Introduction
It’s nice to have a mod up for review again, there’s something simple and pure about a mod that doesn’t come with a sub-ohm tank in a kit. It can succeed or fail on its own merits.
The mod in question is the Dovpo Riva 200 – a non-DNA version of the Riva DNA250C.
More images are here
Specs
Really not much apart from the mod, a USB cable and the user manual.
First impressions
There are no two ways about it: the Riva 200 looks and feels nice, that is of course a very subjective opinion, but it’s definitely how I feel about it. My theory is that it was built to justify with a DNA chip (and the accompanying price) in mind, so you’re getting the looks and feel of a $150 mod for much less.
It’s also pretty short – the form factor means that it is a little chunky and might not be the best choice for a shirt pocket, but it’s an overall nice size.
The battery door is bottom-hinged which was a notorious weak point for Dovpo with the Topside, however the hinge on the Riva is quite wide and feels very sturdy.
Ergonomics are good, it has a nice feeling in the hand, the materials are good to touch and the buttons are nice and clicky – if I could have improved one thing about it though, metal buttons would have been nice.
I’m not sure exactly how big of an atomizer will fit on the Riva without overhang – 25.5mm fits with space to spare, while my Fat Rabbit RTA (28.4mm) has a tiny overhang – I’d guess 27mm is the maximum atomizer size.
Chipset
While the Riva 200 chipset obviously doesn’t have the bells and whistles of the Riva DNA250C, it retains the three button + fire button setup – unless a mod is tiny, this is the way to go – it feels much nicer to have a dedicated menu button, rather than mess around with three clicks to enter setup mode etc. The only button combination you have to remember is menu + power down, to lock the power up/down buttons.
Apart from that, operations are very simple – hit menu and scroll through power mode, voltage mode, three TC modes, stats/reset mode and brightness.
Power adjustments are performed in 0.5w increments below 100w and 1.0w increments above 100w, this may seem like a minor thing, but for MTL I want my 0.5w adjustments.
What could have been improved?
There are lots of mods that perform really well, and buying one mod over another isn’t about to make your juice taste better.
Some people buy mods because they love the sense of security that IP67 protection gives them, some people buy mods because they are the smallest and lightest on the market – none of the above applies to the Riva 200 – people are going to buy this mod because it looks and feels like a high quality device, without costing a fortune.
Disclaimer
The Riva 200 was provided for the purposes of this review by Sourcemore who currently have all color variations in stock for $52.99.
It’s nice to have a mod up for review again, there’s something simple and pure about a mod that doesn’t come with a sub-ohm tank in a kit. It can succeed or fail on its own merits.
The mod in question is the Dovpo Riva 200 – a non-DNA version of the Riva DNA250C.
More images are here
Specs
- Size: 80.0×43.0×39.5mm
- Material: Zinc Alloy + Leather
- Battery 2×18650
- Output Voltage Range: 0.5v – 8.0v
- Resistance: 0.08 – 3.50ohm
- Modes: Variable Wattage, Temperature Control, Variable Voltage
- Wattage Range: 5.0W – 200.0W
- Display: 0.96'' Full Color TFT Screen;
- Charging: USB Type-C 5V/2A
Really not much apart from the mod, a USB cable and the user manual.
First impressions
There are no two ways about it: the Riva 200 looks and feels nice, that is of course a very subjective opinion, but it’s definitely how I feel about it. My theory is that it was built to justify with a DNA chip (and the accompanying price) in mind, so you’re getting the looks and feel of a $150 mod for much less.
It’s also pretty short – the form factor means that it is a little chunky and might not be the best choice for a shirt pocket, but it’s an overall nice size.
The battery door is bottom-hinged which was a notorious weak point for Dovpo with the Topside, however the hinge on the Riva is quite wide and feels very sturdy.
Ergonomics are good, it has a nice feeling in the hand, the materials are good to touch and the buttons are nice and clicky – if I could have improved one thing about it though, metal buttons would have been nice.
I’m not sure exactly how big of an atomizer will fit on the Riva without overhang – 25.5mm fits with space to spare, while my Fat Rabbit RTA (28.4mm) has a tiny overhang – I’d guess 27mm is the maximum atomizer size.
Chipset
While the Riva 200 chipset obviously doesn’t have the bells and whistles of the Riva DNA250C, it retains the three button + fire button setup – unless a mod is tiny, this is the way to go – it feels much nicer to have a dedicated menu button, rather than mess around with three clicks to enter setup mode etc. The only button combination you have to remember is menu + power down, to lock the power up/down buttons.
Apart from that, operations are very simple – hit menu and scroll through power mode, voltage mode, three TC modes, stats/reset mode and brightness.
Power adjustments are performed in 0.5w increments below 100w and 1.0w increments above 100w, this may seem like a minor thing, but for MTL I want my 0.5w adjustments.
What could have been improved?
- Like almost every single dual 18650 mod, I wish it was dual 21700.
- Metal buttons might seem like a tiny thing, but done right they can look amazing.
There are lots of mods that perform really well, and buying one mod over another isn’t about to make your juice taste better.
Some people buy mods because they love the sense of security that IP67 protection gives them, some people buy mods because they are the smallest and lightest on the market – none of the above applies to the Riva 200 – people are going to buy this mod because it looks and feels like a high quality device, without costing a fortune.
Disclaimer
The Riva 200 was provided for the purposes of this review by Sourcemore who currently have all color variations in stock for $52.99.