RDA Reviews

Vandy Vape Widowmaker

The Vandy Vape Widowmaker RDA brings every draw to the lung with real thought in the design and a deep understanding of what makes a great vape!

by Adam Bolt
Sep 11, 2019

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When I fall I shall rise…

This has been of interest to me for some time now and seeing this beauty has been released by the Vandy Vape team, it was one that I knew would work. This wonderful RDA brings every draw to the lungs with real thought in the design and a deep understanding of what makes a great vape. The way this works is by replacing each and every airflow ring, such a simple idea but so effective.

Out the Box

The Widowmaker comes in five different colour options for the 24mm tank, including Matte Black, Stainless Steel, Gunmetal, Gold and the famous Rainbow (7-Colour). The price is $30 USD and £24 GBP, so it’s a perfect price for an entry level RDA, and I'm telling you that it is worth the small price tag for such a brilliant RDA.

The tank has a 1ml well, which isn’t great but I haven't had a dry hit yet. There are loads of goodies in the box which means you can have lots of fun getting it set up and customised to your preference. There are lots of spare O-Rings and extra airflow rings which I will come to later.

It arrived with some nice cotton which wasn’t used for this review, but it was fluffy and laced out. Also included were some triple fused clapton coils which were perfect, so I happily used these in the tank.

A hex key to change the pin, a set of screwdrivers, a full spare set of grub screws, a spare drip tip which replaces the original one, the warranty card and some detailed instructions were also packed nicely in the box.

Vandy Vape Widowmaker in the box

The Build

The build quality is really impressive and it is machined incredibly well. Vandy vape and El Mono Vapeador have got this one right and it is jam packed with nice features. I love that the rings for airflow can be changed between the cyclops, the borehole or the honeycomb. For me, the Honeycomb was much better and gave a nice balance of flavour and clouds.

Once I had set up the coils, it was reading .20 ohms which I thought was a good start for getting some nice clouds and brilliant flavour. I tried a mix of wattages just to see where it's happy place was. The coil was easy to install on the post, which was made easier by the beautiful machining, and this gave it a real high end feel. The coils had to be measured right so they sat at 5mm high so they line up with the downward airflow.

Cyclops ring – this was a nice airflow but too restricted for me. It took a while to get used to and I nearly gave up simply because it seemed to take a long hard draw every time.

Honeycomb ring – this reminded me of the Drop dead, and I say this because this is where I first saw this design. I felt confident that it would work and I was right, it did!

Borehole ring – This was decent. I like an airy vape which is what made me go out and buy the Golem RDA by Big M Coils and Raymo. This is a very loose draw and if you’re not into this style of vaping, I'd pass straight away and stick with the HC.

Vandy Vape Widowmaker build deck

Priming the wick is instant with the Vape Lace Cotton, drip straight away and it can be vaped very quickly. The flavour comes through from the start, however it did get better over the course of the squonk. I’ve tested the coil at 50W, clouds weren’t the biggest but nice. At 60W, it produces better flavour and consistent clouds. Finally, I upped it to 75W and wow! It was chucking it out and the flavour was perfect and creamy. But I found dropping it down to 65-70W hit the sweet spot and would be much easier on the cotton.

The airflow is really good, which makes this perfect in all aspects of flavour and cloud production. I’d recommend playing about with the wick and coils prior to setting your originals up. I had the airflow open fully on the HC which, for me, was just as sweet as a nut.

The tank is 24mm and so small. With the smaller chuff drip dip it looks awesome on the rage and seems to make it a near perfect vape.

Vandy Vape Widowmaker stripped down

Pros

Great build
Nice tip design
Big coil placement
Great design
Perfect airflow on two of the provided rings
Great flavour production
Squonking perfection
Great design
High quality at an awesome price

Cons

Restricted draw on the smaller cyclops ring
The airflow rings need to have locking on them

Vandy Vape Widowmaker with chuff cap

Conclusion

RDAs are my chosen to go to on a mod whether I'm dripping or squonking. Now it does depend on the RDA but this one is great, and I haven’t put this down yet! It’s perfect for any level RDA. I haven’t had any issues yet with the reading of the ohms or with dry hits.

The flavour is great, really consistent with my favourite fruity juices. It produces clouds like a beast and I love the vapour production, it is just so satifying. They really have made this perfectly, the build is so easy, and I can’t fault how quickly it can be set up and used. I think it’s going to be an entry level RDA that I’ll be using on a regular basis.

Now would I buy it? OMG, that is such a daft question! Yes of course, it’s amazing and I think it’s really one of the best for 2019 so far in terms of cheap and reliable RDA. I’m not putting people off the high-end stuff, but this does have some pros that fall in line with the higher priced ones. This is definitely a worthy addition to anyone's vape kit.

Equipment/Products Used

Mod – Desire Design Rage - Red
Tank – Vandy Vape – Windowmaker RDA – SS
E-liquid – Empire Brew – The Lemonade Stand – Citric Passion– 70/30 3mg
Coils – VV– 0.20ohm Triple Fused Clapton’s - 65W
Batteries – Golisi 26 – 18650 2600mAh

Adam Bolt

Reviewer at POTV

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My first mod kit was the majesty back in January 2018 where I started to try different hands-on with building all self-taught, understanding the difference behind them all. My first review was on the Wotofo Bravo, where I enjoyed writing it so much and I thought im going to do this so I set up my website www.vapinbolt.comand started producing a blog where I have gained many different partnerships with companies and ongoing contracts for the future going forward Vaping is great and I thank the great community it has where I have built relationships from people all over the world and here in the UK Liquids are now my new venture to have a stable but evenly guide into the vaping world...