Hellvape HelHeim (dual coil) RDTA
Antony takes a look at another nice option from Hellvape, the Helheim RDTA, which shows that there’s still life in a good RDTA!
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by Antony Lord
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Not too long ago I took a look at the Hellvape Helheim S RDTA, and a few weeks later I received another package from Hellvape. Initially I thought they’d accidentally sent out a second batch by accident until I received an email letting me know that the dual coil version of the Helheim RDTA was on its way… a second look in the box told me that it had in fact arrived and been sat on my desk for a couple of days already!
Specifications
- 25mm x 39.4 mm (excluding drip tip and 510)
- Dual coil RDTA
- Dual honeycomb airflow
- 4.5 ml capacity (2ml for TPD regions)
- 810 drip tip
As usual the pack ins from Hellvape are quite good with a spare glass tank (UK TPD editions only have one 2ml “glass”), a bag containing a screwdriver, spare O-rings, and deck screws and a squonk pin, another bag with ni80 fused claptons and cotton, and finally a coil cutting guide. The Helheim RDTA is available in five colours and I was sent the black and gunmetal versions to test this time, with stainless steel, gold and blue rounding out the available options.
When I received the Helheim S RDTA, I was a little disappointed with the finish on the black version which I put down to it being a pre-production run, but there were no issues with the finish on the Helheim RDTA. The Gunmetal version has quite a dark finish and in truth isn’t far off being black, it does have a sheen to it though unlike the black one which has a matte finish. It’s also much shorter than its single coil counterpart, but otherwise the same design language can be seen throughout.
Up top you have a standard 810 drip tip and dual side and bottom airflow adjustments along with a rather understated Helheim logo. Down below is a large 4.5ml glass, but the protective cage and stainless steel wicks have been replaced this time around for a more traditional wicking system with two massive ports for your wicks which gives the Helheim RDTA a slightly cleaner, less busy look overall.
Taking the top cap off, you can see that the side airflow actually comes right into the build deck and creates quite a small chamber, although not as small as the Helheim S RDTA as this now has to accommodate a dual coil setup. The honeycomb side airflow ports are actually angled downward again to force the airflow down under your coil. I was also pleased to discover that the outer airflow holes also appeared to be angled in towards the centre of the coil which I thought was quite a clever touch. The upper airflow ring is on a latch system as before and can only be removed by turning it all the way to the right before lifting it off.
The lower portion of the top cap lifts off to fully expose the build deck, under coil honeycomb airflow and fill ports. Whilst the O-rings on the Helheim S RDTA were a little loose, Hellvape seem to have got them spot on this time around with the perfect amount of tension so I’m not worried that the top cap is going to do a disappearing act in a pocket.
Should you need to replace the glass, you simply unscrew the base and pop the glass off the O-ring above. There’s a nice hybrid safe 510 connector on the base and I was pleased to see an optional squonk pin included in the package this time as I thought that was a missed opportunity last time around.
The build deck uses four flat head screws, and these come in from the sides so they won't distort your complex coils. As is typical these days, the included coils are ni80 so I can’t use them and opted to install my own Kanthal fused claptons instead with the legs cut to the suggested 6 mm length on the included coil cutting guide. Once fitted, I’d suggest a quick test fit of the top cap to make sure you’re clear of any obstructions.
There’s plenty of room for your wicks here, and filling is done via the two open ports at the sides which are sealed when you fit the top cap. I did find that I needed to angle my e-liquid bottle a little to avoid bashing against the coils though.
With everything now setup and a final build of 0.16ohms, I started to play around with the power and airflow settings to find my sweet spot. I found the experience with just the bottom airflow open rather lacking. The side airflow on its own was a massive improvement, but I eventually settled on 100 watts with the bottom airflow half open and the top airflow set to three out of five of the available honeycomb airflows. I could push this past 100 watts, in fact quite a long way past this mark, but there wasn’t any further improvement in flavour. As you might expect with dual honeycomb airflow, it’s all super smooth as well with no unwelcome whistling or turbulence at any setting.
On the downside, it will flood slightly if laid on its side, as most RDTAs are prone to do, so it's probably best if you try to keep this upright as far as possible.
Pros
- Super smooth airflow
- Easy to build dual coil deck
- 4.5ml capacity (2ml for TPD)
- Squonk pin included
Cons
- Can leak if laid on its side as with most rdtas.
Conclusion
Another nice option from Hellvape, the Helheim RDTA shows that there’s still life in a good RDTA. I was pleased to see a squonk pin included this time, but I didn’t end up using it as my current build needs 100 watts which really requires a dual battery setup. I quite enjoyed the single coil Helheim S RDTA, but I think the dual coil Helheim RDTA is even better.
Many thanks to Hellvape for sending out the Helheim RDTA out for review.
Antony Lord
Reviewer at POTVI was a twenty a day smoker for 25 years and like most smokers I was always going to quit "next week". Having hit my mid forties and having the usual smokers cough and difficulty with anything more than moderate exercise it was obviously time to give up the cancer sticks. I bought my first e-cigarette in 2013 when they were expensive, difficult to find and quite frankly... crap. I used it for about a week then went back to the roll ups, mark up another failed quit attempt. The fact that I had just changed jobs and was under quite a lot of stress probably didn't help. Move on to 2016 and whilst I was browsing eBay I noticed that one of the suggested items that would occasionally pop up was for a cheap e-cigarette. It looked similar to the one I'd bought 3 years earlier but it was only £5 (about 8 times cheaper than before) so I decided to give it another go on a whim. Once the kit arrived I managed to gradually replace the cigarettes with my new kit over a two month period and got into watching YouTube reviews for newer kit. My cheap and cheerful kit was replaced by a more upmarket affair, and being a noob I made a mistake once it arrived... I put in the supplied direct lung coil, this was of course a complete revelation and I haven't touched a cigarette since. Oh and I no longer spend the first five minutes of every day having a coughing fit either.
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