging or in manual
Conclusion:
Where to start, where to start …
Regarding the Cons, I was bummed to have a grub strip out during the testing, and as well with the missing coil height specs, despite having a coil cutting guide included. I have since seen pics of stickers on the coil bag, but mine had none. Past those minor issues, the Eclipse performed well, and did so without issue across multiple coils, and differing wicking levels. Having NO leaks, flooding, or dry hits REGARDLESS of how I wicked it, says a LOT, very trouble free. The flavor was quite good across the coil types and heights I used. I had expected the flavor to shift/change more when changing coils and / or coil height but it stayed fairly consistant. In direct comparison to my current go to RDTA, which I rate 10/10, this one was about 8.5/10 for both fruits, and custard/bakeries. I will continue testing after this review, including some 2.5mm I.D. coils, and if anything dramatic happens I will add those findings here.
The short, stocky, stealth look really appealed to my tastes, and the minimal design lines were just icing on the cake. Easy to build on, super forgiving on wicking, with NO leaks ?? Pretty hard to argue with that. I love that EVERYTHING was included, which just made things easier, and simpler to get going. I think I have maybe THREE tanks with hidden screws, and have never lost one inside the tank yet, but felt I had to at least mention there here as a possible issue. All in, a pretty impressive showing from Mike Vapes and Yacht Vape. Small, single coilers aren’t for everyone, but if you ARE one of them, you may want to check this one out.
Colors:
Linkage:
Thanks out to @ INOIROC
I always like to reward the faithful, and if you’re reading THIS, then you ARE one of them. Thanks for sharing YOUR valuable time, and checking out this review. I appreciate it. If you DO decide to pick up the 24mm Eclipse, don’t hesitate to post YOUR thoughts, insights, and pics.
Bonus:
S.D.
