The EVL Reaper V3

The Reaper V3 is the latest addition to the EVL Range, the brainchild of John Heywood. It's great to see a UK home grown RTA on the market - let's see how it stacks up.

by Rob
Feb 13, 2019

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The Reaper V3 is the latest addition to the EVL Range, the brainchild of John Heywood.

John first came to our attention when he started to make drip tips. As is always the way of these things, this came about almost by accident... John showed some tips that he was making for his own use and received requests for them from members on the old UKV forum. As time progressed, John designed his own RTA which he sent to various members for beta testing, the results were extremely positive and this in turn led to the launch of "The EVL Reaper".

If my memory serves me correctly this was first available made from Titanium, with a Stainless Steel version following on a while later which carried a rather lower price. Titanium is a notoriously hard material to mill and the original example's price reflected the number of man hours involved in its creation. This said, the original Reaper still has a huge number of fans, appealing particularly to those seeking the best possible flavour experience.

Never one to rest on his laurels, John then launched the EVL Reaper V2 which introduced adjustable air flow options and an improved juice control mechanism. Again, the Reaper V2 found success with the vaping community and is enjoyed by many to this day.

The Reaper V3 became available to the Public during late November 2018 and, thus far, has become the flagship of the range of RTAs. Whilst retaining elements of the original design found on its predecessors it has also brought new innovations to the table.

Specifications

So what we have is a 22mm RTA manufactured from 316 grade Stainless Steel, featuring the following specifications.

316 Stainless Steel
PEEK Insulators
Ultem tank
22mm Diameter
33mm Tall (Not including 510 fitting)
Tank capacity 2ml
Under coil air intake size: 2.7mm
Airflow ring sizes: 1, 1.2, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 & 2.7mm
Spares pack including all O rings and two spare post screws (These also work as replacement 510 screws)
EVL Tin stuffed with Muji organic cotton

Versions

There are currently 2 versions available, The Reaper V3 2.7 and The Reaper V3 MTL.

I own the Reaper V3 2.7 which suits my requirements perfectly. The Air Flow Options available allow one to go from a Tight MTL Draw, similar in many ways to that found with the Mini Nautilus, through to a Restricted Lung Draw when on its most Open Setting. One also has a Juice Flow Control within the Deck which whilst appearing rudimentary, actually works superbly well. Whilst featuring a Bottom Fill Tank, one can easily remove the entire Tank Section when filled in the event of your Wicking, Coil or Juice Flow Control requiring attention. This design is clever and makes for a straight forward and Painless operation. The ability to also be able to turn off your Liquid completely is a boon for those whom are traveling etc.

So what is it like to live with?

For my preferences and style of vaping, the Reaper V3 is absolutely on the money. The legendary Reaper flavour production is here - and in spades. The vapour production is astonishing whether on the smallest air flow of 1mm or wide open at 2.7mm, I have never experienced the “almost” chewy vapour production that is the hallmark of all Reapers that have come before, the V3 amplifies this even further.

Building the Reaper V3 is simplicity itself. There is plenty of space between the 2 posts, so accommodating claptons etc is easy. It is very much a matter of personal choice when it comes to which way up you mount your Coils, personally, I am thoroughly enjoying using my chosen coil with the legs uppermost, with the top of the coil standing just proud of the wire trapping screws. I use a 2.5 internal diameter coil as I am most comfortable with this size and, being somewhat boring, wicking is always Muji.

For me, the wicking could I suppose be the only thing that requires any major attention to detail. One only wants the wick tails to be resting on the deck, anything more and I found that the Reaper V3 showed its dissatisfaction by gurgling. Once you have your wicking down pat you will be rewarded by what I certainly consider to be one of the fines vape experiences out there. I would go as far as saying... The Best I have ever had, but this is just my take on things.

Component Parts

AFC Ring:

Deck:

Chamber:

Chamber Internal:

Tank Assembly:

Conclusion

A Fabulous Home Grown RTA which continues to delight. I can honestly say that I haven't been as enthusiastic about a new arrival for a very, very long time.

The ONLY thing I will add to my previous comments is that your coil placement is absolutely key to getting a great result. Too low and the Reaper V3 WILL gurgle. Too high and flavour begins to fall away. I have found that the ideal for my purposes is to have the head of the coil protruding slightly above the screw heads, then, you are in Nirvana territory.

With new items coming thick and fast from John, the Reaper V3 has to be potentially at least, his most customisable RTA yet. You can find the EVL Reaper V3, and other EVL products on their website https://www.evlvapors.co.uk/.

Rob

Reviewer at POTV

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I have been around the vaping scene for many a long year and have watched as it progressed from the days of CE4s and Vivi Novas through to today's offerings. I have always been rather taken with the slightly more quirky side of vaping and have used a massive array of Genesis RTAs and then experimented with running Mesh Wicks in a great many RTAs primarily designed for use with cotton, my reasoning being that flavour is always the ultimate goal - it has to be possible to improve things even further. I have avoided certain types of equipment as I have always felt that I had reached my comfortable place and have been reasonably happy to remain there! So the whole Sub Ohm experience was not where I was to be found. Unlike a great many, I has always remained in the lower power, higher resistance camp and am content in the main at around 15 Watts and very occasionally straying up to about 30 Watts if using temp control. My wife Carol and I started vaping in 2012 and have never looked back. We did all the usual things and tried all sorts of equipment, but settled very quickly upon the ideal setups for our requirements. the same can be said with e-liquids. We hit upon two makers very early on and haven't strayed much in all honesty. Being tobacco lovers, first and foremost, we are surrounded by gear that meets that need and produces what we consider to be our ideal. We live in rural Cambridgeshire in a rather nice cottage that despite its suicidal tendencies meets our needs.

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