It's a funny old word, and I don't know about you but I for one am a bit sick of explaining myself when asked "what's that?"
"It's my squonker"
"It's your what sorry?"
"My squonker".....(awkward silence)
"You're just making words up there's no such thing as a fucking squonker"
"Fuck you if I was going to make fucking words up I would come up with something better than fucking 'squonker' now fuck off and look it up you ignorant fuck....and definitely look it up in the urban dictionary while you're at it....knob"
I probably shouldn't speak to my mother like that all things considered but when she asks the same question over and over it get's a little frustrating and the reaction I get when she does read the urban dictionary definition is almost worth the aggro ...
It does indeed appear to have a few different meanings...and ironically the one definition that it resembles the closest is the one that you really don't want to be reminded of every time you.....squonk.....I'll leave that to your own research...just make sure there's no kids around when you do....
Regardless ...the fact of the matter is that squonking, even though it has in fact been around for years, is enjoying something of an explosion in popularity just lately....and you would have to be hiding under a rock for you not to notice that every single vape manufacturer on the planet worth it's salt is cashing in on this latest vape 'fashion'.....and if by chance a new RDA comes on the market...and doesn't have a BF pin included?....well....it ain't gettin in club 'popular'...simple as.....
Squonking it would seem.....is the new big squeeze.....(really..?)
So...what's it all about...well, in a nutshell....RDA flavour without the ball ache of having to drip essentially, the idea is sound, although not without it's cons, so breaking from the normal routine this time around I will be taking a look at 6 popular squonk rigs that are available right now and seeing what indeed the fuck...all the fuss is about.....eesh...just realised...6 specs list's.....didn't think this through at all did I .......(sigh) soldier on Pugs.....soldier on....
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A very warm and almost moist welcome to you all once more my squidgy little squonk muffins, today we are practically plagued with firsts in this here pile of barely legible clap trap....first time I've reviewed so many things in one review, first time for multiple suppliers and manufacturers and first real effort at thrusting myself with almost complete abandon into the world that is...squonking.....I mean it's not my first time...I did have one of those strange all in one squonking RDA's a few years ago...can't remember who made it...had a picture of a wolf on it...and it was shit...but it would appear things have moved on since....evolved if you will...and now....they're just about bloody everywhere.
So...a special 'thanks' must first be launched into the general direction of not one but two of my finest ever-tolerant suppliers from the east...Heavengifts & Gearbest for putting up with my quite frankly diva-like demands in getting this review together and supplying me with a veritable fruit bowl of your finest...and some not so finest...squonkology...(OK I may of made that word up..)
Pro's and cons will be mentioned in every review instead of a list and scores are on this occasion will be done away with So......sit back and get yourself comfortable....you're in for a long ride....
Maybe not quite...that comfortable....or weird....just normal....amounts....of comfortable....will suffice (wtf?).... SO....moving swiftly on ......we do have a lot to get through, but before I start I feel compelled to warn you that 4 of the 6 mods I am reviewing today are MECHANICAL.....I am shouting that because mechanical mods are NOT for beginners, you absolutely need to understand battery safety AND have a knowledge of ohm's law....no exceptions.....build within the limits of your know how! ....there are no safety cut offs, no display to tell you that something is wrong, no over heat protection, no short circuit protection in fact...there is absolutely no protection to speak of...at all in some case...just you and physics, and if you fuck that up...it'll fuck you up...it really is that simple....I will joke about most things, but battery safety is not one of them.
So that's the pleasantries out of the way let's crack on with the super sized squeezie special squonky tonk squonk review....and here is what we have on offer...these aren't all kits...but there are reasons and I will come to that in each mini review...but they are all single battery devices....so.....let's get this ride underway!...
First up to the chopping block we're gonna look at the mechanical choices, courtesy of Heavengifts we have the much anticipated Geekvape Athena squonk kit, this is an all in one complete set up, comes with it's own matching BF RDA and holds 6.5ml of liquid in it's belly.
There was a lot of people getting into a bit of a tiz when this mechanical kit was announced, and it's easy to see why, it's a nice looking piece of kit, sturdy too with its stainless steel construction and aluminium twin removable side panels and 24mm matching BF RDA
It boasts a large plastic safety slide on the front to prevent accidental firing which is a simple mechanism that slides behind the large firing button cutting off the connection...nice touch....and the fire button itself is large and in charge with a decent throw. The design is nice although I think I have the version one, the version two did away with the painted design and opted for a more 'etched' affair, I'm good with either to be fair I think they did a good job on the overall appearance of the Athena and I even love the 510 plate which follows the greek god theme and has a greek pattern around the plate (totally forgot to take a picture of that)
Leave me alone...I'm old....
Both side panels are removable, the rear one being to give you access to a push hole behind the battery just like the Coilart Trick box earlier on this year, it works well and does away with the battery ribbon. The front panel is held in place by one battery in the middle and 3 that attach to your battery....but...both panels do have a bit of play in them, they rattle about a bit and another issue I have is with the front panel, the bottle hole is too small for my sausage thumbs and if I press the bottle firmly...which with the Athena you have to....the panel actually get's stuck on my thumb and I end up wearing it like a really odd thumb ring.....and the reason I have to press the bottle so firmly is because the bottle is so damn thick....you actually get 2 bottles with the athena but I found their softer silicone bottle way too soft and took forever to depress...there is no happy medium with these bottles but I found the harder one slightly less frustrating.
The internals look well put together with silver plated contacts and everything is as snug as a bug in a rug, very compact and cleanly put together...I mean let's get things straight....there's really nothing to these mechanical squonkers in terms of guts, just a simple circuit that's completed when you hit the fun button, voltage drop can be an issue with some of these types of device but thankfully the Athena does not seem to suffer such an affliction.
Now...the Athena BF RDA that comes with the kit...has me in an awkward position...and not in a sexy way....I'd heard nothing but good things about it yet my own experience with it....was a little less than impressive...surely I can't be the only one that sees the issues with it.....can I?
For starters it's top air flow...I mean actual top airflow, you can see one of the dual vents on the AFC ring in the picture sat right at the top of the chamber...which is great for prevention of over squonk leakage but....to get the air to draw directly from the coils you have to practically set them on stilts to sit them right up in the top cap and parallel with the air vents?...
The first build I did pictured below is how I would normally set up a postless deck...and it was due to this build that I noticed the issues I was having....the flavour was not great at all and to solve the problem...brings forth another problem.
You see....the Athena RDA...for all intents and purposes is an RDTA with a shallow tank, it squonks underneath the 'floating' gold plated build deck meaning it's your wicks that have to do all the work drawing the liquid up from underneath...just like an RDTA..and into your coils....so setting your coils higher means your liquid ends up having a long ways to travel in the wrong direction...
And in the second build I did with the longer coil legs...although the flavour was noticeably better I did go dry if I chained it even a little too much....it just couldn't keep up with my ferocious man lungs...grrrr...
