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Squid Industries Squad

dustmite

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I've been eyeing up a Squad with the RBA. There's some great reviews, but very little talk of how people like it in real life. Anyone have one? Is it worth it's price? Is there a better compact rebuildable available without going the billet box route?
 

Theboss

VU Donator
Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
ECF Refugee
I've been eyeing up a Squad with the RBA. There's some great reviews, but very little talk of how people like it in real life. Anyone have one? Is it worth it's price? Is there a better compact rebuildable available without going the billet box route?
The DotAio w/rba seems to be getting good feedback from real users.

There's one in the hardware section courtesy of Gadget!
 

dustmite

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Well, I missed out on the DotAIO, so I just ordered the Squad with RBA. I'll update this thread with my thoughts when I get it.
 

fhpe77

Member For 4 Years
I just received a Squid Squad yesterday. I was looking for a device to take some of the load off of the Myjet that I have been relying on for stealth vaping. Myjet's and replacement pods are getting harder and harder to find. I was rebuilding my pods almost every night after running ~1.5 tanks per day through them. You can stretch to two days but they would become pretty crappy by mid-day on the second day. The rebuild includes burning/re-spacing the coil and re-wicking. I can usually get 6 weeks out of a Myjet pod but they are pretty degraded after only three weeks of use. I am also not real happy with the plastic construction.

The Squid Squad features a stainless steel and glass RBA/tank so the plastic has been eliminated from my diet. The deck is tiny so building it may be a challenge for some folks. I purchased some 32 Ga and 30 Ga SS316L from Advanced Vape Supply and started with the hair-like 32 Ga. Six wraps at 2 mm ID resulted in a 1.25 ohms resistance spaced coil, close to the Myjet's seven wraps at 1.5 mm ID Kanthal coil. Be careful tightening the post screws, I managed to destroy the first coil because I over tightened the post screws and they cut through the legs. Wicking is tricky and can distort the coil so I didn't go real tight with the cotton.

The performance is great with my usual 50 MG salt juice. The coil ramps up instantly and I'm running it at 12.5 W for best flavor. The flavor is better than the Myjet. You have to close off the airflow all the way to get a restrictive MTL hit and even then, it's slightly less restrictive than the Myjet. Hopefully the 2 mm coil's increased cotton compared to the Myjet's 1.5 mm coil allows me to go a few days between rebuilds.

So far I am loving it. I can use this device in the car and around the house and reserve the Myjet for office/restaurant/bar/movie theater duty (if the county ever opens up again).

My only complaints are the silicone fill port stopper and the lack of TC mode but I can deal with the stopper and live without TC on this little device. Next up, I'm going to try a ten wrap, 2 mm ID 30 GA SS316L coil. While ramp up will be slower but building should be less fiddly. I will update this thread with my findings (sorry for the hi-jack dustmite, but you never did give us an update.

-Ray
 

fhpe77

Member For 4 Years
Update...I rebuilt last night to try the 30 Ga wire. The intention was to build a ten turn, 2 mm ID, 1.24 ohm coil but my beer buzz made me a little over enthusiastic when I was winding the coil. I ended up with twelve turn, 2 mm ID, 1.47 ohm coil. This coil is slightly spaced and it's length is nearing the limits of what can be fit into this device. Flavor is better than the old coil and the throat hit is less harsh. You can still feel it but it's smoother. Of course the added coil mass requires additional power, so now it's running at 15 watts. Ramp time is still instantaneous. Holding the fire button for ~2 seconds produces a great hit. I suspect that battery life will be slightly diminished but it looks like it will last more than a day. Overall great device, I suspect that the Myjet is not going to be seeing much use anymore. The next build will be a ten turn, 2 mm ID, 30 Ga coil if I can manage to do it with out the assistance of beer. I will post a follow-up when that happens.
 

hawkwind5usa

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
What's the latest on your coil quest for the Squid Squad RBA. I am done with the Breeze 2. Too many broken retainer clips leaving me unable to repair the last one I have working, also finding replacement .6 ohm coils has me at a loss. I am now looking at replacing with a Squad. Any pros or cons since owning it?
Thanks in advance.
 

natebuchanan

Member For 4 Years
I’ve had my Squad for about 6 months, and I love it. The RBA, although small, is fairly easy to use. I’ve been able to use round wire and a twisted ribbon wire in it, and I’ve been very impressed. It’s nice that the glass tank is set internally, so less chance of breaking it if you drop it. As @fhpe77 has stated, the silicone plug for refills could be a future point of failure, but knowing that I’m super careful with it. I’ve got quite a few pod/AIO kits, including a couple of billet boxes, and the Squad is near the top of the list. BB’s are extra-super customizable, but also expensive, and larger than the Squad. I can get a great restricted lung hit from my Squad, as well as a fairly decent MTL with the AFC almost closed. It definitely has a spot in my rotation. I hope this helps!
 

hawkwind5usa

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Ordered one from the factory a couple days ago looks like a good system. Got tired of the broken retainer clips on the Breeze 2. The Squad looks pretty rugged and I like that it's rebuildable, the Breeze 2 coils are getting harder to find.
 

fhpe77

Member For 4 Years
I settled on an 11 turn, 30 Ga SS316 coil. The solution to the problem of the post screws shearing off the coil legs: Just cut the legs longer, then bend them in the middle 180 degrees to double up the leg thickness. Seems like the coil resistance measurement fluctuates less as well. 15 watts is plenty of power for this coil. Fast ramp and great flavor. The battery lasts me all day which translates to approximately 1.5 tanks worth of 50 mg liquid for me. The silicone plug is a problem now as it has started to tear. Unfortunately my unit did not ship with a spare plug or spare lower tank gasket. I did reach out to Squid Industries via email a couple of weeks ago inquiring about spare parts but have not heard back. I really like this device but it's going to suck if something like a silicone plug ends it's usefulness.
 

hawkwind5usa

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Thanks for the coil recommendation. I notice the stock coil gunks up on the wife after 2 days. She's running it at 12.5 watts with 9mg salt nic. The juice does have alot of sweetener but thats what she likes. I agree that they should include some spare parts. If the fill plug fails your stuck buying another tank. Squid sells replacement glass, they should also carry replacement fill plugs.
 

fhpe77

Member For 4 Years
Hawk,

Yeah, I'm rebuilding every two days. Juice does have an impact. I found that Glas Fizzy Lemonade gunks it up in a day. Darn thing stops wicking properly. Dinner Lady salts don't seem to cause the non-wicking problem but flavor is reduced after two days of use. I find the coil pretty much gunked up. I think it's the nature of the beast. A tiny coil (2 mm ID) with a tiny wick, makes sense that it won't last as long compared to a full sized rebuildable tank with a 3 mm coil. The two day rebuilds are an improvement for me compared to the daily Myjet rebuilds, so I'm not complaining. I have always felt that vaping should require more work than simply opening a new pack of cigs, or in my case, opening up a new can of dip. Probably why I embraced rebuildables early on.
 

hawkwind5usa

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I'm not a professional reviewer but I can give my honest opinion on the Squid Squad. They got almost everything wrong on this device.The 510 drip tip can't be changed out, when I remove the tank from the device the bottom is often loose getting a small amount of juice in the bottom and the fill plug is not made very durable. It has very thin ears to pull the plug out. They put the charge port on the bottom, all that real estate why did you choose the bottom?
The device doesn't come with a replacement glass or replacement plug.
I opted for the RBA device because I was tired of hunting for replacement coils.Boy is this RBA a PIA to wick ! The ports are very tiny so here you are trying to shove a wick in with tweezers that barely fit the hole. I get a whole 2 days on the cotton before it needs replaced.
The good things about this device are few. The finish(paint) is durable and the draw is adjustable from a tight draw to a nice airy almost mtl draw. It holds well in the hand and stands up when not in use.
The price is over what this device is worth ! $25 would make it a better pill to swallow but $50! Come on there are better choices for less than that.Squid Industries must be relying on their past devices to try and push this on the consumer.
Bottom line on this device is look elsewhere.
I wont be buying another one and don't recommend it.
 

fhpe77

Member For 4 Years
Hawk,

My biggest complaint is the silicone plug. I had to buy another tank because the original plug disintegrated to the point of having to take a pin and stab it to get it out. Drip tip is not a big deal to me but I understand everyone has their preferences. I swapped the original drip tip on my Augvape Intake with a glass drip tip. Once you go glass there's no going back to plastic. Of course now there's two glass parts to break when accidentally dropping the mod.

The bottom charge port is a bit of a pain but since I charge once per day when I go to bed I just let the Squad overhang my nightstand when plugged in so it can remain standing up.

Wicking this thing can be a bit tedious but I have the temperament for working on small fiddly things. Using the correct tweezers makes all the difference. Check these out:

https://www.advancedvapesupply.com/...-pro-esd-safe-fine-tip-curved-tweezers-esd-15

Those tweezers are very precise and the price is right as well.

Twisting 30 Ga coils is challenging. The wire is so thin I have a hard time seeing the individual coils which makes counting them difficult. One of those lighted magnifying glasses would be helpful. I should probably buy one as I have needed one before for circuit board repairs.

What makes all the negatives an even bigger insult is that this thing works so well once set up properly. My son has a friend that vapes those shitty Chinese knock-off disposable puff bars. I let him hit the Squad and he was blown away. And you got to love the small size and feel when using it.

For the present time, Squid Industries should start selling a soft parts kit for the tank. Five each of the plugs and o-rings for $5 seems reasonable to me. If it were available I'd buy a pack immediately.

Going forward, a Squad2 would be great to address all of the problems with the first design. Oh, and include a TC mode. I suspect that won't happen but we can hope. In my case a revised tank would be welcome but I don't see that happening either.

Be sure to post here if you find a better replacement that's close in size with a rebuildable metal/glass tank. I would be all over that in a heartbeat.
 

hawkwind5usa

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Those are very similar tweezers to what I use, very fine tip. I jab the cotton in the port and it tries to follow the tweezer back out. After I get done licking my wounds on the Squad purchase I may try an Aspire Mulus w/ an RBA. It uses an 18650 battery to boot.
Right now I favor my BSRKR v1.5 RTA on top of any DNA mod i own using a 3mm 28ga stainless steel coil running in temp mode. I also enjoy the BSRKR RDA with a squonk pin setup the same. I'm waiting on the BSRKR v2 RTA to arrive from Fastech, it should be a winner too. Might look and work good on top of my Uwell Nunchaku.
 

fhpe77

Member For 4 Years
The Aspire Mulus is a bit larger than the Squad. It looks like it has a plastic tank and again, a silicone stopper. The RBA looks nice. I wonder if it's easy to build? The choice of finishes is great and the swappable 18650 battery is something I really like as well. Side fire buttons are not my favorite. It looks like Aspire has a bunch of cool devices. I'm gonna poke around their website a bit and see what else they have to offer.

I like you new avatar. Are you a pilot?
 

hawkwind5usa

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I've owned the Breeze 2 but it has issues with the retainer clips breaking. The Tigon is my wifes favorite but it too uses replaceable coils. I'm a Control Line airplane pilot. I posted some pics under the Hobbies section on the forum so I thought I'd use one that I posted.
 

fhpe77

Member For 4 Years
CL, oh sweet! I have to check out your pics. I'm a modeler as well. I fly RC competitively in SAM old timer meets and in ALES soaring competitions. Thermal duration is my passion. One of my favorite SAM classes is 1/2A Texaco. Instead of getting more rpms out of our .049's we decompress them and run 8" props to get them to run longer on 5ml of fuel. I managed to get my current .049 to turn 6900 rpm and run for ~4 minutes per tank with an 8x4 prop and 6 shims under the glow plug. Torque is regained by running home-brew 35% nitro fuel. In four minutes my 16 ounce 1/2A Playboy Senior is a tiny speck in the sky.

Yeah, I can't do replaceable coils. That's just not going to happen for me again. Juice is already expensive enough. Unfortunately I live in NJ and thanks to a-hole ******** ****** (censored...we cannot speak of politics) our vape shops have been decimated. I don't think I could even buy coils locally.
 

hawkwind5usa

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
CL, oh sweet! I have to check out your pics. I'm a modeler as well. I fly RC competitively in SAM old timer meets and in ALES soaring competitions. Thermal duration is my passion. One of my favorite SAM classes is 1/2A Texaco. Instead of getting more rpms out of our .049's we decompress them and run 8" props to get them to run longer on 5ml of fuel. I managed to get my current .049 to turn 6900 rpm and run for ~4 minutes per tank with an 8x4 prop and 6 shims under the glow plug. Torque is regained by running home-brew 35% nitro fuel. In four minutes my 16 ounce 1/2A Playboy Senior is a tiny speck in the sky.

Yeah, I can't do replaceable coils. That's just not going to happen for me again. Juice is already expensive enough. Unfortunately I live in NJ and thanks to a-hole ******** ****** (censored...we cannot speak of politics) our vape shops have been decimated. I don't think I could even buy coils locally.
I feel we are the last generation to enjoy building and flying our creations. Kids are few at the contests I go to for Control Line I'm sure you don't see many on your end of the free flight aspect. I think kids nowaday like the instant gratification of video gaming. Time changes, heck I remember when everybody had yoyo's.
 

hawkwind5usa

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
The Squad I bought for the wife quit taking a charge yesterday. Tried cleaning the charge port connector but it didn't help.I reached out to Squid Industries for help in the matter but am doubtful they will. There is no warranty on this device. Only had it 1month.
 
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nadalama

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Member For 4 Years
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The Aspire Mulus is a bit larger than the Squad. It looks like it has a plastic tank and again, a silicone stopper. The RBA looks nice. I wonder if it's easy to build? The choice of finishes is great and the swappable 18650 battery is something I really like as well. Side fire buttons are not my favorite. It looks like Aspire has a bunch of cool devices. I'm gonna poke around their website a bit and see what else they have to offer.

I like you new avatar. Are you a pilot?

I've enjoyed my Mulus and the RBA as well. Don't remember any difficulty building the RBA (which I cannot say for some of the others I've done). Think it's money well spent. Flavor is really great, too.
 

hawkwind5usa

Bronze Contributor
Member For 4 Years
The Squad I bought for the wife quit taking a charge yesterday. Tried cleaning the charge port connector but it didn't help.I reached out to Squid Industries for help in the matter but am doubtful they will. There is no warranty on this device. Only had it 1month.
Squid Industries got back to me, yay! They said they were going to forward my message to their warranty dept. Evidently the Squad has a warranty. The saga continues...
 

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