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Anthony Vapes: 502 RDA by Jai Haze Review

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
Hi All, Anthony Vapes back here with my review of the Ravensmoon 502 RDA designed by Jai Haze

Product Disclaimer
None needed, I purchased this myself

Review Disclaimer
I review products for what they are with no account of where it comes from or who makes it. The test results are the results for what is in my hand. Due to possible QC difference your experience may vary. There is no way for myself or anyone to predict if a device will last 6 months, 1 year, 5 years etc. Any manufactured item from cars to phones to computers to mods have a possibility of arriving DOA or having a small percent failure rate. There is no way to predict this or quantify this. That’s why warranties and lemon laws exist. I can only review what I have in my hand for better or for worse. Contrary to popular belief, there is no special review samples of higher quality. Most of the time personally i get retail versions, the few times i’ve gotten early releases they are usually worse than the final retail version.

Reviewer Disclaimer
I decided to add this disclaimer in as i feel it’s important for people to know their source of the review. I’ve been vaping since late 2011. I’ve vaped all the styles from MTL to RLH to DTL. tanks, RTAs, RDAs, you name it. I do prefer the DTL and RLH style over MTL personally. My main focus from an atomizer is flavor. For mods i’ve used mechs and regulated mods. I’m an avid temp control vaper but enjoy power mode as well and the occasion mech useage for nostalgia. I’ve been doing reviews since late 2016. As of Jan 2018 I’ve done over 100 written reviews and done over 150 video reviews on my channel, Although i’ve taken a break from videos in the past few months to focus on written reviews.

I spend a lot of time helping vapers on forums as well and try to answer all the questions and comments on my reviews. I’m not an “out of the box” reviewer. I do my best to be thorough at all times. All mods get tested with an oscilloscope and stress tested. At times if needed i’ll disassemble them as well. Rebuildables get multiple builds in them. Tanks i use all coils until the die or a minimum of 2 weeks if they don’t die sooner. I do this for the community to help people find good products and avoid bad ones. In my opinion a reviewer works for the community and nobody else. It’s our job to inform vapers of issues and not be advertisers as well as provide constructive criticism from a place of knowledge back to companies with these reviews so they can improve and make better products in the future.

Recommendations and Past Review Links
written reviews list here

Youtube Channel here

Spreadhseet of Recommendations here

Best of 2017 list here

Introduction:
The 502 RDA is the newest RDA from Ravensmoon and the spiritual successor of their 454 big block RDA and was co-designed with popular youtube reviewer Jai Haze. I wanted to do a review of this for a few reasons. 1st off there aren’t many reviews since it’s a limited run item and Jai had to personally pay for all the samples. I think only like 8 or so reviewers got one. 2nd nobody i know of has done a written review. 3rdly it’s been awhile since i’ve reviewed something i’ve purchased because there just aren't enough hours in the day. 4th i’m in Jai Haze’s FB group and i’m on friendly terms with him, so it’s cool to get to review another reviewers product that you speak with time to time. The 502 RDA is named for the famous chevy engine (much like the 454 big block) and even the box it comes in, is like a mini shipping crate for an engine which is nice a touch. It’s ironic though because Jai drives a Subaru. It’s made for dual vertical coils as a sqounking RDA that’s mostly leak proof. It’s 100% designed and manufactured in the USA and sells for 115.00 dollars. It’s only currently available in SS color and limited runs and must be purchased through the facebook group.

Manufacturer's Specs
  • 25mm Diameter
  • Innovative Unique 510 pin, Innovative unique center post valves and jammies
  • Unique Post and Clamp design
  • 97% Leakproof
  • RSA (Rebuildable Squonking Atomizer)
  • Heat fins on top of dripper to dissipate heat faster
  • 810 drip tip compatible
  • Designed for Vertical Coils but horizontals are possible
  • Future PMMA Caps, Ultem and Unique Mix and Match see thru features
Included in box:
  • 1 502 RDA
  • 1 810 Delrin Wide Bore Drip Tip
  • 1 Accessory Bag
Pictures:
Stock Shot:
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Box:


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Build and Wick Pics:
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Build Deck:

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Top Cap and Airflow:

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Handchecks:

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Initial Impressions and features
When i first got this RDA i was pretty impressed with the packaging, that’s why i took so many more box pics for me review then usual. Since the name 502 is from the chevy engine, they made the box like a mini shipping crate for an engine. Apparently it’s all handmade as well by ravensmoon. The quality was nice but there was some extra metal shavings. I got the first batch ones so they might have cleaned up the process by now but all I had to do was clean it and was good to go. The build deck is interesting and we’ll talk about that a bit later. They did do something cool with the sqounk pin. Since the positive pin is non removable (you can remove it but it’s not recommended as you can break it due to having ball bearings inside) and one reviewer did just that and broke his. So what they did was put in a little hex screw to plug the sqounk hole, so you just unscrew that plug for sqounking.

Build Deck and Wicking (pics above)
Let’s talk about the build deck now. It uses a tall center positive post that has a nice quality hex grub screw top down and a large post hole to accommodate large wires. It’s only 1 hole so the coils will share the positive post hole. It’s tall because the RDA is made for vertical coils. The sqounking comes out of the top of the positive pin which is nice. It’s not the first RDA to do this, I know the ceto mesh RDA and Dot RDA did the same, but it’s still pretty rare and a nice idea. For the negative it uses a clamp system. Both sides opposite each other have a large clamp with screws on both sides and you put your lead in the middle and tighten down. Since they are separate you can install coils separately with the negative first, then screw in the positive with the 2 together. The negative clamp uses to phillips head screws, I would have preferred hex or flat personally. Also with the way to big build, it was hard to get the clamp secure enough so that the lead would be tight. It stayed in place and read resistance correct, however with a little force I could wiggle the lead. The other builds had no such issue. It’s also pretty easy to cut the excess leads off of. It’s not the easiest deck to build on by any means, I didn’t have any trouble personally, but I could easily see new builders having some issues. The deck is similar to the 454 big block but improved or the steelvape EX RDA. Overall it’s not a bad deck especially since it’s one of the rare vertical coil RDA ones but not a great choice for beginners IMO.

Wicking can be a little of a pain because there isn’t a lot of clearance on the bottom. This is where having angled tweezers makes life so much easier. I just feed the cotton through the top until it gets all the way through and then use the angled tweezers to pull it out from the bottom. It’s an RDA so you’ll be dripping or sqounking so no need for any tricks and just lay the cotton down on the bed and leave some extra on the top of the coil sticking out and you are good to go.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
Performance
Performance wise, I used it as a dual coil Vertical RDA only. There is a single coil mode but I opted not to bother. Pictured above you’ll see builds of 4mm and 3mm. It’s not made for really big builds. My first build pick was far too big and the air couldn’t really cool it. Led to a very poor vape and essentially a wasted build. I figured as much but just had to try it. I also ran 3 MM and 2.5MM Simple round builds with 26G wire. 4 Builds in total. 4MM is a tight squeeze I think 3MM is the best size personally. The deck pretty much automatically lines up the coils for you then you’ll have to line up the cap’s airflow to match. I tried it with air lined up at the coils and air lined up between the coils. There wasn’t really a major difference but the lines up air seemed to work a little better. It’s made to not get hot (hence the heat sink fins) and supposedly has a coating on it, however with the too large build I used at high watts, it heats up quite a bit. It’s not really made for high watts at all. I’d say keep it at 70 or less. I’m currently vaping at 60 but in temp control mode on the 2nd build shown above. Overall though the flavor just isn’t very good it’s below average for a dual coiler for sure. Feels like another sacrifice flavor so people can't overdrip or oversqounk RDA.

Overall Impressions, Details, and Extras
It’s a Top Airflow channeled through the sides RDA where the airflow is hidden on the top cap in the cooling fins. The AFC is really easy adjust but lining it up isn’t so easy. There are no visible guides really so you just need to eyeball it on the top and the sides. They should have added in a decoration to show you how open the air is from the outside IMO. It comes with a delrin 810 drip tip only. You can use your own as well since it’s a standard 810 however with the price tag I would have liked to seen a 510 adapter and more then 1 tip, maybe an ultem or resin one. The cost would have been pennies. The quality is good all around. It feels like a well built RDA with some heft to it. It’s a 25mm diameter RDA so should not overhang on most mods It includes just the 1 510 pin you shouldn’t remove however it has a plug you unscrew in the middle for sqounking. The Juice well is pretty deep. And with the top airflow shouldn’t have any over sqounking or dripping really, which was the main design point. You can pretty much fill the chamber with juice and it won’t leak unless you turn it upside down or sideways (probably why it’s listed at 97% leak proof, which is an odd number to say) I used it exclusively as a squonker on my drone mod. The airflow is not smooth at all and quite turbulent. No whistle but it’s quite loud. As far as looks go, it’s a simple clean design with no visible branding and no visible air flow. It looks really nice and clean.

Pros:
  • Build Quality
  • Sqounk pin included
  • Standard 810 delrin tip
  • good quality post screws (phillips and hex)
  • Deep juice well
  • near impossible to oversqounk or over drip
  • no visible branding for a clean look
  • rare vertical coil RDA
  • sqounk uses the top of the post to rain down juice
  • made in the USA
Cons:
  • Flavor is not very good
  • Phillips screws for the negative
  • AFC is hard to line up
  • Air flow is loud and turbulent
  • only 1 drip tip and no 510 adapter
  • can be hard to build on for new builders
  • Price point and hard to buy
  • lack of color options (SS only)
Conclusion
So with all that said, do I recommend this RDA?I don’t like to do a hard yes or no, this one i’m going to lean towards the no. I mean if you are a jai haze fan or want an american made RDA you’ll likely be happy with it. I don’t regret buying it but it’s more of a collector piece to me then something I would use much if I had the time. Outside of that though, I don’t see how it would be worth it to the masses based on its cons and performance. It’s not a knock on jai, I like jai, he’s a good dude and he set out to make a pretty much leak proof vertical coil RDA and he did just that, but i consider myself a flavor chaser and that’s where it’s lacking for me personally.

Link to product on vapel1fe site here

This is Anthony Vapes just keeping it honest, hopefully you all can say the same and i’ll catch you on my next review.
 

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