Pugsley's Hot-headed yet Slightly Fruity Review of The Swedish Vaper’s HotRod RDA

[Steampugs]

Now.....contrary to popular belief, I'm a man. Furthermore, I'm a very immature, large, middle-aged child, and for any man with my adolescent outlook on.......well.... absolutely everything....it is almost a given that the sight and sound of an oversized wet slapping V8 engine makes us cackle under our breath like a slightly retarded demon...

We don't know why, to us it's like whale music is to one of those yogurt weaving hippies that do yoga and don't wash very often.....it's hardwired into us from a very early age. I mean...as children, whenever we were pushing our little toy cars around the living room, it's not like we were imitating the noise of a 1 litre Ford Fiesta....no sir, we were screaming the sound of a supercharged muscle car as loud as our tiny little lungs would allow, almost like we were shouting whilst simultaneously gargling with motor oil....
WHOM....WHOM...WHOM...RAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR (screach) RAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH (screeeeeach).....RAAA..
"PAUL.....SHUT THE FUCK UP I'M TRYING TO WATCH THE HORSE RACING!!
My father would kindly request....
"whom whom"...I would reply under my breath...
"WHAT?"
"nothing father.....whom"

I wouldn't say I was a difficult child per se.......that's a lie....I absolutely was, try to control your surprise.
The fact of the matter is, to most men...this....

Does this...

It's probably something that shouldn't be psychoanalysed too much let's be honest..... but it's not as if you women out there don't fully understand our plight....

I'm probably being massively sexist there, after all I've hung around with some girls that do indeed get a massive wide-on over huge pulsating engines.....but it's predominantly a man problem...because we're weird.

So.....as a vaping enthusiast, when I get wind that someone has brought out a dripper that is not only car themed, but modelled on an actual piston, is called a Hotrod...AND is bottom airflow.....well....it's all I can do to keep myself from having a party right where I shouldn't be having one at my age...

Shall we.......yes lets..
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Welcome once more my uneconomical fuel guzzling vehicles of Vapingdom (wtf?)..... back again with more of the same claptrap cunningly disguised as a factual piece of literature, carefully wrapped in some mildly humorous decorative paper and presented to you with a big fat bow of what the actual fuck am I talking about......and this time around we have another kind of collaboration, and for once, it's not a reviewer.....and for twice....it's not one of the big hitters from the grand table of Shenzhen vape manufacturers. What we have instead is one Mr Joel Nicklasson, AKA The Swedish Vaper, under the umbrella of SVDE Ltd, who amongst other things makes handbuilt PWM modules for the DIY modder community, and one well known Chinese vape gear distributor and also very good friends of mine, Heavengifts....or more precisely, their Deepinmaker start up programme, this being, for me personally, the first device I have reviewed to come from this type of manufacturing process....very exciting times indeed. SO....we have big engines, bottom airflow drippers, pistons, cars, a guy who builds PWM modules, a distributor that started my whole vape reviewer career and Megan Fox.....ok the last one was reaching slightly, but still...I can't help but feel an empathetic almost brotherly love for what is going down here today, so without further ado, my I present the The Swedish Vapers Hotrod 24mm RDA.....whom whom....

LOVE the tin box packaging....although...kinda reminds me of a tobacco tin.......

The Lowdown

The Hotrod RDA is a 24mm bottom airflow dripper with a shared dual post build deck. It houses a glass insert, which essentially is a tank glass inserting inside the chamber allowing it to have viewing windows on the front, back, and sides....

Much like one of my old favourites from a few years ago...the Tsunami RDA, and just like the Tsunami it's also bottom airflow AND has a similar conical 810 drip tip, the only difference with the viewing window being the 2 extra little circular windows on each side; these don't particularly serve any purpose, they just add to the whole piston theme...where you would normally have a knuckle pin on a piston...you get these instead, just like where you would normally have piston rings...you get grooves....you gotta love the attention to detail that Joel has given the Hotrod...I mean...it's a Piston....it's basically pornographic as far as the twisted male brain goes....

So that's the sex appeal out of the way....or is it?......I mean yes it looks like a piston, as most things indeed...should, but...did The Swedish Vaper's apparent obsession with all things car.....stop there?....
No....no it did not...

The son of a bitch only went and slapped a motherfuckin V10 engine in there......

OOFT....I mean come on!...Give a man’s pants a fighting chance!!.....Ffs, ok...calm....now, what we have here is a combination of feelings from one side of the spectrum to the other. On the one hand, I fucking love Joel's vision with this thing, I mean...it couldn't be more up my street if it tried. On the other, I just wish some things about this build deck were slightly different - but that's only to attune it to my particular style of vaping, and in no means should it take anything away from this RDA. So....firstly, not a huge fan of the shared posts...I mean honestly?...I believe anyone that brings out a shared post dual coil RDA these days should really include a coil trimming tool such as the 'Coily'...they cost pence to make and with this building method they can save a whole load of arse ache...

The problem is, if you're a beginner to building then trimming your coil legs prior to inserting them might not be something that you would think of doing, thus going through the rigmarole of trimming the coil leg after inserting it, and then trying your best not to cut the other coil leg that is sharing the same hole....it's obviously not an issue for an (ahem) award winning professional such as my good self...

However....I do have memories of frustration from days gone by, so....something to be aware of.

The second slight frustration for me came with the airflow, and this is for a couple of reasons. Now, I'll ignore the fact that technically...although I appreciate the sentiment...it's not a V10...it's two slash cut straight fives, and it's only the petrol in my veins that has a problem with that. It's also a ridiculous thing to be arsed about, so my veins can go eat a big bag of dicks. What I do have a slight issue with though, is that these two banks of airflow holes just aren't big enough - this is a dual coil RDA with HUGE post holes, offering the user the option to fit some of the mightiest of trick coils.....

 

[Steampugs]

And on the surface...you'd be forgiven for thinking that the airflow banks are big enough to deal with that....but the AFC ring on the base of the Hotrod... certainly is not.

It seems to me that the air is choked at the point of entry, just two oval adjustable holes, which together make me believe that there simply just isn't enough air getting in to feed those two banks under the coils, and the result of this....is by far the Hotrods biggest problem....well...the clue is in the name I guess...Let's put it this way, if you do choose a couple of meaty coils, and pump enough wattage into this high performance engine to give them what they deserve, the results on the top cap can be....how can I put this....'slightly toasty'

If you chain this thing, on high power, you could probably fry some tiny little eggs upon it's noggin. It's almost as if you are kissing an actual piston straight after it's been redlined around a racetrack for several hours, I mean...I love the smell of bacon, but you know what I don't love?....The realisation that that smell is coming from my face. So...the reason?...Well it's not just the lack of airflow - remember that glass sleeve that sits in the barrel to give you those lovely little windows?...

Well glass is not a particularly good conductor of heat, just like in the old style Thermos flasks, it keeps the heat in, so all that heat is going straight to the top cap. Now, I'm no professor of thermodynamics (really....you don't say)...I'd more than likely even have a problem spelling that when under pressure...

But it would be my guess that this, coupled with the lack of airflow, is what causes the issue. After 5 or 6 hits there is a very noticeable difference in heat between the side of the barrel and the top cap...make of that what you will.BUT ALL IS NOT LOST.....I have no idea why I'm shouting - I think it's because I was actually quite excited to discover that my beloved piston pornography RDA was actually quite good....when treated with respect. So, I swapped out the meaty twisties that came in the package and opted for something in the higher ohm realm, a couple of straight forward Claptons ohming out at 0.4 on the pair....I then swapped out my regular dessert liquid for something fruity....enter once more...the Riot Squad brigade...

Courtesy of those ever giving lovely people over at Riot Squad, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to put their 'Grenade' series of liquids to the test, after all their 'Raspberry Grenade' has won its fair share of accolades over the last year or so - and so it should. I mean, I'm not really a fruit vaper -desserts all the way as a rule, but it's a nice change to blow the cobwebs away with their cold fruits every now and then. The flavours are, after all, very authentic and the quality of juice is top notch, so....Raspberry Grenade it was, and as it turns out...my theory was bang on with the HotRod RDA, lower the heat, lower the power, raise the ohms and stick a strong fruit flavour in there.....BOOM....The HotRod really bursts into life...

Yes..I know...that picture wasn't with the Clapton build, these are actually the coils that come with it, but hey...I'm all about the explosions and you know...man stuff...

That's a fair comment.
So...to summarise: The Hotrod is a very good vape, especially with flavour, just don't expect too much from it when it comes to doing super low builds and shoving a massive amount of wattage up it's wrong'un. The air flow is smooth as silk as well, think of it less as a high performance HotRod, and more of a 2 litre sports convertible.....probably in red....with a male hairdresser at the wheel....probs..(shrugs)
And finally.....windows.....do we really need them in RDA's, I mean sure it looks pretty cool, especially when you can see a fresh build in there with a beautiful pair of trick coils. But as I have already said, the structure doesn't deal with those very well, and even if it did, it only takes a few hits to get those windows all steamy, like there's a very tiny couple in there partaking in a little 'happy time'...

And a week down the line....you're really not gonna want to see what's going on in there..

Which means you'll probably be putting fresh builds in there more often than is entirely necessary.
Oh...I almost forgot to mention, there is one little trick the HotRod has up its sleeve that's pretty nifty, and unless you're looking for it you could very well miss it...

Seeing as it has a flat little well in the centre where it has the words 'V 10'....he's put a little hole on the inside, which goes straight through the post, allowing the juice to flow back into the main impressively deep juice well, a large bonus for squonkers, and yes, a squonk pin is included, although I didn't test it.

The Specs

Size: 24 x 103mmMain
Material: Stainless SteelDrip
Tip: 810
Thread: 510

It comes with

1 x Swedish Vaper HotRod RDA
1 x Squonk Pin
1 x Extra Glass Tube
1 x Allen key Screwdriver
2 x Coil
1 x Spare Parts

Final Thoughts

My final thoughts on the HotRod RDA designed by the Swedish Vaper would be thus....I really dig it, I just wish it had more airflow for my style of vaping, which lets be honest...is completely selfish on my part, but then...is it really selfish?....This thing has the persona of a high performance engine so you would expect to be able to put the meatiest of builds in there and really give it some welly. I mean, the coils that come with it aren't that big, or that low being 0.20 ohms on the dual, but even those produce far too much heat for the HotRod’s structure and airflow to cope with if you pump up the volume a wee bit too much....That being said, if you treat this thing with kid gloves, put a medium to high ohm build in there, run it at say 60 to 70 watts - it's a whole different animal. The flavour is astounding, and so it should be with it being a bottom airflow RDA, and seeing as those internal air banks run the whole length of the coil, you really are getting the full shebang of flavour on tap - and that's only one thing I really like about this.

The main thing I love about it is how it came to be. Joel used the Heavengifts Deepinmaker programme to put his stamp on the vape industry, and I think that's brilliant. He's just a normal guy from the U.K. with a vision, and Deepinmaker made it a reality - and it has to be said that they did a pretty bang up job of it. The machining is excellent, the theme is perfect and the whole package has been put together beautifully, which proves it's possible for anyone to do this. I'm even kinda tempted myself because they did such a good job with it, so for that reason I have a lot of respect for both Joel and Heavengifts for bringing the HotRod RDA into life. It might not be for everyone due to its own limitations, but seeing as there are none of your normal 'Shenzhen Giants' involved here at any level....you just gotta love what this stands for.

The Price

Given that the HotRod RDA doesn't come from one of the bigger manufacturers, and will not be hitting the market in quite the same numbers, you'd expect the price to be slightly higher than normal, but the truth is, it's completely average.At time of writing Heavengifts have this on offer for £22.93/$29.90 which is absolutely bang on the nail...I would even say it's a borderline bargain, find that deal here...

The Swedish Vaper HotRod RDA

And if you add my discount code APUGS15 at checkout, you can even bag yourself a bit of cash off, and who doesn't love a bit of discount?

It's even available in three different colour combinations....

The HotRod might not be something I will use a lot, but that's purely because I found it works better for me with fruity vapes at higher Ohms, and this way of vaping is something I seldom do. But... it will remain set up and not stuffed in the drawer of death, for me to use when I fancy a change. For those who don't build especially low, and like stronger fruity vapes then....winner winner chicken dinner, you'll more than likely really dig it. For those people, I give my awkward as fuck wink of approval...

As always the doors over here at Steampugs HQ are open 24/7, so feel free to have yourself a pleasant peruse around the place where you will find a plethora of awesome reviews from myself as well as the Steamteam, and while you're here take a gander around the shop where you will find a wealth of highly discounted vape gear....it's currently under a rebuild, but the China shop still works so bare with us for the upcoming US and UK side of things.

Until next time

Pugs.

(Shudders)

 

[cliveh2]

As always pugs an excellent review and really impressed you managed to get 'award winning' into the review again [emoji6]
Really like the look of this, but as you say not sure its going to look that appealing after a heavy few days of custard abuse, but for that price and a pugs discount off, I'm tempted [emoji16]

 

[Steampugs]

As always pugs an excellent review and really impressed you managed to get 'award winning' into the review again [emoji6]
Really like the look of this, but as you say not sure its going to look that appealing after a heavy few days of custard abuse, but for that price and a pugs discount off, I'm tempted [emoji16]

Seriously right?.....I mean talk about self appreciation ....I actually spoke to Joel (the Swedish Vaper) and he actually said the word "oh you're Steampugs, didn't you win an award or something?"....."well yes...yes I did"....I love him now, he knows how to please me
LOL thanks as always brother your support is amazing

 

[Shetland Sam]

Banging review buddy. Wait what you won an award. Haven't heard this mentioned haha. Might have to pick one of these up at some point.

 

[Steampugs]

Banging review buddy. Wait what you won an award. Haven't heard this mentioned haha. Might have to pick one of these up at some point.

Wait what?...an award you say??......woh...this is all new information!!...lmaoo thanks man