Pizza Dave Delivers - An RTA Review - The Kylin M by Vandy Vape

[pizzadave80]

INTRODUCTION

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Hello everyone Pizza Dave here, delivering a review of the Kylin M by Vandy Vape. This RTA is the latest development from Vandy Vape. Many are calling this out as a clone of the Profile Unity, but in all reality, all they did was used a slightly tweaked Profile mesh build deck and made this a top air flow RTA. I am a fan of the Profile Unity, so when this was released, I was eager to see how it stacks up. Let’s dive down and take a closer look at the Kylin M, and I will give you my final thoughts down at the bottom.

Disclaimer: This device was sent to me by Vandy Vape for review.


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WHAT YOU GET

• 1 Kylin M tank
• 1 3ml straight glass
• 1 4.5ml bubble glass
• 1 510 drip tip adapter
• 2 .20-ohm mesh strips
• 2 .15-ohm mesh strips
• 2 cotton (wide type)
• Spare parts bag
• Tools
• Paperwork

Available in a ton of different colors including Black, Stainless, Blue, Gold, Gunmetal, Rainbow, and Frosted Black.



STOCK SHOT

PACKAGING

UNBOXED

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BUILD DECK AND WICKING


This RTA is being ripped apart amongst social media for it’s use of the Profile build deck. I can’t really hate on it for doing this. There are tons of rebuildable atomizers that have some form of a copied build deck, and Vandy Vape went with a style that is known to actually work for mesh. That being said, this IS basically a profile build deck. It has a little bit beefier metal for clamps, and they are spring loaded which opens up the clamps when the deck screws are loosened up. Other than these changes, building on it is the same. Mold the mesh strips over the coiling tool and insert them into the clamps. Boom, done, easy.


Wicking on the Kylin M is where things get a bit hairy. As many mesh builders know, if it is wicked incorrectly, you’re going to have a bad time. Not enough cotton touching the mesh will lead to hot spots and burning liquid followed up by lots of spitting. Too much cotton, and it won’t wick fast enough to work well in an RTA. I wicked mine up 5 times and found that the best method was to pack the cotton in, snug to the mesh, but then thinning out the ends of the cotton quite a bit. I then folded the cotton down on top of the wicking channels and snipped it, so it was a flush cut across the bottom when bent over. If done right, the wicking keeps up just fine. With this being a top air flow design, thinning the wicks too much can lead to some gurgling but not a full-on flood out the bottom like it would do if it was a side or bottom air flow design. I only once wicked this poorly and it wouldn’t keep up.


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AIR FLOW



The air flow on the Kylin M is a big change from the Profile Unity, as this is an angled top air flow type which uses honeycomb slots to smooth out the draw. Smooth it is, and it offers a wide range of air flow adjustment. I preferred to shut mine down by about one third, which helps to bring the temperature of the vape up a little. The air flow is smooth and relatively quiet, so I like the draw that this provides. I will touch on how this is for flavor in the next segment.



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PHOTO GALLERY

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[pizzadave80]

HOW IT VAPES / FINAL THOUGHTS



If you read my Profile Unity review, you would find that I thoroughly enjoyed that RTA. The flavor really pops, and I have now put several different types of mesh within and nail the wicking every time. So how does the Kylin M stack up against it? First off, I love the look and overall quality of the Kylin M. It has a lot of good going for it. It isn’t super tall, the color choices look great, and I found it to be relatively easy to build and wick. The entire vape experience from it is pretty good. However, with the things listed that I like about it comes some cons. First off, wicking this will probably take a few tries before it is nailed consistently. Even once it is wicked right, I found that this doesn’t keep as good as the Profile Unity, thus limiting the wattage I could pump through it. The wicking channels are bottom only, where the Unity also has some that hits part way up on the wick, which allows it to keep up a bit better. I tested a few different builds in this, so I figure it is worth talking about each.


INCLUDED .15-OHM & .20-OHM STRIPS

I found that both of these perform very similar to one another. The vapor production is thick, but the temperature I could get from them was on the cooler side. Flavor from these is pretty good, but not jaw droppingly good. I generally ran these strips at around 60 watts to ensure I wouldn’t get dry hits when chain vaping them.


OFRF .18-OHM STRIPS

The performance of these is so close to the included strips that I couldn’t tell a difference much at all. Cool vape, decent flavor, and same wattage as the VV strips.


VV N80 MESH

I wouldn’t recommend this for everyone, as it takes some fiddling, and comes out to a resistance that is under .10-ohms. I use the included strips as a template and trim accordingly. The flavor definitely increases with this mesh, and the temperature of the vape also increases. I also ran this at 60w, but often times bumped up to 65-70 watts without much trouble.


I found one of the hiccups with wicking came from the use of the VV cotton. For whatever reason, this cotton just doesn’t wick all that great. Wotofo agletted cotton works better, and I was able to increase all mesh types up by 5 watts and I never felt like it was getting dry or on the edge of a dry hit. The vape quality I get from the Kylin M gives me mixed feelings. With desserty liquids, it seemed to bring out bolder notes in the liquid. It killed the sweetness a bit but made me feel like I was getting a more even blend of the flavor profiles. With sweeter flavors, such as candy flavors, it toned down the flavor a bit more than I like, but it wasn’t awful. I think the big crutch that this RTA has is the angled top air flow. We saw this fail in the Dead Rabbit RTA, as the air doesn’t get a chance to run past the mesh but just hits the top of the arc. However, even with the air flow not positioned in an optimal location, this isn’t too bad. I found myself enjoying this RTA and can see myself using this quite a bit in the future. I like the top fill, which has a deep ring around the top, which adds to the capacity without a massive glass section. It is also easy to fill up without making a mess. The top air flow is a bonus in the fact that it won’t wreck a mod, even if the wicking is totally botched. Sure, it’ll flood, but at least it won’t leak everywhere! Do I think this is as good as the Unity? No. Do I think this sucks? No. I know Vandy Vape will catch a lot of flak for being the first (of I’m sure many to come) that copied the Profile style build deck, but hey, they went with something that works for mesh! So, with all of that being said, do I recommend the Kylin M? I am sitting at 50/50. I don’t love it; I don’t hate it.


OVEN TEST

If this were to accidentally go into the pizza oven would I go out and get another? Probably not, as I still prefer the Profile Unity for flavor and wicking performance.


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PROS

• I like the styling of this one
• Machined nicely (can be taken apart while still on mod too)
• Easy to build
• Nice refill ports
• Lots of color options

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CONS

• Flavor is middle of the road, not amazing, but not bad
• Wicking can be a struggle
• Cool vape, just a hair cooler than I like

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Thank you everyone for reading my review and thank you to Vandy Vape for sending this my way for review. Doing some Googling, and I am seeing this on sale for a hair under $30 from most sites.




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Pizza Dave – delivering real reviews with no extra toppings



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REVIEW CRITERIA: I use each item extensively for about two weeks to ensure I have collected enough data to adequately write a review. I use the same e liquid in tanks or rdas throughout all my reviews to ensure that I am comparing apples to apples between all modern equipment. I do not post reviews until I feel confident that I have used all products enough to give an educated review. The reason I started doing reviews was due to poor purchasing decisions in my vaping infancy about two years ago. Back then, I purchased several different pieces of hardware without really enjoying them and I hope my reviews can guide people into spending their hard-earned money more wisely than I did! ****Keep in mind that some items I receive may be pre-release and not in retail packaging. Quality may be less than the finished product and what is in the package may differ from the retail package as well.