Introduction
A much as I dabble in dual-coil atomizers now and then, restricted single-coil at around 30-50w and MTL is what I know best.
So, if you wanted to drag me as far away from my comfort zone as possible, a triple-coil series deck RDA designed for 200w vaping would be a great choice. Not that I needed to be asked twice if I wanted to review the Seri RDA.
More images are here
First impressions
I was expecting a huge monster of an RDA, but at 26mm the Seri is no bigger than some dual-coil RDAs, it does however look as it has been designed for high wattage vaping, it’s like an RDA inside an RDA – the inner and outer top-cap providing two layers of protection from the heat, with the outer top-cap also having a finned heat sink to further reduce the chances of melting your lips.
Take both the outer and inner top-caps off and you’re met with a six post deck – think of it as a rebirth deck sandwiched between the posts of a dead-rabbit deck and you can visualize it well. The two center posts are raised higher than the outer four, so the center coil should be able to get some airflow hitting it.
Both top-caps lock into place, all tolerances are good and rotating the outer top-cap to adjust the airflow is as smooth as you could want.
What do you get?
This is a tiny detail, but while a lot of atomizers come with a coil measuring tool, not all tools are equal. I like Hellvape’s measuring tool more than most, because it has four holes for each coil length, this takes into consideration that coil leads are offset and they need to be kept apart to cut them accurately.
Build
With most side-airflow RDAs, I usually line up the airflow with the posts to work out exactly how long to cut my leads. When I went with the recommended 5mm for the leads, the coils looked a little too high to take full advantage of the airflow. Initially, I still went with the recommended length, because you can remove coils and make the leads shorter, but obviously you can’t make them longer once you’ve cut them.
If you want to run the Seri in dual-coil configuration, there is a little adapter that needs to be screwed into the center posts.
How does it perform?
The whole experience made me understand that I am in no way a ‘hardcore cloud chucking badass’ – there’s nothing wrong with the SERI, it’s just more badass than I am.
In order to make sure I had a chance of getting near 200w on a high ohm build, I had to re-claim an old Geekvape Nova due to its 12v output – for this reason I haven’t tried any of the builds on a squonk mod, despite the SERI coming with a squonk pin.
Airflow
The whole outer top-cap rotates to open/close thirteen large honeycomb holes in three rows, fully open, it’s very unrestricted to the level that you can breath through the RDA, however this is what I wanted – fully open is pretty much necessary once the power goes up.
What could be improved?
The SERI is very much a niche market RDA, while it’s not about to become my daily vape, I will keep hold of it and use it once in a while – although probably not at 200w.
Disclaimer
The SERI RDA was provided for the purposes of this review by Hellvape
A much as I dabble in dual-coil atomizers now and then, restricted single-coil at around 30-50w and MTL is what I know best.
So, if you wanted to drag me as far away from my comfort zone as possible, a triple-coil series deck RDA designed for 200w vaping would be a great choice. Not that I needed to be asked twice if I wanted to review the Seri RDA.
More images are here
First impressions
I was expecting a huge monster of an RDA, but at 26mm the Seri is no bigger than some dual-coil RDAs, it does however look as it has been designed for high wattage vaping, it’s like an RDA inside an RDA – the inner and outer top-cap providing two layers of protection from the heat, with the outer top-cap also having a finned heat sink to further reduce the chances of melting your lips.
Take both the outer and inner top-caps off and you’re met with a six post deck – think of it as a rebirth deck sandwiched between the posts of a dead-rabbit deck and you can visualize it well. The two center posts are raised higher than the outer four, so the center coil should be able to get some airflow hitting it.
Both top-caps lock into place, all tolerances are good and rotating the outer top-cap to adjust the airflow is as smooth as you could want.
What do you get?
- Seri RDA
- 3×3.0mm 0.2ohm Ni80 coils
- 3×3.0mm ageleted cotton
- Coil measuring tool
- Short circuit connector
- Squonk pin/accessories/spares/manual
This is a tiny detail, but while a lot of atomizers come with a coil measuring tool, not all tools are equal. I like Hellvape’s measuring tool more than most, because it has four holes for each coil length, this takes into consideration that coil leads are offset and they need to be kept apart to cut them accurately.
Build
With most side-airflow RDAs, I usually line up the airflow with the posts to work out exactly how long to cut my leads. When I went with the recommended 5mm for the leads, the coils looked a little too high to take full advantage of the airflow. Initially, I still went with the recommended length, because you can remove coils and make the leads shorter, but obviously you can’t make them longer once you’ve cut them.
If you want to run the Seri in dual-coil configuration, there is a little adapter that needs to be screwed into the center posts.
How does it perform?
- First build 3×3.0mm 0.2ohm Ni80 coils, leads cut to 5mm. This build came to 0.7ohms (series decks add the resistance of each coil), so I started it at 100w and it was very underwhelming, minimal flavor and vapor. So I started increasing the wattage in 10w increments. From 120w the flavor and vapor was good and the warmth of the vapor was just about perfect. From 150w the heat of the vapor was getting a little toasty, but the flavor and vapor production was still increasing. I did try it at 200w but the vapor was too hot for me to deal with.
- Second build 3×3.0mm 0.2ohm Ni80 coils, leads cut to 4mm. Exactly the same coils, just 1mm shorter leads, as I was concerned about getting enough airflow to the coils, especially the center coil. This gave about the same vapor production and flavor as with the coil leads cut to 5mm, but the temperature of the vape was more tolerable.
- Third build 2×3.0mm 0.2ohm Ni80 coils, leads cut to 4mm. I replaced the center coil with the adapter, just to see how it performed in dual-coil configuration. This immediately brought the whole experience well within my comfort zone. I started it at 120w and took it up to 135w, this was a very satisfying vape – saturated flavor, tons of vapor, just the right amount of warmth.
The whole experience made me understand that I am in no way a ‘hardcore cloud chucking badass’ – there’s nothing wrong with the SERI, it’s just more badass than I am.
In order to make sure I had a chance of getting near 200w on a high ohm build, I had to re-claim an old Geekvape Nova due to its 12v output – for this reason I haven’t tried any of the builds on a squonk mod, despite the SERI coming with a squonk pin.
Airflow
The whole outer top-cap rotates to open/close thirteen large honeycomb holes in three rows, fully open, it’s very unrestricted to the level that you can breath through the RDA, however this is what I wanted – fully open is pretty much necessary once the power goes up.
What could be improved?
- Lowering the posts or raising the airflow would make it easier to line up the coils with the airflow.
The SERI is very much a niche market RDA, while it’s not about to become my daily vape, I will keep hold of it and use it once in a while – although probably not at 200w.
Disclaimer
The SERI RDA was provided for the purposes of this review by Hellvape