Starter Kit Reviews

Dovpo Topside Dual Squonk 200 Watt Mod

The Topside Dual is the newest version of the innovative squonk mod created by Brian from The Vapor Chronicles YouTube channel and Dovpo. This mod has all the innovation from the original single battery Topside but now offers more power and extended battery life. Let's see how it stacks up!

by Si Davies
Apr 18, 2019

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I have extensively tested this before reviewing for almost 1 month of regular use.

In this review I will cover:

1 Line Review (For those that can't be arsed to read through)
Rating out of 10
In The Box
First Impressions.
Mod review and info
Compared To: Nikola Niagara, Ijoy Capo 216 & Geek Vape GBOX (all dual battery)
Conclusion
Pros & Cons
Links and additional specs & Bumf.

One Line Review

I have mixed feelings about this mod but overall it has a lot going for it and now become my goto dual battery squonk mod, only let down by it's odd colours. Highly recommended!

Score = 8 out of 10

Read on if you want to know why...

Dovpo Topside Dual Tech Specs

Battery Type - Dual 18650
Made In - China
Max Wattage - 200W
Min Wattage - 1W
Mod Features - Bypass, Temperature Control, Variable Wattage
Weight: 279g
Height: 9.3cm (3.7")
Width: 4.2cm (1.7")
Depth: 5.4cm (2.1")

In the Box

With it being a mod only the box contents are sparse, though 1 spare item is a huge pro, the 'spare' bottle, more on that later.

1 x Dovpo Topside Mod
1 x USB Charging Cable
1 x User Manual
2 x Squonk Bottles (packaged separately)

First Impressions

Opening the box the first impression I got was the 'Marmite' love or hate colour and finish, I was not a fan, it's grown on me after finding a matchy contrast RDA to pop on it, it's quite a heavy mod before you put the batteries & juice in but it feels strangely comfortable and grippy in the hand, it feels far higher quality than it looks and is very solid.

Mod Review

So off I went to throw some batteries in and find a suitable RDA.

Inserting the batteries was simple enough with clear polarity marking, even though the door also shares the squonk bottle it's no problem as you will rarely need to remove the bottle, the battery door is a bit odd, it's a lit wiggly and needs some persuasion to slide back fully, closing it is very secure so little chance of the batteries falling out.

To get the bottle out if you want to swap it or clean it, it's securely held inside the mod and needs to be pulled out which is nice and easy with it's fingernail slit.

So onto my quest for an squonk RDA, no chance of matching that blue so initially thought Black would suit it so shoved on my Drop Dead, it just didn't look right as the dark parts of the mod are brushed satin black, almost gunmetal, so off I went and found my gunmetal Athena RDA - Bingo it looked perfect and one of my favourite RDA's so happy days.

Next was onto one of it's main features 'Topside' top filling system with it huge 10ml capacity bottle:

The filler cap screw is quite tight, unscrew it until the spring pushed it up, then wiggle it out, there's a magnet on the base of the mod which is supposed to hold the filler cap while you are filling, I found this a little pointless and more trouble than it's worth though I did try it, the magnet isn't that strong so a good chance the cap will fall off, that aside back to filling, I really loved the filling port, large kidney shaped apertures which is happy to accommodate most bottle tips including larger mixing bottles, it's only when you are filling it you realise the huge capacity, the only niggle is around 8ml full you can't see the top so you have to watch through the filling port.

Refit the cap by lining up the kidney bungs, push down and screw it all the way down, the thread didn't feel the smoothest but that could be the spring pressure.

As mentioned earlier, the EXTRA SQUONK BOTTLE is one of my favourite pro's of this device, it's complete with a sealing cap and fast and easy to change flavours, I have 2 flavours on the go with one mod, swap and change as the mood takes me :)

So ready to SQUONK, inserting the batteries turns the mod on automatically but it's 5 clicks to turn on or off, the speed of this mod is AMAZING it's so fast starting up, waking up and firing, it's the fastest I've come across, no pointless boot screens just BAM ready to vape.

The screen looked very basic and oldschool but it's actually a fantastic screen, it's bright and very easy to read, my eyes aren't what they used to be and on many mods I simply can't see the values without reading glasses or bright light, no the case with this, it's near perfect with all the info displayed that you need, so I started in Wattage (Power mode) and cranked it up gradually to suit my RDA build.

Obviously it's just a means to an end to deliver power to your RDA so it's not like you are going to be amazed by flavour etc. that's down to your build, but I used my favourite Strawbana (Major Flavor) and vaped away, I didn't notice any lag and it's default power curve seemed ideal, all good there.

It's style is pretty good, plenty of sinuous curves and edges and handling it feels intuitive with your thumb resting on the fire button but feels equally comfortable with your finger on the trigger, I prefer using my thumb as it's easier to squeeze the squonk bottle that way, there is a slight delay squonking into the RDA and requires a press and hold for a couple of seconds, this soon become 2nd nature.

It features a side mounted micro USB port for firmware updates, a nice spherical tactile fire button and 2 smaller + / - buttons below the screen, they are nicely positioned and have yet to accidentally change the settings or pocket fire.

Menu functions

To access the simple to use menu (another nice touch) press the fire button and - button together for a few seconds and you are greeted with the various settings:

POWER
VOLTAGE
TEMP NI
TEMP TI
TEMP SS
TCR
STATS (Puff count & total puff time)
EXIT

Simply select your option with the fire button and adjust accordingly.

The more I used this mod the more I loved it, I popped in a couple of SS316L clapton coils in it and tested TC mode, this was the icing on the cake for me, I frikking love it in TC mode, easy to adjust the temperature and to change the wattage you simply hold down the fire & + button until the wattage flashes, adjust to suit your tastes, I upped it and getting a nice warm vape with zero dry hits.

Battery Life

This mod has superb battery life, it goes for a couple of days on my 0.5 ohm TC build, it's one of the best I have tried and beats the 20700 Ijoy Capo 216 & Gbox by a country mile.

Compared to...

There's little to say in comparison so I will simply headline the key points, but the Topside beats all apart from the Nikola Niagara for it's size.

Nikola Niagara - The topside is much larger than the Niagara which is very compact and pocket friendly, but it's wattage only, similar long battery life, I prefer the looks of the Niagara but there's little else that beats the Topside.

Ijoy Capo 216 - They are in a different league, I can't think of a single feature in the Capo that isn't better than the Topside, the Capo feels budget compared (which to be fair was a cheaper mod)

Geek Vape Gbox - same as the above Capo, the Gbox offers nothing better than the Topside and has worse battery life with a dull screen.

All my other squonkers are single battery so no point comparing those, the Topside simply beats the dual battery mods I've owned, even my most loved Niagara is being neglected.

Conclusion

The Topside Dual has so much going for, it's going to be difficult to find cons, I've got over my initial colour dislike after adding a Gunmetal RDA, but when I try another atty on it it's quite limiting, some just look plain wrong, such as Gold or Stainless let alone bright coloured ones, but the setup I have on it is perfect for my tastes, it's weight and size mean it's not one I grab when going out, but when I do take it I have full confidence it's going to last me the day easily and the spare bottle is brilliant as you can carry 20ml of juice out with you total, I highly recommend this mod but choose your colour wisely.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Unique easy top fill system.
10ml large capacity bottle.
Excellent bright screen and great for old eyes.
Battery door is solid with clear battery polarity markings
Easy peasy menu, one of the best menu's I've used.
Exceptional long battery life.
Very fast startup and wake up speed.
Large squonk window.
Free extra 10ml bottle (great for flavour swaps).
Solid build quality.
Ergonomic with intuitive grip.
Well positioned buttons.
TC Mode is spot on and easy to customise.

Cons (I am going to have to nit pick here as none are a deal breaker, but here goes).

Weight and size isn't pocket friendly.
Slight squonk squeeze delay.
Colour range and style make it hard to match an atty, also cheapens the look (especially the Silver one).
Topfill screw feels coarse.
Battery door is a little fiddly.

Rating 8/10 - close to a 9 had it not been for the size and colour!

So that's about it, as you can see by the pros and cons there's little to dislike about this superb squnk mod, apart from my Lost Vape BF Therion's (though they are single battery) this shoots up to my favourite squonk mod!

You can read more about the Dovpo Topside Dual on their site here - https://www.dovpoecig.com/topside-dual-squonker. Thanks to Dovpo for sending this item in for review - they also sent us a whole range of their mods, a Topside Single Squonker, Topside Dual Squonker and a Nickel 230W box to give away.

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!