Vapefly Alberich 2 RTA
Antony has been a fan of Vapefly products for a while, so he was delighted to get the chance to check out the new Vapefly Alberich II mtl RTA
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by Antony Lord
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Vapefly Alberich II MTL RTA
One of my surprise favourite rebuildables to come out last year was the Vapefly Alberich mouth to lung (mtl) RTA, I loved its slightly quirky nature and it’s a stellar mtl vape to boot, so when I found out that an updated Alberich II mtl RTA was on the horizon, I was more than a little excited to see what they’d done this time around. Our good friends over at Sourcemore were once again on hand and have kindly sent over a kit for review.
Specifications
- 22.8 mm diameter
- 44.5 mm tall (excluding drip tip and 510)
- Top fill 4ml capacity tank
- 510 drip tip
- Top down airflow system
- 6 airflow pins included
The Alberich II is available in Black, Stainless steel, and gunmetal, and is supplied with a spare glass section, which is always nice to see, with a 4ml tank capacity so strictly speaking this means that this isn’t TPD compliant although I have seen it on offer from UK vendors if you aren’t comfortable ordering from overseas at places like Sourcemore. I was sent the black version which suited me right down to the ground as my original Alberich is black and I had a particular mod in mind to use this with.
As is usually the case with Vapefly products, there are a lot of extras hidden under the tank like spare O-rings, pre made coils and cotton, and a whopping six mtl air pins so you can fine tune the vaping experience to your preference.
The Alberich II has hints of the earlier Alberich about it, particularly around the top cap, however the similarities stop there and this is an altogether different beast. The quirky dripper style build deck with the gravity fed tank that sat over the top has been ditched for a much more traditional rta style, but as a bonus this now uses actual glass rather than a PCTG tank section. It still remains quite a tall tank which may put some people off, and the airflow has also changed to a top airflow arrangement with dual air inlets which are not adjustable, with any adjustments being made at the build deck by the included air pins. The easy to use quarter turn top fill system and standard 510 drip tip still remain, and the 510 connector looks to be hybrid safe for anyone wishing to use this on a mechanical mod.
The airflow is channelled between the outer and inner bell caps to a single airflow inlet on the side of the build deck. The inner bell cap is keyed in such a way that it will only fit over the build deck in one orientation so you can’t get this wrong, and the whole thing is removable for that essential deep clean.
You actually get seven air pins included with the Alberich II as one is already installed in the build deck with the extra six pins located in one of the spares baggies, and these come in 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8 and 2.0mm diameters. A 1.2mm pin is already fitted and I also had an additional 1.2mm pin in the spares and I’m not sure if this is a packing error or if they will all come this way. At first I thought these pins weren’t marked and I have seen other reviews commenting on this, however this isn’t the case, the markings are there but they’re tiny and quite faint so I certainly couldn’t see these without the aid of a bright light and the macro mode on my phone camera!
The build deck is simple enough although the large vertical section at the back of the deck where the air pin is located can make this a bit finicky when installing your coil and I found that a coiling rod was definitely helpful here, keep a close eye on that O-ring at the base as well as it constantly tries to make its escape. With the coil installed, there’s just about enough room to get a screwdriver between the coil and the airflow pin to allow you to change the airflow pin should you need to as these are held in place with an O-ring and will need to be pushed out from the inside.
There are two deep wicking channels, and I started out by cutting the wicks at an angle and then placing them in the channels. This seemed like it would be too much, so I proceeded to thin and trim the wicks until I felt it looked right…big mistake! I overdid this and instantly flooded the deck; lesson learned, you need more than you think here, and you do want some of that wick poking out from under the outer bell cap once you’ve screwed the tank in place.
I had a mod in mind for the Alberich II, the Vapefly Brunhilde SBS mod, and this turned out to be a perfect match especially given that my mod is also in black. With my 1.0ohm simple round wire build and the 1.5 mm air pin installed, this gave me exactly the mtl draw I wanted and the flavour is spot on as well…this hasn’t left my side for the last two weeks. It does get a bit gurgly for the first couple of pulls after you fill the tank, but this soon settles down (and can probably be solved by having another go at the wicking), and with that 4ml capacity you won’t be filling this up every two minutes either.
Pros
- Lots of air pins included
- Large capacity
- Leak resistant top airflow design
Cons
- A bit fiddly to build and wick
- Loses some of the quirkiness of the original
Conclusion
Another solid rebuildable option from Vapefly, if you’re a mouth to lung Vapor, then the Alberich II should be on your shortlist. It might lack some of the quirkiness and simplicity of the original Alberich, but this is every bit as good.
Many thanks to Sourcemore for sending the Vapefly Alberich II over for review. As usual they’ve given me a discount code for you to use as well: code ALMR2 will bag you this for just $18.39.
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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