RDA Reviews

Vapefly Galaxies MTL Squonk RDTA

The Vapefly Galaxies MTL Squonk RDTA is a fantastic little atomiser with great flavour, great airflow and high end quality at an affordable price. Si Davies takes a good look and, no spoilers, but I think he rather likes it!

by Si Davies
Dec 11, 2019

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A "Bought with my own money" review.

In a nutshell

The Vapefly Galaxies MTL Squonk RDTA is a fantastic little atomiser, the benefits similar to the Vapefly Holic with the added bonus of consistent juice flow to the coils, great flavour, great airflow and high end quality at an affordable price.

Official Website

http://www.vapefly.com/galaxies-mtl-squonk-rdta/

Price, I couldn’t find a consistent RRP but I bought mine for the bargain price £16.59 ($22.13 USD) from FastTech.
https://www.fasttech.com/product/9659746-authentic-vapefly-galaxies-mtl-squonk-rdta

The Elephant in the room – what’s the point in Squonking into an RDTA?

This is a common question that I hear and people dismiss this option which is a shame. Basically the tank underneath the dripper provides a constant and consistent juice flow to the coil and you get that ideal dripper flavour without having to drip or squonk as often. When I say consistent, basically you don’t get the oversquonk/undersquonk problem.
It’s my favourite way to squonk and I never bother with drippers any more.

Vapefly Galaxies MTL Squonk RDTA in the box

Unboxing and contents

The box is nice and strong with an outer sleeve. The box has notches on the top so opening is easier (no shaking the s**t out of it to get inside). It is also sealed with holographic foil so you know it’s spanking new. Opening it up, you are greeted with the RDTA, a spare glass and an alternative black drip tip.

Underneath the foam insert are all the goodies and spares you need to get building:

1 x Galaxies MTL RDTA
1 x Glass Replacement Glass (2ml)
1 x Bottom Feeding 510 Adaptor
1 x Alternative Black Drip Tip
4 x Allen Screws
1 x Tri Screw Driver
5 x Spare O-Rings
2 x Ni80 26ga Pre-build Coils 1.0 Ohm
2 x Vapefly Firebolt Shoelace Cotton
1 x Manual

Vapefly Galaxies MTL Squonk RDTA unboxing and contents

A nice little bundle with enough to do two builds, the manual is well illustrated and quality printed though, as usual, I didn’t read it as everything was common sense and simple to build.

Tech Splurge

Diameter: 22.2mm (random or OCD?)
Height without drip: 28.5mm
Material: Stainless Steel
Capacity: 2ml
Material of drip tip: Delrin, PMMA
Coil type: Single Coil
Color: SS, Black, Rainbow, Blue

The back of the sleeve has some interesting ‘boasts’ such as “Top notch flavour” and the amusing “Super assemble chamber”, which is kind of nice rather than dull specs. It caught my attention and I actually read it all. We will see if this RDTA lives up to the self hype.

Vapefly Galaxies MTL Squonk RDTA the cats whiskers

Stripping down the RDTA is very easy and intuitive, the top cap and 510 drip tip simply pull off without too much force. The tank comes off by unscrewing the base. I appreciate this is not a new release and could have been sat on a shelf for a while, but the black seals had bonded to the glass section which is not good as they need to be seated into the metal sections. I just about managed to remove them in warm water and gently persuaded them off. I won’t put this as a con as it’s not the design, more a distributor stocking issue.

Vapefly Galaxies MTL Squonk RDTA stripped down

The next part, which I found rather odd considering its ‘Squonk RDTA’ title, is the 510 pin wasn’t the squonk pin by default and the solid one is fitted instead so I had to swap this over. No biggie as it takes a few seconds to swap them over.
(Nit picking perhaps, but worth a mention)

Vapefly Galaxies MTL Squonk RDTA squonk pin

So before building, it’s time to look at the interesting part, the build deck & airflow options:

Vapefly Galaxies MTL Squonk RDTA parts list

The design is very innovative and well-constructed. Vapefly managed to squeeze a lot into such a small area. The spring loaded fill port is superb and the coil clamps are ‘slide and tighten’ style. Along with the curved coil positioning notches, it makes fitting a coil simple.

It’s worth paying attention to the two x side airflow screws before building. By default, they are closed off so air will only flow from underneath. Loosening these screws allows the side airflow to open up, you will see the gap as you unscrew. I prefer a tight MTL draw so I unscrewed them less than 1mm, a pure guess but it can be adjusted to suit your tastes afterwards.

RDTA build and wicking guide

In my experience of other RDTA’s, I prefer to have access to the underside allowing me to fluff up and ensure the wicks aren’t choking the wicking ports so I built without the glass section.

Vapefly Galaxies MTL Squonk RDTA wicking

Using the supplied 1.0 Ohm Ni80 2.5mm inside diameter coil and the provided cotton, I began my build. The coil is very easy to fit, unscrew the post pins, slide the coil into position and nip them up a little to allow for adjustment using a 2.5mm coil rod which aligns the coil via the two curved notches, then tighten the screws fully and tweak the coil position if required (though I found it positioned itself perfectly), trim the ends of the coil legs and dry burn if required. The coil is slightly spaced so a dry burn isn’t essential as I had no hotspots.

The 1.0 Ohm coil actually came out just over 0.8 Ohms so I suggest you add another wrap if you are after 1.0 Ohm, though it vapes perfectly with the coil left as is.

Wicking

Wicking wise, the supplied Firebolt shoelace cotton was far too thick for the 2.5mm coil so I had to split it by peeling it apart. I had to remove about a third which was just about right. I had to cut off the excess as close to the shoelace end as possible. It should pull through the coil nice and snug (the old ambiguous cliché: not too tight, not too loose).

I then took my best guestimate for the length by folding it over the deck so it’s just enough to reach through the wicking port without leaving wasteful long tails, 42mm is just about perfect. There was no need to thin it out, just fluff it up then poke the legs through the wicking ports (ideally using very thin tweezers), ensure it’s gone all the way through then finish off fluffing it out from the underside. It should look something like this:

Vapefly Galaxies MTL Squonk RDTA wick position

That’s all there is to it. It sounds long winded, but in practice it doesn’t take long at all. For the review, I have stripped it and rebuilt it four times and it’s been easy each time.

Time to screw the tank on, pop it on your favourite squonker (or mod if you are just using the tank only), then prime the coil and fill the tank via the spring loaded filler port. Using a standard 10ml bottle, this was simple and mess free due to the additional vent hole in the deck enabling me to fill it right to the top, pop on the top cap ensuring you line up the air holes which are aided by stopper tabs in the top cap.

So all ready to take it for a spin……..

Performance

I fitted it onto the Vandy Vape Simple EX as my tool of choice and the RDTA looked and fitted it perfectly. I have also tried it on the Pico Squeeze 2 which again looked good but was a little small (The Holic had a beauty ring which looked better). Having tried the Vapefly Holic RDA and absolutely loving it, I kind of had similar expectations but without the inconsistencies of over/under squonking.

Most of us that use RDAs know that fresh build, unbeatable taste, and the Galaxies MTL RDTA certainly gave me that straight off the bat. I set the outside airflow to the two smallest holes, combined with the tight internal airflow this delivered such a smooth, full flavoured draw. I have to admit I was grinning from ear to ear and am very pleased with my purchase. Vapefly certainly delivered their promise of ‘Top Notch Flavour’ and superb airflow control.

I have been using it exclusively, the beauty of a Squonk RDTA over a BF RDA is you get a perfect dripper like draw every hit as the wicking is very consistent even if you let the tank almost run out. You don’t need to squonk for at least twenty hits, and the flavour and draw will be the same each time.

The squonking to fill the tank is also superb, requires very little pressure and fills to the top without sucking juice back down which is ideal. Another benefit of the tank is its spring loaded fill port. If my squonk bottle is empty and I can’t be arsed to fill it, then it only takes a few seconds to fill up the 2ml tank again and it lasts a couple of hours or more.

After going through the first 10ml of Nic Salts (Rachael Rabbit – Lemon, Pear & Raspberry), the condition of the coil and wicks were spotless with no signs of burning even though I overpowered it to get a warmer vape. Despite this, I rebuilt it anyway for review purposes. I used my own Ni80 round wire this time and built a 1.2 Ohm coil. It was just as enjoyable and less power hungry. I also tried an Ni80 Fused Clapton 1.4 Ohm, 2.5mm inner diameter which just about fitted, though I found I needed to open up the internal airflow more, slightly airier but very nice, possibly my favourite setup.

Compared to

The only MTL RDTA I have tried prior to this is the Aspire Quad Flex kit which was meh and no competition. The closest I could compare MTL RDTA wise is the Vapefly Jester Pod RDTA, but that had no airflow control resulting in less of a satisfying draw than the Galaxies gives.

Comparing it to the Vapefly Holic RDA is a tighter call though I would have to say the Galaxies MTL RDTA is the winner, very similar flavour and airflow but the RDTA benefits give it the edge and has now demoted the Holic to my second favourite MTL squonk RDA/RDTA.

Conclusion

A wise man called Hannibal Smith once said “I love it when a plan comes together” and this was my feeling on this punt based purely on my love of the Holic. I ended up finding something even better into the bargain, this MTL Squonk RDTA fits my needs perfectly, airflow to suit all MTL tastes and the flavour is exactly what it says on the tin (box) “TOP NOTCH”.

It’s close to perfection. Trying to find cons is going to be tricky and there is only one baffling con for me and that’s the drip tip bore depth which is too shallow for a lot of my 510 drip tips which leaves a gap. Looking back at the Holic, this has the same bore depth and problem. I find this quite strange for a company that clearly puts a lot of effort into perfecting their products, that said it’s not a deal breaker and the drip tips they include are ideal.

Vapefly are becoming one of my favourite and trusted brands now. You can see they engineer their products to a very high standard. I feel I have bought a high end atomiser at an affordable price, I need to resist my usual habit of getting a ‘spare’ (cough cough), as I can see this company doesn’t rest on their laurels so who knows if they can beat this?

HIGHLY RECCOMMENDED.

Pros

FLAVOUR – ‘Top Notch’
Easy build deck
Features aplenty
Incredible airflow flexibility
Smooth draw
Simple to strip down
Value for money
Spares including glass and alternative drip tip
Stylish design
Consistent juice flow/wicking
Spring loaded fill port
Dual or single sided airflow top cap
Innovative engineering
Goodbye to over/under squonking

Cons

510 drip tip bore is too shallow for a lot of drip tips
1.0ohm coil is incorrect (mine were 0.8 Ohm)
Attracts weird little green kittens for some reason?

Honestly I can’t come up with any more cons unless I seriously nit pick (like swapping the squonk pin).

Final thoughts

As you can see the pros far outweigh the cons, I didn’t think it would beat the Holic but it definitely does and has already replaced it as my benchmark for flavour testing.

Would I replace it if I lost or broke it?
Without a doubt, I already can’t imagine not having this in my vast collection! I am trying to curb my ‘buy a spare’ habit but this is going to be tough to resist.

Scores

Looks: 8/10
Quality: 9/10
Perfomance: 9.5/10
Ease of use: 8/10
Value For Money: 9.5/10
Flavour: 9/10

Overall Score 9/10 – Vapefly engineered yet another high quality atty

Si Davies

Reviewer at POTV

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My background is Engineering and Professional Photography. Mostly from POTV users knowledge I learned so much about pretty much all styles of vaping and equipment, Cloud Chasing, Squonking, Mouth To Lung, Direct To Lung, Pods, Mechs, Rebuild-able tanks and atomisers etc, and have experience with many many devices and atomisers, it's become a hobby and enjoy trying out the latest gear. I like to think my reviews are plain speaking and informative without getting too technical, if I have to resort to reading the manual then I don't consider it user friendly!