Hellvape Dead Rabbit Solo RDA
Hellvape sent Antony the new Dead Rabbit Solo RDA to play with
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by Antony Lord
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Hellvape have sent over the latest entry in their Dead Rabbit lineup and this time it’s a teeny single coil RDA! I was a little underwhelmed by a couple of their more recent dual coil RDAs, but even so I was looking forward to getting my hands on the Dead Rabbit Solo RDA as this meant it was probably going to be more suitable for use on a squonk mod which is my preferred usage with drippers.
Specifications
- 22mm diameter
- 21.8mm tall (excluding drip tip and 510)
- Single coil RDA
- Squonk pin included
The Dead Rabbit Solo comes with an 810 drip tip installed but there is an 810 to 510 drip tip adapter included in the spares and tools baggie as well (more on that later). You also get a nice premade Ni80 fused clapton and a strip of cotton along with a coil cutting guide and a brief user manual.
As is normally the case from Hellvape, the Dead Rabbit Solo is available in a wide range of colours (seven this time). Unfortunately I was sent my two least favorite ones, namely gold and (shudder) rainbow, but after a bit of a to and fro, I decided to go with the gold version as this actually looked quite smart on a red squonk mod (most of my squonkers are red… it’s a thing, a bit like Si not liking black mods!)
As I intended using this as a squonkable RDA, the first thing I needed to do was open the spares bag and swap over the solid positive pin for the squonk pin. Hellvape have kindly included the appropriate sized allen key in the box as well so you wont need to scramble around looking for tools, just remember to keep track of the insulator and make sure it’s fitted before use.
The deck design is fairly simple with two large posts which should accommodate even the chunkiest of exotic builds with 2.8 x 2.5mm post holes, it does away with the traditional Dead Rabbit “bunny ears” design though, opting instead to go down the “pre-cut your coil legs to length and drop them in” route. Once again I can’t use the provided coil as it’s nichrome, so one of my kanthal triple core fused claptons was installed, this went without a hitch once I’d cut the legs at the recommended 5mm.
The squonk pin is raised slightly above the base so you will get a little juice reservoir if you’re squonking and you get a fairly generous 5.2mm deep drip well if you prefer to drip rather than squonk.
If you’re worried that the coil looks like it’s going to be a long way off the airflow from the build, then you can breathe a sigh of relief as the main barrel of the Dead Rabbit Solo has a very reduced chamber. This brings the thirty 1.2mm airflow holes right up to the coil, you actually only have about 9mm to play with here so with the barrel fitted, it’s actually quite a tight squeeze! I was pleased to see a little bit of doming at the top of the chamber and two cutouts on the upper side which I can only assume have been designed to guide any dripped liquid towards the coil and cotton.
Because of the compact nature of the chamber, the barrel locks in place in just one position but the airflow can be adjusted with the top cap which allows you to either block rows of airflow from top to bottom or from side to side as shown.
So now onto the million dollar question, how well does the Dead Rabbit Solo perform?
In a nutshell, it works very well. I found my sweet spot with the installed 0.24ohm coil was at 50 watts with the top row of airflow closed. However I did find that the experience was greatly enhanced by ditching the 810 drip tip and fitting a narrower bore 510 drip using the supplied adapter, this just seemed to bump the flavour up a notch.
I’m a chronic over squonker and I’m happy to report that I’ve also found this to be a mess free experience. You can over squonk the Dead Rabbit Solo, but I’ve only managed to do this once so far so that’s a result in my books.
Pros
- Easy to build
- Good flavour
- Difficult to over squonk
Cons
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It’s a shame that an actual 510 drip tip isn’t included
Conclusion
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with squonking and normally I’d get bored and frustrated with all the mess after a couple of days and revert to a RTA, but the Dead Rabbit Solo has been in use constantly for a whole week so I think it’s safe to say this one’s a keeper. Hellvape products are usually very competitively priced as well so if you like compact single coil RDAs, then this might be worth seeking out, it gets a definite thumbs up from me.
Many thanks to Hellvape for sending the Dead Rabbit Solo RDA over 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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