Become a Patron!

Anthony Vapes: Hotcig RSQ Mod Tech 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 Hotcig RSQ sqounk mod. Please see bottom for disclaimers and links

Introduction:
The Hotcig RSQ is a single 18650 battery regulated sqounk mod made by hotcig in conjunction with rig mod worldwide. Hotcig is a little known company who has been around for a while and had some mild popularity with their DNA 200 mods (like the DX200) and their R150 mod which featured abalone panels. Rig mod worldwide is interesting. The “Rig Mod” was a popular mechanical mod made by vapingAMP and seems to be a spinoff of vapingAMP. It’s an interesting collaboration and the mod is available in 4 colors silver, black, red, and blue. All 4 have a black carbon fiber decal on the door.

Manufacturer's Specs:
  • Designed by Vaping AMP (Rig Mod WW)
  • Manufactured by HotCig
  • Dimensions: 79mm by 48mm by 25mm
  • 7mL Squonk Bottle Capacity
  • Single 18650 High-Amp Battery - Not Included
  • Wattage Output Range: 1-80W
  • Temperature Range: 200-600F
  • Ni200, Titanium, and Stainless Steel Compatibility
  • Temperature Coefficient of Resistance (TCR) Adjustments
  • Adjustable Initial Resistance
  • Bypass Mode
  • Advanced HM Chipset
  • High Quality Aluminum Alloy Construction
  • Intuitive 0.96 Inch TFT Display
  • Oversized Firing Button
  • Two Adjustment Button
  • Magnetized Battery Door
  • Micro USB Port - Firmware Upgradeable
  • RGB Light-Up LED - Three Colors
  • Bottom-Feeding Squonk-Ready 510 Pin
  • Stainless Steel Gold-Plated 510 Connection
  • Available in Silver, Black, Red, Blue
Included in box:
  • 1 RSQ 80W Squonk Box Mod
  • 1 7 mL Squonk Bottle
  • 1 Micro USB Cable
  • Instructional Manual
Picture Album (includes spreadsheet and chart)
https://imgur.com/a/FPCNERh

Initial Impressions and features
When I first got this mod, i was pretty impressed with it. It felt really small and not much bigger (and even smaller than) some mech sqounk boxes and smaller than the VTinbox and therion BF. it’s really compact. I was also pretty impressed with the build quality. It’s really solid. The screen is a standard “dna 75” sized screen with a similar layout. It offers all your basic modes (power, temp for SS, Ni, and TCR (called XX) and bypass) There is also an LED that lights up the bottle when the fire button is pressed which is nice for seeing your juice level in the dark. Overall Pretty happy with it from the start

Watt Mode Performance (chart and spreadsheet in picture album)
Let’s get into some data. I ran my normal testing. Testing resistances were done at .11 , .15, .2, and .48 ohms. wattage points were max (80), 260, 40, and 20. At .11 ohms it maxed out at 68 watts and 25 amps. For the rest of the testing it low 3-7 watts. At .15 it maxed out at 71 watts. The rest of the tests it hit weak 3-10 watts. For the .20 test it maxed out at 72 watts. For the rest of the testing it was weak 2-7 watts. For the .48 testing it maxed out at 80 watts and 6.206 volts. The rest of the testing it was never off by more than 1 watt. The volts shows there is a boost circuit like most single battery mods.

Overall I felt the performance of this mod was decent. At under .2 ohms it tends to hit a few watts weak (roughly about 10-15% of set wattage). The most amps i got was 25 which is low for a single battery mod, most are around 30 these days minimum. They don’t list a max volts but this does have a boost circuit. I got 6.206 with a .48 ohm coil so i was limited by the watt limit there and would have needed to use a higher resistance to get higher with the volts, but for single battery mods 6+ is all you really need and proof of a boost circuit and this has both. It is also accurately rated since I did get 80 watts with it, you just need to be above the .2 in order to get that 80 watts.

Simplified TLDR Power Performance summary
Mod performance is decent. (in the words of Jim Carrey in Liar Liar “i’ve had better”) Really accurate at the .48 ohm test. Hits weak at .2 or lower tests. Accurately rated, has boost circuit, low amp limit of 25.

Temperature Control Performance
Using SS316 wire with the SS mode, I tested 4 builds a single round spaced, a dual round spaced, and 2 fancy single coils. There is power adjustment on this mod in temp control mode up to the full 80 watts and it changes the ramp up as it should. Temp control performance pretty good for a no name chip. It does hit really weak so you’ll want to turn it up around 500-510F for a warm vape (feels around what 450-460F should be) so probably about 50F or so on the weak side. Outside of that it has good dry hit protection, throttles well for a smooth hit no pulsing or anything. Overall better than I expected and works well.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
Other Usage Notes
The mod has a simple rounded rectangle shape to it. It’s solid metal so it’s got some weight to it. The battery door has some textured carbon fiber decal on the back for grip though. It feels pretty good though and not like a cheap sticker. Pretty close to the one on the SX mini G class. It’s also very small for a regulated sqounker. Probably the smallest one on the market. It can handle 25mm atomizers without overhang. There is no button rattle on this mod at all, it’s really solid feeling. The screen is on the small side and it’s the same as the DNA75 screens. Feels a little outdated for these days but gets the job done. The fire button is round and smooth and clicky, but a but small. I could see some people fat fingering it.

There is a small LED on the inside that lights up the bottle. You can change the colors (red, blue, green, green and RGB as well as turn it off). The battery tray is a tight squeeze. Could damage wraps over time and hard to get the battery out especially with a bottle in there. I found myself removing the bottle first to make it easier. There is a cut out on the bottom to get your finger in to remove the battery, but it was too small for my fingers. Probably my biggest gripe with this mod. The battery door is a magnetic backplate and fits in well with no play or rattle. It comes with 2 sqounk bottles both 7ml capacity. One is a nice soft silicon the other is a hard plastic.

Usage is simple. Worth noting that felt backwards to me is the plus is on the left side and the minus on the right side, if you flip the screen the plus and minus flips as well. It’s 3 clicks to enter the menu which is basically just scrolling through the display to make changes. Clicking fire scrolls, plus and minus changes the setting you have highlighted. 3 clicks of fire exits the menu. Hold plus and minus to lock the adjustment keys (can still fire). When the keys are locked use minus and fire to enter the LED settings or plus and fire to flip the screen. 5 clicks on and off. There is supposed to be software for this but their website kinda sucks and I had issues even getting it to load, I did eventually find firmware, but gave up before finding the loader for it. Also for TCR mode or adjustments I didn’t see any way to adjust on the mod. It may require the firmware. The manual also doesn't explain how to adjust it either which is a shame since the manual is pretty good overall.

Pros:
  • Power performance
  • Temp Performance
  • accurately rated
  • Build Quality
  • Nice Looks
  • color options
  • handles 25mm atomizers
  • Small Size
  • fills a much needed niche of a good single 18650 sqounker
  • no button rattle, solid built
  • nice 7ml silicone bottle
Cons:
  • price point (77.95 at element vape)
  • Battery Tray is a tight squeeze
  • spare bottle is a hard plastic
  • small screen compared to most mods out now
Conclusion
So with all that said, do I recommend this mod or not? I don’t do the hard yes or no thing, but this one is going lean a little towards the yes. It’s not a really new mod and i’m surprised it's not more popular and I have to believe it’s due to price point. Most will feel at that price point why not get a DNA mod instead? I agree it’s a bit pricey but it’s also well built and performs pretty good. If it was in the 60 dollar range i’d tell people to jump on it as the lack of single battery sqounkers that are regulated is odd. It’s not spectacular but it’s a small well built single battery regulated sqounker and there is a high demand for that, but a small supply. I’ll be adding it to my sheet as a power and temp mode mod.

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

it can be purchased here for 77.95 https://www.elementvape.com/rig-mod-ww-x-hotcig-rsq-80w-squonk-box-mod


Product Disclaimer
This product was sent to me from elementvape

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
 

fozzy71

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Using SS316 wire with the SS mode, I tested 4 builds a single round spaced, a dual round spaced, and 2 fancy single coils. There is power adjustment on this mod in temp control mode up to the full 80 watts and it changes the ramp up as it should. Temp control performance pretty good for a no name chip. It does hit really weak so you’ll want to turn it up around 500-510F for a warm vape (feels around what 450-460F should be) so probably about 50F or so on the weak side. Outside of that it has good dry hit protection, throttles well for a smooth hit no pulsing or anything. Overall better than I expected and works well.

What RDA were you using? I found your explanation to be correct when using my Pulse 22 and Dead Rabbit SQ but I recently replaced those with a couple Recurve's (and the same 0.25 ohm tri core fused SS clapton) and I am now getting a warmer vape at 450 than when I was running it at 510 with those older RDA.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
What RDA were you using? I found your explanation to be correct when using my Pulse 22 and Dead Rabbit SQ but I recently replaced those with a couple Recurve's (and the same 0.25 ohm tri core fused SS clapton) and I am now getting a warmer vape at 450 than when I was running it at 510 with those older RDA.
It varies based on what i'm currently working on as far as atomizers go. IIRC some atomizers i used on the RSQ is the vapefly galaxies mini, the kaees Aladdin, the nudge 22, wasp nano, and a few others, but not all were used in temp mode. doing reviews everything is a constant rotation. all of them needed to be around 500ish
 

fozzy71

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
It varies based on what i'm currently working on as far as atomizers go. IIRC some atomizers i used on the RSQ is the vapefly galaxies mini, the kaees Aladdin, the nudge 22, wasp nano, and a few others, but not all were used in temp mode. doing reviews everything is a constant rotation. all of them needed to be around 500ish
I was vaping my Pulse 22 and Dead Rabbit SQ with 0.25 and 0.35 ohm builds at 510f to get them even slightly warm. I have the same 0.25 ohm build in my 2 x Recurve's and am vaping them at 450f for what I think is a comparably warm vape.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
I just bought one, thanks for the review.
happy to help!
I was vaping my Pulse 22 and Dead Rabbit SQ with 0.25 and 0.35 ohm builds at 510f to get them even slightly warm. I have the same 0.25 ohm build in my 2 x Recurve's and am vaping them at 450f for what I think is a comparably warm vape.
that's interesting. not sure why the sudden change for you.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
yeah, me neither other than how (surprisingly) restrictive the airflow is on the recurve
I didn't get a recurve but I've heard that quite a bit though. Never been a wotofo fan, none of their products really impressed me at all, but the nudge 22 was good. probably the only atomizer i've liked of theirs and i've tried most
 

VU Sponsors

Top