RDA Reviews

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA

Wotofo know how to make a decent dripper, so we were looking forward to trying the Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA to see how it stacks up

by Si Davies
Mar 7, 2022

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Supplied by Sourcemore for review
https://www.sourcemore.com/wotofo-recurve-v2-rda-tank.html
$22.99 - Using Code: WRV2

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA boxed

Long before the Pandemic, the V1 of the Recurve was released. Since then, it has eaten a fair few pies and gained weight (haven’t we all?), but it has change a hell of a lot from the original. Not only is it single or dual coil, it is now top(ish) airflow. So I decided to see how much different it is and if it’s any good?

Curve design for the drip top and RDA body
Two airflow adapters to adjust airflow and enhance flavour
The slot-honeycomb for smoother airflow and better vaporization
Restrictive/exploration/full open airflow control mode
Supports 3mm ID dual coils and 5mm/3mm ID single coil
A true postless deck for easy and fast building process
Φ24.6mm, 510 thread, 2ml e-liquid juice well
Height: 35.55mm (with drip tip & 510 pin)

Unboxing

The Recurve V2 comes in the traditional Wotofo black and green packaging but it appears they have ditched the plastic, hopefully an environmental move similar to Innokin’s recent all paper based packaging. The result looks a bit bland if I’m honest, but it’s what’s inside the box that counts.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA unboxing

The outer sleeve has the specs and contents printed on the sides and there is a bit of bumf on the back. Once removed, the Recurve V2 is on the top layer looking a bit lonely, but that doesn’t last long as underneath are all the goodies.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA contents

Wotofo always give a generous bundle along with spares and handy tools. The Recurve V2’s differences become obvious when you see the parts with an all new PEEK airflow cap which comes with two options for single or dual coil builds, and you get coils and cotton for each setup.

There’s one thing missing though, a coil length guide which is something Wotofo usually provide. With a post-less deck, it helps to know the leg length if you want consistent results, the manual neglects to mention the length too.

The manual is a pamphlet style and features some good build guidance pictures, but it lacks any finer details such as coil length, height, and wick length, you’re left to guess and wing it.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA parts

The RDA strips down into the above photographed parts; the build deck, a peek airflow cap (two options), the main chamber, the top cap/airflow control, and an 810 drip-tip (no O-ring style). By default, it comes with a solid 510 pin for dripping so if you squonk like me, then before you start you will need to swap the pin for the BF (bottom fed) pin.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA squonk pin

This is simple to do and you are provided with an Allen key. The only thing to point out is the tiny O-ring on the original pin stays inside so make sure you either dig it out or remove the one on the BF pin.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA airflow cap

The post-less build deck is an interesting design and has a curved top (or recurved?) and a removable PEEK airflow cap, one for single coil and the other for dual coil builds.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA single coil or dual coil

The difference between the two is obvious, while the dual coil allows up to 3mm inner diameter coils, the single allows up to a whopping 5mm but you can go smaller if you prefer. I chose to use the included 5mm ID with a claimed ohms of 0.65 but this will depend on whether you wrap or unwrap the coil leg as it is opened flat, I wrapped it round and got 0.60 ohms so not far off.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA wrapping the coil

You get a coil rod included to help you fit the coil with 3mm or 5mm ends, I would have preferred it to be a little longer on each diameter to set the coil height as it doesn’t reach the full length of the deck before the shoulder hits it, no biggie and it is simple enough to work around.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA 5mm ID coil wrapping

How long is a piece of string?

So onto the first guessing game, the coil leg length! You can eyeball it, but it’s much better to use a coil jig (coily) in my experience. I took an educated guess at 6.5mm expecting it to be a touch too long to allow me to adjust, but I would say 7–7.5mm would be closer for a single 5mm coil. I would be back to guessing for dual coil, but I would try 7mm and trim if required (better too long than too short).

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA single coil build

The height is quite intuitive, and popping the top cap on gives you a visual guide of where the airflow will hit. For best results, it should hit from underneath and the sides with a little towards the top. I slightly spaced my coil for even heating and gave it a dry burn, strumming out any hotspots, but spacing meant mine didn’t need it.

How long is another piece of string?

Wicking was a bit of guesswork again; ideally the wick ends need to touch the juice well base but not crammed in too tightly. The provided cotton was a bit too thick to start with so I thinned it a little, I pulled it through and took my best guess at the first wick length (as long as you don’t cut the longest end yet you can always adjust). If it helps, my photo is just about right and it tucked in fairly easily, just make sure there are no tight areas and thin it out if so (I suspect dual coil will require thinning).

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA wicking

The good thing about squonking is you can see if your wicking is right before you put it all back together; firstly soak some e-liquid onto the coil and pulse fire at low wattage (25 watts) and repeat until you see the liquid start to work outwards, stop at this point and now squonk some juice up into the RDA and let it start soaking up. If you have squonked more e-liquid than expected and it isn’t working up, then the chances are that your wick is packed in too tightly, if it reaches the coil then you’re good to go.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t

Part of me fully understands the lack of a ‘coily’ or provided lengths as there are so many variables due to its versatility, coil legs for dual coil will be different and different wires, diameters etc, and the wicking will be slightly different too (dual coil required the wick ends thinning). I did try a TC dual coil SS316L plain wire build and 6mm worked for that, so was it a wise choice to NOT include a set length jig? I’m fine with it and I found it fairly simple to eyeball the height.

V2 Woo-hoo

I could already see one of the improvements in the V2 over the original as it will be much harder to ‘over-squonk’ (too much e-liquid) due to the deeper juice wells and the higher airflow inlet, which is a vast improvement.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA airflow

The airflow range is also much better, the original was a bit too restrictive but I’m well happy with the range on the V2. While it isn’t the airiest RDA I’ve tried, it was still more than enough for me that I needed to close it a bit.

The airflow adjuster was a little stiff to start with so lubricating it with a bit of e-liquid will help. You do need to grip the barrel as the RDA is likely to unscrew from your mod, often it was easier to just turn it clock-wise all the way round again, a slight pain in the ass but generally once you have found your preferred airflow, it will stay that way.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA in use

So let’s see how it performs! No messing about, I went straight in at 60 watts using one of my favourite Drip Drop flavours so I knew what to expect. Since Wotofo didn’t provide the coil material, I had to assume it was either Kanthal or Ni80 so no TC mode for me – that kinda sucks but I will lob an SS316L coil in next time as for me, there’s no better way to use an RDA other than TC (Temperature Control). Anyway, the coil required a bit of a preheat setting so I faffed around until I got the heat I preferred and got stuck in.

It was pretty good but I did feel a touch underwhelmed as I was expecting more somehow. The flavour was comparable to the original which is no bad thing, I always loved the flavour of the V1 but hated the airflow and over-squonk leakage. The thing is, I’m not sure of the advantage of a larger single coil for the same flavour? Cloud chasers will prefer it for that though. The flavour peaked at 75watts, I didn’t take it higher as it was a bit too hot for me, but at 70 watts the balance was spot on for me.

I had no complaints with the overall vape the Recurve V2 produced, but a problem soon emerged; the O-rings were just too loose on the base and came off a few times in my bag which wound me up no end. Such a basic thing to get right, and with Wotofo’s experience I expected better. It won’t be an issue while vaping, but could be annoying when stashed in your pocket or bag.

The above problem will be a more annoying for pure drippers, it seemed convenient at first with effortless access to the coil but if you squirt in too much e-liquid, it floods out from under the PEEK cap. I just gave up dripping with it in the end and went back to problem free squonking.

Can I get a Recurve….

Since I owned and still use the original (despite its flaws), then it was only natural I compare the two. I much prefer the look of the original, it just had more of a curve and style to it and I loved the drip-tip, the V2 just looks a bit boring in comparison.

But with that said, the V2 is just better in other areas, and that nagging frustration of restrictive airflow on the original still stings to this day so I was well happy with the V2’s airflow. The other improvement is the e-liquid delivery and raised airflow making over-squonking near impossible (unless you really really want to that is?).

I also forgot how annoying the airflow adjustment was on the original as you had to rotate the whole body on a stopper and it was difficult to set spot on, so the V2 wins there also.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA vs V1

One of the hidden blessings was the plainer looks made it far easier to match up on various mods, there wasn’t one I found that the V2 didn’t suit. This was something I struggled with on the V1 as it only suited certain mods.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA on different mods

The less prominent curve helped with this, and the larger 25mm (as near as damn it) diameter gave me more options. I kept having to remind myself that the V2 is just a totally different animal, the only thing it shared with the original was the ‘curve’ which is hardly noticeable now.

Conclusion

Forgetting the original for now and taking the Recurve V2 on its own merits, then I think it is an excellent design and something a bit different. Building could have been a little easier with the right info, but next time around it will be a breeze. Newbies might be left confused or struggle without guidance or at least a coil leg guide.

But I’m not letting that spoil my opinion of this RDA, I enjoy building and working things out for myself, and on the whole this was very easy, and the versatility with the two different PEEK covers made it a good option for either single or dual coil builds.

The only thing I can’t get past is the sloppy fit due to the O-rings being too small, I assume Wotofo will be made more than aware of this and hopefully will remedy it in future batches. fFor me? I will be digging through my spares to see if I can fix it myself, for the sake of a penny O-ring, shame on you Wotofo.

That said, I will still be using the Recurve V2 even with the sloppy O-rings just as I did with the original, as the pros far outweigh the cons, and my Niagara squonk mod has a new friend.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA on a Niagara

Pros

Unique and clever design
A vast improvement over the original
Versatile
Intuitive building
Raised airflow
Plainer looks add to the versatility
Flavour is spot on

Cons

Sloppy base O-rings

I tossed a coin whether the coil material was a con or a niggle, and niggle won. I shoved TC coils in mine anyway.

Final Thoughts

Don’t let the O-rings put you off what is a very good RDA. There’s nothing game changing about the vape it produces, but it’s on par with the best. Although I preferred the look of the original, I expect the V2 will get a lot more use due to the versatility.

Score 8.5/10 – Would have been a 9 had it not been for the O-rings.

Wotofo Recurve V2 RDA foot note

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!