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Kaees Solomon 2 RTA Review by KingPin! (Inc. Wicking Guide)

KingPin!

In my defence, I was left unsupervised ^^
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Hi Folks,

This is the first time I’ve had a crack with a Kaees (K’s or is it Keys?) product. For the record I’m not overly sold on the aesthetics, I feel it makes the tanks look a bit…well...cheap and cheerful.

Woah …but this is just the intro?

I’m not going to mince words here, I want to get this out the way up front so I don’t have to keep repeating myself throughout the review. There is a “but” in all of this…..the performance side.

So let’s find out how these two perform…Heaven Gifts kindly sent the Solomon’s for this review. As always I don’t like to make recommendations in my reviews. Instead I’ll present you with my findings to help bolster your research should you be interested in either product.

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Solomon V2 Specs
  • Visible Height: 45mm
  • Weight: 53g
  • Diameter: 24mm at the base (27mm at widest part)
  • Capacity: 3.5 or 5ml
  • Thread length 4.2mm
  • Drip Tip (Both 810 – Tapered Bore 10mm > 13mm, Spare 510 – Tapered Bore 5.8 > 11mm)
  • Refill Port: 2 (kidney style 9.5 x 3.2 mm)
  • Chimney Bore: 6.9mm
  • Post distance for coil length: 5.3mm
  • Wicking Holes: 2 (4.5mm diameter)
  • Chamber Height 9.7mm
  • Airflow Slots: 2 (9.8 x 2 mm)
  • Deck side Airflow slots: 2 stacked (8 x 2.2mm)
  • Base Material: Stainless Steel 304, Pyrex Glass, Gold plated pin and deck
  • Drip Tip Material: Delrin
What’s in the Box: Extra hex screws, 510 DT, extra 810 DT, 510 Adaptor, O-rings, Allen key, 3.5ml glass

Product Info: https://www.heavengifts.com/product/KAEES-Solomon-2-RTA.html
Available Colours: Black, Stainless
Discount Code: AHG15 (15% off)

Impressions and a little bit of everything

Note: All of my pictures below have the Solomon V2 of the left, and Solomon V1 on the right

For anyone not familiar with the Solomon family, Kaees released the original Dual coil tank some-time around Sept/Oct last year I believe. It’s a velocity style deck, the likes we have seen a hundred times before. It’s a little like the Troll GTA from the outside and very much like the Ijoy Exo deck underneath.

The term GTA’s was banded about a lot last year by popular decree to describe the chamber floating in the centre of the tank section. They don’t really have any links to true Genesis tanks, it was a marketing ploy to differentiate them from regular RTA’s where the chamber sits at the bottom of the tank….RTA/GTA its all the same to me really…the idea was to reduce the chimney length in order to get the coil closer to your mouth, and by doing so increase flavour performance to the same degree as RDTA’s and RDA’s.

The early adopters to GTA designs had issues with pressure and wicking, however by the time the Solomon V1 was released these issues were largely overcome…..which brings me to the point of this ramble… Kaees kept an eye on what was being released and incorporated it into a nice simple “no thrills” tank, which let’s face it; is bloody miserable looking. Where it fails visually it punches well above its weight in performance!

With all the new releases we see now and “stuff” I’ve reviewed along the way; offering the “latest and greatest” in this or that, it’s easy to forget there were some really damn good tanks released last year and they still hold their own easily to this day.

This review is more about the Solomon V2 obviously, it is the latest and greatest after all, but I wanted to get that out the way to set the scene and so we can see if Kaees has created a worthy single coil successor to the original.

So the original Solomon V1 in a nutshell was a bottom airflow, dual coil, top filling GTA with a 4ml capacity. It could be completely stripped down to maintain and clean it, and came with a single Ultem 510 drip tip. I found the juice wells to be huge and very easy to get on with accommodating everything, even the twist top nozzles.

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The chamber is shallow domed, the likes we’ve seen on the SMM, Reload, Manta & Exo RTA’s to name a few. There was plenty of room between the chamber and glass for juice movement and for bubbles to escape, there is no issues with the pressure effect, making this a leak free no hassle tank design.

Other than its visuals; I’d say there are two areas of critique with the original Solomon: Lack or knurling to grip the top cap and the airflow control ring, in addition it had iffy gold plating on the deck. On the plus side everything else was well finished. I love the 510 drip tip it comes with. In fact I’d go as far as saying the tank is right up there with my favourite flavoured RTA’s (Exo and Reload RTA’s). It has a similar draw to both, doesn’t leak, is easy to wick, vapes lovely on fused Clapton’s and hits really damn well. For its price; Kaees really did a cracking job of it. I’ve been vaping this with all my favourite juices and simply cannot put it down…to the point I’m forcing myself to use others.

So how does the Solomon V2 stack up?

Well they’ve changed a fair bit from the original …it’s gone from bottom to top airflow (that’s all the rage this year don’t you know). In addition Kaees bumped up the spares offerings, left it easy to disassemble and clean, sorted out the knurling and iffy gold plating, kept an almost identical awesome draw to the original and even kept a similar hit as well!

But Kaees have gone and done it again!, whilst the V2 changes direction compared to their first outing, it’s not unique in its own right ….for they have watched the latest trends and lifted other tanks released recently i.e. the Themis, Horus, Zeus (single & dual coil) RTA’s and merged them into this single coil iteration; leaving us with this Frankenclone V2.

Much like the Geekvape Zeus and Digiflavour Themis; it comes with an 810 drip tip as standard, but the chimney leading to it is just a 510? I don’t get it, why bother shipping it with two 810 wide bore drip tips at all? Just stick with a 510 drip a tip similar to the original Solomon’s size and shape and be done with it. I’ve chosen to stick with the adaptor and spare 510 as default.

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The chamber is the same we are seeing with many top airflow tanks at the moment a “flat ceiling” where the airflow separator has to fit into positon. I like that they situated the airflow control (AFC) O-ring at the top of the chamber assembly instead of the bottom, it keeps the AFC ring from popping off too easily, and ensures it remains sealed from juice overspill.

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You’d be hard pushed to tell the difference between the Solomon V2 and the Vapefly Horus with regards to the juice well design, it has the same recessed kidney ports with virtually the same measurements.

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They have a side airflow separator very similar to the Zeus Dual Coil (but double tiered it on one side) It’s just too much in my opinion, it needs a single tier inlet only like the Zeus. The only way to really tame this monster is to run a big 4 to 5mm coil (well above the 3mm coil offered as stock).

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The deck posts are like the Hours meaning it's a very easy mounting experience. The posts are offset so you don’t have to faff about getting the coil legs even. Quite why they placed the mount cut out inside the tall post is odd. I guess they were thinking you don’t overlap the wicking hole this way? In reality though you just lose a little build space because you would just leave the coil leg at the top out of the way on that side.

The other oddity is there is no lip holding the coil legs in place. If you don’t run a nice wide flat coils, you are going to have a problem with leads slipping either side since the screw isn’t wide enough to catch them properly.

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I noticed it’s a complete pain to try and get the chamber engaged and screwed onto the deck. For some reason the airflow divider has difficulty lining up with the cut out in the chamber ceiling. A little bit of wiggling is required and it finds it eventually.

Kaees ditched the struts and frame approach seen on many top airflow RTA’s, they also provided a bubble tank to increase its capacity to 5ml. You will be needing all of this as the Solomon V2 drinks like a muscle car. In doing so it creates a lovely moist vape, in fact if I was blindfolded I’d have a tough time telling this was actually a single coil RTA! It vapes similar to the dual coil Solomon “except” for the flavour.

And unfortunately for all the things it does right, cherry picking the best bits from other tanks, flavour is the one thing I feel is just “ok” on the Solomon V2. It’s an area you can improve greatly by running a large coil, but even if you do wicking starts working against you which I’ll come onto later.

Keeping everything balanced is a really tricky objective, and on this tank I feel that reducing that side airflow to a single tier and copying the Zeus and Horus to give it a bottom “surrounding” airflow would have done wonders to boost its performance.

Ending on a positive note, if you happen to have the original Solomon RTA; the bubble glass from the V2 fits it!
 
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KingPin!

In my defence, I was left unsupervised ^^
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Building

The original Solomon is an absolute breeze to wick and build on as I mentioned earlier. It’s one of those that works well with fused clapton’s or complex coils. The V2 shares all of these properties if you stick with a 3mm ID coil, and luckily much like the original Solomon you get a really decent 3mm coil in the pack.

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The problem is no matter where I place this 3mm coil; the flavour is lacking due to that gargantuan side airflow port.

So I tried to plug this deck up a bit ….4mm is where I ventured starting out with a spaced Clapton. It only just covers the airflow intake …some of the air will be hitting the wick if you don’t make use of the 5.3mm build space. This build was heading in the right direction but it lacked a little oomph.

Ok a 4mm parallel coil is pushing the flavour boundaries about as far as I could take them, and actually this is producing some solid flavour, but a coil like this requires feeding rapidly, and wicking efficiency combined with the tanks pressure effect is now very much your enemy.

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Even with those 4.5mm juice holes it becomes very unforgiving to the point you will have to muck about trying to get it working ok (something I didn’t experience with the builds beforehand)…. As a result I stuck with middle of the ground (Non-Parallel coils)

Mounting and Wicking

I found 4mm Coils work really well with this deck although it’ll easily take bigger! You just need to be mindful of it being a pain in the ass…this guide therefore is based on 4mm ID coils (the same principle works for 3mm as well just rake less away)

There’s no need to pre-cut the legs because you will be alternating the leads and they can be cut away easily afterwards…place and secure (you might find it a pain to secure round wire on this deck).

Coil positioning wise I stop just outside of the insulator (blue arrow), and I also place as close as I can to deck without it cause a short.

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Dry burn time …go easy with the wattage… all the normal bits here strumming the coils etc to make sure they heat evenly from the centre out with no hotspots. Just a gentle glow is required (You don’t need to super heat coils here, there really is no need)

Now we are done with mounting its over to wicking …I always use the Scottish roll method (google that) insert the cotton, it should be snug without moving the coil, move it back and forth to settle it into position.

Rake away excess cotton beforehand so the cotton feels like it’s combing in the same direction from all angles….actually you can go for it here, you really don’t want too much plugging up that wicking-hole.

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Follow the line of the deck now cut the wicks at an angle. The aim here is to cut a “V” shape

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Now take your tweezers and push the cotton into the wells from the bottom of the cotton and work up. It’s important you don’t stuff the wells here. If you feel resistance stop, remove the cotton tail and rake a bit more away (then repeat step above).

If you completed the above steps ok you should end up with something like the below. As you can see I have a fluffy amount of wicking and a tiny bit shows below the deck.

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Juice her up and check for gaps, sculpt the cotton a little if required, and make sure the cotton isn’t going to interfere with the threading. (The pink here is the juice I’m using)

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Reassemble, and fill a quarter way just to make sure its wicking ok and you should be good to go!

How’s the Vape?

Even wide open on the airflow control; the Solomon V2 has a slight restriction on the draw. Much like the original Solomon I close it down ever so slightly and its spot on for my liking. It’s like the designer has the exact same draw style I do which has automatically put them on my radar going forward.

Neither have annoying whistling or much noise at all on the draw, they produce a nice dense vapour. In addition I don’t notice either get hot when vaping non complex coils.

I do think the V1 has the better flavour by a fair margin, but they are entirely different beasts to the point Kaees should have chosen a different family line for the Solomon V2 because it’s nothing like the original, it’s a bit like comparing apples and oranges.

Rather I should be comparing the V2 to other top airflow RTA’s, in which case it’s a lot like the single coil Zeus RTA in the flavour department (if that helps set your expectations). I find it to give a better hit than the Zeus though, but the draw isn’t as smooth.

I’d say this tank is more suited to those who like venturing into bigger builds and are experienced with wicking when doing so.

V2 Pro’s
  • Quality post screws (hard)
  • Can handle large ID coils easily
  • Good build quality – decent threading
  • Smooth airflow, no whistling or annoying noises
  • Hits like a dual coil RTA
  • Doesn’t get hot
  • 3 drip tip options included
  • Prefer the new logo …(Aesthetics are moving in the right direction)
  • Leak free
  • Decent Capacity
  • Easy to mount flat coils
  • Wicking is easy for 3mm Coils

V2 Cons
  • The 510 adaptor doesn’t have a lip...you’re going have to push it out from underneath with a pin or something
  • Pointless providing 3 average drip tips …give the user a decent single 510 instead
  • You have to undo the top cap to adjust the AFC
  • To access the full flavour potential you’re going to need big coils and know your way around tricky wicking.
  • Both tanks were grubby out the box…a thorough cleaning was required
  • Coil mounts don’t have a lip (round wire can slip from the screw)
Final Conclusion

I can’t compare this to the original Solomon …not fairly anyway because the Solomon V1 smashes the V2 in terms of flavour performance, which is something I’d completely expect for a bottom vs top airflow RTA.

Really I need to place it up against other top airflow RTA’s I’ve reviewed in which case it’s very much like the Zeus, there’s not much between them both overall. Here’s the thing though I found in order to find its full flavour potential I had to use large complex coils, and when in use I’d say it leaves the Zeus behind….but wicking can become troublesome like the OBS Engine Nano to the point it’s just easier without the hassle.

Kaees have nailed aspects of this tank though i.e. vapour moistness, quiet draw, hit and vapour production are all very good for a single coil tank…it also looks better than the original.

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Thanks for taking the time to read my review, I hope the information serves you well…. until next time KingPin!
 
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Letitia9

Citrus Junkie
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
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Thanks KingPin, you hit every point that concerned me; I love your write ups. Nice enough rta, will keep a look out for the next one. Like the Zeus I think this one will be too airy for my tastes.
 

KingPin!

In my defence, I was left unsupervised ^^
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
Reviewer
Thank you very much hearts and Letitia. I really look forward to and appreciate your feedback as always
:blowkiss::hug:

Forgot to mention at the end ...If anyone needs the wicking guide for the Solomon V1 let me know and I’ll post it up down here in the comments somewhere
 

St.Roostifer

Gold Contributor
Member For 5 Years
Another fine review kingpin. :cheers:

I jotted down some mental notes in my head in case I decide to purchase this rta down the road.

Got teu nell tha wecking.

Haas grrait earflow

Teks beggerr coyles

Gyood ejoose capacety for a tonk

Got teu nell tha wecking!!!

;):D
 

KingPin!

In my defence, I was left unsupervised ^^
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
Reviewer
Another fine review kingpin. :cheers:

I jotted down some mental notes in my head in case I decide to purchase this rta down the road.

Got teu nell tha wecking.

Haas grrait earflow

Teks beggerr coyles

Gyood ejoose capacety for a tonk

Got teu nell tha wecking!!!

;):D

:cheers:

LMFAO!!! hahahaha that properly tickled me mate nice one!! :giggle::giggle:
 

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