Introduction
There’s been a lot of hype surrounding the Pioneer RTA, hyped products are usually a bad thing, either you get disappointed when it doesn't live up to the hype, or you end up loving it and wondering if it's just the placebo effect because everyone else before you loved it.
Images are here.
First impressions
BP Mods get full marks for presentation, it won't make the RTA taste any better - but it's one of life's feel good moments, when you open a box and everything is nicely presented.
Aesthetics are subjective, but in my eyes the Pioneer is a great looking RTA with good proportions and a sexy finned top-cap. Having the choice of three drip-tips and three tanks is nice - however, I'd prefer my tanks to be made of glass.
Build quality
Some parts of the RTA are great - for example the drip-tips that screw into an adapter and the way the top-cap screws on. However, having the plastic tank screw onto metal feels just wrong and getting the chamber screwed onto the base can be awkward. To be fair, the tank isn't something you'll remove often and the chamber gets easier once you get a feel for it.
Build and deck
The deck is a two-post design, which usually means that getting the coil in place is very easy. However, on the Pioneer there is a large semi-circular chamber reducer opposite the posts – this means that either you should cut your coil legs very short to clear the reducer or wrap the coil with long legs, bending them slightly and sliding the coil over the reducer and into place.
Wicking is very easy. Cut the wicks to the inner edge of the chamber, fluff, thin and place the wicks on the bottom of the desk as if it was an RDA - I've seen this style of wicking a few times on MTL and restricted DTL decks and always amazes me how easy it it.
It wicked perfectly on my first build, and hasn’t given me any leaks or dry hits in subsequent builds.
Airflow
You have two options when it comes to airflow. Firstly a regular airflow ring on the bottom of the RTA, which gives the option of either a large single slot or six tiny holes, the ring is overly stiff and best suited to adjustment while the RTA is off the mod - secondly by way of three different 510 pins that change the diameter of the airflow hitting under the coil - the sizes are 1.5mm, 1.2mm and 0.8mm.
These can be swapped out with a build in place, however you should at least have the chamber off so you can hold the post in place while doing so.
Performance
My first build was with what I put in most MTL RTAs, a 2.5mm fused clapton that performs really well between 20 and 25W, the flavor was intense, but too hot for my liking.
Next build nailed it - same coil with two wraps removed and with the coil raised a little higher - the ohms dropped, but so did the wattage required to vape it - from 10-20W the Pioneer RTA is a really nice vape.
With a lot of MTL RTAs recently, it's been a balancing act, trying to maintain the throat hit while pushing it hard enough to get nice flavor. None of that with the Pioneer - you can keep the power nice and low, use a tiny coil (26g round wire will do) and thanks to the tiny chamber that is made even tinier by the huge chunk of metal acting as a reducer, you end up with great flavor and throat hit.
The 0.8mm pin was too tight for me, but the 1.2mm and 1.5mm were great, with either six holes fully open or 75% of the single slot open.
Conclusion
In short, the Pioneer RTA isn’t the second coming of the Messiah, the absolute best MTL RTA ever made, or without flaws.
It is however very good – it’s a good looking RTA that does MTL very well, it's not what I'd recommend for loose MTL (Cthulhu Artemis) - but if you want something that shines under 20W it’s a great choice.
Disclaimer
The Pioneer RTA was provided for the purposed of this review by Sourcemore, they currently have a promotion using the code BMPR which reduces the price from $44.99 to $30.89
There’s been a lot of hype surrounding the Pioneer RTA, hyped products are usually a bad thing, either you get disappointed when it doesn't live up to the hype, or you end up loving it and wondering if it's just the placebo effect because everyone else before you loved it.
Images are here.
First impressions
BP Mods get full marks for presentation, it won't make the RTA taste any better - but it's one of life's feel good moments, when you open a box and everything is nicely presented.
Aesthetics are subjective, but in my eyes the Pioneer is a great looking RTA with good proportions and a sexy finned top-cap. Having the choice of three drip-tips and three tanks is nice - however, I'd prefer my tanks to be made of glass.
Build quality
Some parts of the RTA are great - for example the drip-tips that screw into an adapter and the way the top-cap screws on. However, having the plastic tank screw onto metal feels just wrong and getting the chamber screwed onto the base can be awkward. To be fair, the tank isn't something you'll remove often and the chamber gets easier once you get a feel for it.
Build and deck
The deck is a two-post design, which usually means that getting the coil in place is very easy. However, on the Pioneer there is a large semi-circular chamber reducer opposite the posts – this means that either you should cut your coil legs very short to clear the reducer or wrap the coil with long legs, bending them slightly and sliding the coil over the reducer and into place.
Wicking is very easy. Cut the wicks to the inner edge of the chamber, fluff, thin and place the wicks on the bottom of the desk as if it was an RDA - I've seen this style of wicking a few times on MTL and restricted DTL decks and always amazes me how easy it it.
It wicked perfectly on my first build, and hasn’t given me any leaks or dry hits in subsequent builds.
Airflow
You have two options when it comes to airflow. Firstly a regular airflow ring on the bottom of the RTA, which gives the option of either a large single slot or six tiny holes, the ring is overly stiff and best suited to adjustment while the RTA is off the mod - secondly by way of three different 510 pins that change the diameter of the airflow hitting under the coil - the sizes are 1.5mm, 1.2mm and 0.8mm.
These can be swapped out with a build in place, however you should at least have the chamber off so you can hold the post in place while doing so.
Performance
My first build was with what I put in most MTL RTAs, a 2.5mm fused clapton that performs really well between 20 and 25W, the flavor was intense, but too hot for my liking.
Next build nailed it - same coil with two wraps removed and with the coil raised a little higher - the ohms dropped, but so did the wattage required to vape it - from 10-20W the Pioneer RTA is a really nice vape.
With a lot of MTL RTAs recently, it's been a balancing act, trying to maintain the throat hit while pushing it hard enough to get nice flavor. None of that with the Pioneer - you can keep the power nice and low, use a tiny coil (26g round wire will do) and thanks to the tiny chamber that is made even tinier by the huge chunk of metal acting as a reducer, you end up with great flavor and throat hit.
The 0.8mm pin was too tight for me, but the 1.2mm and 1.5mm were great, with either six holes fully open or 75% of the single slot open.
Conclusion
In short, the Pioneer RTA isn’t the second coming of the Messiah, the absolute best MTL RTA ever made, or without flaws.
It is however very good – it’s a good looking RTA that does MTL very well, it's not what I'd recommend for loose MTL (Cthulhu Artemis) - but if you want something that shines under 20W it’s a great choice.
Disclaimer
The Pioneer RTA was provided for the purposed of this review by Sourcemore, they currently have a promotion using the code BMPR which reduces the price from $44.99 to $30.89