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Pizza Dave Reviews - The Capstone RDA by Vandy Vape

pizzadave80

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
INTRODUCTION



Hello everybody, welcome to Pizza Dave’s vape reviews. Today I will be going over everything you need to know about the Capstone RDA byVandy Vape. As always, I keep my reviews unbiased, but this was sent to me by Vandy Vape for review. The Capstone is the latest RDA from Vandy Vape and is a collaboration with them and reviewer Vape Happy. This rda features a unique single screw deck, unique top cap, and “waterfall” like squonking action. Let’s dive in, see how it works, and I will give you my final thoughts down at the bottom.

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WHAT YOU GET


- 1 Capstone RDA

- 1 Frosted PC comp cap

- 1 Frosted 810 drip tip

- 1 510 Domed Delrin Drip tip

- 1 510 Drip Tip Adapter

- 1 Coil lead length tool

- 1 Spare parts bag

- 1 Instruction Manual


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FEATURES


The Capstone is an RDA that stands out on the market for several reasons. The knarly top cap might be the first thing that jumps out, but the second and most important feature is a pyramid shaped, single screw, squonking deck. The deck features and internal squonk channel which runs liquid right over the top of the coils. This design treats the coils more like how a person would “paint” the coils with liquid rather than relying solely on wicking. Lastly, Vandy Vape went all in with spare parts. It comes with a coil length tool, two different top caps, two different drip tips, and plenty of spare parts to keep it running for a long time.


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BUILD DECK, WICKING, and SQUONKING


The build deck of the Capstone stands out over all other features. To install coils, the user simply loosens the single screw and the entire pyramid shape begins to open. The screw loosens up plenty and allows for lots of separation for coils to be inserted. They added knurling to each termination point which helps hold the coils in place and makes this one of the easiest single screw atties I have used. Many times, the coils move around and are hard to hold steady, but this deck holds them all the way through the tightening process. The only con that I found with the deck is that it takes up a lot of space and it limits how large the coils can be. I used 2.5mm ID coils for advanced builds and 3mm ID coils for round wire builds. It was nearly impossible to get 3mm advanced build installed with adequate room for air flow and keep them from shorting against the sides, but it is doable. Wicking this, like many rdas, is simple and is completed by snipping the cotton just long enough to touch the bottom of the juice well. The squonk action of this rda is different from many and features a “waterfall” of liquid that comes up the center post and right onto the coil. There is zero delay from the time it is squonked to the time the liquid saturates the cotton within the coil. The only drawback to this is that nothing gets sucked back in when the bottle is released. It can be over-squonked and pour out the sides, but it takes quite a bit of squonking to do this thanks to a deep juice well.


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BUILD DECK

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FUSED CLAPTON BUILD

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ALL WICKED UP

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SPACED SS ROUND WIRE BUILD

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SQUONK PIN WITH BOTTOM GASKET


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HOW IT VAPES


This RDA took me a few tries to perfect, and I tried a few different builds before settling on what worked best for me. My first build was using the fused Claptons that came with the rda. These coils were a little spitty at times and with the side air flow right next to the coils this equated to a shower of hot liquid out the sides more often than I like. This is common with side air flow rdas, but the small space for coils made it much more prominent on the Capstone. The second build I installed was a twisted core fused Clapton. This coil had a large outer wrap and spit liquid out the sides non-stop not matter what wicking materials I used. It hardly fit inside this deck even when shrunk down to a 2.5mm ID. The last build I tried was dual 26g SS316 in parallel and spaced the coils slightly. These were the easiest to position and provided the most space around the coils. I found that installing the coils so only half the coil can be seen through the air flow brought the flavor out the most and minimized any hot vapor coming out the sides. I typically used the stainless top cap with frosted 810 tip, but this has three options available and I tested each. The standard cap and 810 was my favorite, but the frosted cap provides about the same vape as far as flavor and vapor. The metal cap coupled with the 510 adapter and “domed” cap creates a warmer vape and tighter draw as expected. This was my least favorite top cap option of the three.



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MISC. PHOTOS


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STANDARD CAP WITH DOMED CAP

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STANDARD CAP W/ FROSTED TIP

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pizzadave80

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
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FINAL THOUGHTS


The Capstone has some far out styling that might not be for everyone, and this made it hard for me to “get into”. Looks don’t change how something vapes, but I am one of those people that likes to look at my hardware and appreciate how it is designed. The Capstone in Stainless Steel just doesn’t match any of my appropriate hardware, so it always looked out of place. It took some playing around and rebuilds to get it right, but by the end of my review period I found that the vape I get is quite nice. The fact that it comes with three different top caps/tips means that it has more versatility than some other rdas on the market and each type offers a different feel to the vape. The squonking action is unique and works well as long as the user doesn’t go hog wild squeezing the squonk bottle. Flowing liquid right over the coil gives it a dripper like flavor rather and waiting for liquid to be wicked up into the coil like most squonk rdas. It is nice to see Vandy Vape notch the top cap to match the deck. This is a major bonus considering the deck has an O-ring like seal on the bottom. Without a notched deck this thing would be impossible to get seated nicely. There are not a ton of cons other than subjective ones, but I can name a few. For starters, the center post is so large that it limits ID of advanced builds and puts them right out by the air flow and makes it prone to spitting out the sides. The size of the deck also retains heat for quite some time and stays warm for longer than I’d like after a vaping session. The style won’t be for everyone, but if you are into how this looks, then I can assure you that you will be happy with how it vapes, just as long as you can put in some work and tweak it a bit to find that sweet spot.


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PROS


- Great flavor

- Lots of cap and tip options

- Easy to install coils on

- Notched top cap assists with installing and removing the rda

- Waterfall squonking action provides the flavor of “painted coils” in a dripper


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CONS


- Styling is a subjective con as this is not my style

- Build deck doesn’t allow for larger coils

- Top flowing squonk leaves liquid in juice well when released and can be flooded if heavily over-squonked

- Small space on the sides can create a spitting frenzy out the side air flow

- Large build deck retains heat after vaping


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Thank you to everyone for reading my review and thank you to Vandy Vape for sending it my way for review! If you are interested in checking one out, head on over to the Vandy Vape site or a quick google search will show that this is on pre-order for about $30-40.



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Pizza Dave – Delivering real reviews with no extra toppings


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REVIEW CRITERIA: I use each item 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 it 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 it 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.
 

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