Wotofo Ryujin Elder Dragon RDA Review by KingPin!

[KingPin!]

Hi Folks,

We have something a little different from the Wotofo camp, and I have to say this RDA is a breath of fresh air incorporating design inspirations from Japanese reviewer Ryusei Sakaue.

What is the Elder Dragon and who is Ryujin exactly? Interestingly he forms one of the 8 dragon kings originally imported from Indian mythology via China and Korea. In Japanese Culture Ryujin (or Ryu-O) is the Dragon King and master of serpents. He is responsible for the tides and is also said to enter into people dreams the moment before they wake up. The thing is snakes are also associated with death which plays into his role as bringer of storms and rain. I guess the best way to summarise his importance to the Japanese as a sea faring nation would be; Ryujin represents the nature of the sea, and it’s capability to bring both life and death.

Other than the name you will also see other important symbology elements drawn into the RDA for instance the Tai Chi: Ying and Yang fish symbol on the base; representing heaven and earth in perfectly balanced energy.

Then there’s the Pagoda tiered building for its overall look. The Pagoda happens to be one of my favourite architecture designs, commonly seen throughout East Asia. The roots of this type of structure can be traced back to India again and the “Stupa” which originated in 3 BCE….I mention this because Wotofo describes it as a Pagoda for everyone on their home page…but I don’t see the Pagoda design, rather the Stupa Building (look it up to see what I mean)… and what’s more this architecture style plays into my inner SCI-FI and Steampunk nerd in terms of its futuristic “almost robotic look”. If you get the chance check out some of the works from my favourite artists in this camp (Matt Dixon and Brian Despain) for their small robot creations and you’ll get exactly what I mean with how I picture this cheeky little chappy.

So without further ado and in honour bound tradition, Wotofo sent me the Ryujin RDA for the once over. I don’t like to make recommendations in my reviews, instead I provide you with all my findings should you be interested in the product, in the hope it helps bolster your research.

(Please note: photos appear normal size when logged in)

RDA Specification Overview & What’s in the box

• Visible Height: 29.6 mm with drip tip
• Diameter: 22mm at the base (extends to 24mm at widest point)
• Well Depth: 8mm
• Thread length 4.08mm - 4.6mm (gold plated positive pin...see review notes on this range)
• Construction: 304 Stainless Steel, PC and Resin Drip Tip, Peek Insulators
• Drip tip 810: Visible Height 7.85 mm x Width 14mm (Tapered Bore 6mm > 7.5mm)
• Airflow: 4 holes each 2mm Diameter.
• Space for coil diameter: 5.8mm
• Post distance for coil width: 5.5 mm
• Deck diameter: 20mm

Extras: Cotton, Framed Staples (N80), Spare drip tip, Screwdriver, Allen key, 510 adaptor, 2 spare screws, O-Rings, dripper pin, Coil measuring and cutting tool, instruction book

Available Colours: Black, Stainless, Blue, Gold, Rainbow, Gold

Product Information: https://www.wotofo.com/pages/wotofo-elder-dragon-rda

Impressions, Build Quality & Assembly

I covered it in my intro so I won’t cover old ground too much, styling wise this is right up my street and taps into my love for Asian symbology, art and architecture, you can really see Ryusei’s put some thought into it all. While it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I like that Wotofo took a punt on something a little different.



You’ll get a generous set of spare offerings in the pack, including two coils which will last a long time assuming you are ok with Nichrome (N80), and don’t mind cleaning and re-using them. Those who have ever put up with reading any of my reviews know I love building my own coils from scratch, but the Wotofo coils are well worth trying, you’ll see how they come out later in my review.



The drip tips on offer suit the RDA well, both are exactly the same in dimension with only the material being different (PC or Resin plastic). Whilst both are 810 they have a 510 bore which flavour chasers know plays into a smaller RDA’s strengths. Both are also tall enough to ensure your lips avoid touching the top cap (which does heat up a fair bit). Should you want to use your own they include a 510 adaptor.



Although the RDA is technically 22mm and the deck diameter is only 20mm it feels and looks more like a 24mm RDA due to the girth around the middle, the thickness of the top cap, and the way the cap sits on top of the deck….so the design might not suit those who like smaller mods, or detest overhang, but on the plus side if you have a mod to suit you’ll get a decent juice well depth of approx. 8mm which puts this firmly in the viable dripping and squonking camp.



The Squonk pin doesn’t protrude into the decks centre platform so will suck juice back into the bottle after you’re done squeezing, however despite the relative height of the airflows it’s quite easy to over squonk this RDA due to the two little channels for juice to escape. You definitely don’t’ want to over stuff this RDA with wicking, the same is true if you enjoy dripping.




(N.B - I know these pics above have the dripping positive pin in, its to show the channels being narrow, but the squonk pin also stops as the same level)

Whilst I’m on the subject of positive pins, you’ll notice in my specification overview I noted the base has “thread length measurement range”. I didn’t experience issues with the squonk pin, but with the dripping pin (the one without a centre hole) once fully screwed in; it left the threading very short at just over 4mm, which was just too short for my mod to pick up, and it was displaying (“No Atomiser”). Most mods need about 4.5mm - 4.8mm of threading as a minimum, so I just unscrewed the pin a turn or so and it was fine. The result of this did make the pin a little wobbly, but they included an O-ring so I wasn’t experiencing juice leaking into my mods 510 section. Either way this is an oversight so will be listed as a con, and wouldn’t look to use it on a hybrid either.

 

[KingPin!]

Impressions, Build Quality & Assembly Continued

In terms of finish, the machining it’s very nicely done and was clean out of the box. The only thing I would say is the engraved areas have sharp edges when running my finger over the surfaces, on the base in particular and felt the need to use a thin protective disc so as not to scratch the top of my mod….these can be picked up for pennies and are well worth the outlay for RDA’s like this.



Looking inside the top cap there’s a stop either side which fits nicely into the mounting cut outs on the deck, they also help aid you get the Elder Dragon RDA on or of the mod, and lastly they ensure the top cap airflow is centrally aligned with the holes on the deck…you’ll hear a nice “click” putting the cap back on.



Whilst there is a rounding of the top cap, there’s not much of a dome inside to speak of…when you remove the drip tip and look down the coil sits directly underneath, so beware of oversaturation or an under wicked coil or you’ll be getting the magma juice directly bubbling from the top. Personally I didn’t experience either of these things once I set it up right.



I was able to break down the RDA in as much as removing the side airflow pins but wasn’t able break the deck down further….that centre raised platform is in there snug as a bug and couldn’t be shifted without damaging it.



You can see design queues taken from the Pulse RDA in terms of the downward facing tubes; except I think these are a better approach in that you don’t need to build first and worry about the coil fitting afterwards, secondly they focus the airflow into a central location which I’ll cover more in the build section.



Finally just to finish this section up I found the screws quite tricky to undo for the first time across all areas, I had to dump the screwdriver they provide in the pack and use one of my own to get the buggers to budge…this is something Wotofo could easily rectify in their assembly plant.

 

[KingPin!]

Coil Building & Wicking

In my humble opinion the Elder Dragon RDA doesn’t suit “keep it simple” round wire builds, and low wattages, actually even fused claptons (my standard benchmark for 22mm RDA’s) struggled to get the performance I desired.



During my search for the right set up, diameter and position I also made the following observations;

• Using smaller higher ohm builds the RDA develops a whistle with the airflow set to half due to the slower draw requirements associated with lower wattage vaping.
• I found that the airflow being focused centrally did not lend itself well to widely spaced coils.
• The air intakes centre airflow bang over the centre positive pin located on the deck.
• Using the mounting rests with a standard 3mm ID coiling tool left my coil too high to make use of the airflow properly.
• Wotofo suggest cutting the legs on number 6 using their snipping template, see my note above about how this leaves the coil higher.
• I don’t have a great deal of space between the air intakes as they all angle inwards, there’s just over 5mm of space in fact.

So to summarise what I’m after;

A coil that likes higher wattages 60+, ideally no spaces but enough wraps not to stretch the legs apart when tightening the screws, shorter coil legs to make use of that airflow, something to centre the coil, and the coils needs to be thick enough not to deform as I can’t support it properly.

Stupidly I know this is long winded but the 0.17 ohm Wotofo 3mm ID Tri Core fused claptons it comes with are actually the perfect fit for what I’m after, I snipped the legs at 5 instead of 6, spaced them ever so slightly to avoid hot spots, and used my thinnest screwdriver to rest on the edge of the deck to keep it centred as I screwed everything down.



You end up with something looking like this



Unfortunately this does mean wickings a bit trickier, especially with the shoe lace thingies, but it’s easy enough to work around. First remove the plastic casing and snip half of one side away (if you roll your own cotton ignore all this bit)



Twist the end and pull it through. The Wotofo cotton provided is actually quite thick so keep twisting the cotton if you find it too tight to avoid moving the coil.



I measure the cut line down just above the bottom O-ring in the pic.



Rake loads of cotton away now …you can sort of see how much I raked away on the left side of this picture as it’s starting to go a see through. Finally snip the edges away at an angle.



Now fold the cotton round and push it down to check its nice and fluffy still.



The little Robot now has a brain and insides, all it needs is liquid and a mod to bring it to life.



So to wrap my thoughts up on this section;

I don’t think this RDA is the easiest RDA to work with, its takes a little bit of fiddling the first few times to get right, but once you settle on a build approach you’ll be doing all of this with your eyes closed. In addition the screwdriver they provide is next to useless; expect to use your own to get a good torque and grip on the screws.

Finally I would like to have seen the mounting rests lowered slightly so I could use a 3mm coil tool properly instead of finding a small screwdriver to keep the coil centred, and to also make use of the shoe lace cotton properly.


How’s it Vape

If you haven’t picked it up from my review yet; I believe the Eder Dragon RDA works best with larger builds and doesn’t start waking up until 60+ watts, bear that mind when researching further.

However if you like your builds and set up similar to what I described in my build section, this is arguably more flavourful than the Recurve RDA. Not only that I like using it as a dripper and not just a Squonker which the Recurve was pretty useless at, having said that the Recurve is the more forgivable Squonker of the two.

It plays well with different flavour profiles and is great in both flavour and cloud production camps. On top of that the draw is quiet and smooth through all airflow range, I can’t ask for more really on the how’s it vape front; I think it’s pretty spot on for my tastes in this particular wattage range.

The top cap does get pretty hot with the higher wattages and chain vaping, as I mentioned earlier though the drip tip is tall enough for it not to be noticeable. Finally whilst the vape is moist I never noticed it spitting due to condensation build up inside the chamber.


Pro’s

• Great Flavour & Cloud Production
• Suited to bigger builds and mid to high range wattages.
• Moist Vapour Production
• Viable as a Squonker or Dripper
• Good machining and paint finish overall
• [personal] Drip tips suit the RDA perfectly
• Wicking approach is the same for dripping or squonking
• Deep Juice well
• [personal] love the styling
• Decent O-ring resistance throughout
• Excellent set of extras included
• No spitting or condensation build up detected through my testing

Cons’s

• Dripper positive pin is too short
• Edges of the engraved areas could have been smoothed better
• Would have preferred to see mounting rests lowered…takes a little more fiddling
• [personal] advised coil height is too high for this RDA
• Not the easiest deck to build and wick
• The screwdriver provided isn’t big enough for the screws, its jumps too easily

Final Conclusion

I love how the designer has incorporated the elements from his culture into it, it’s less about the look at me, and instead celebrates the place he calls home, and that my vape family sits very well with me.

On top of that it just performs both as a Squonker and Dripper and I think he’s captured a great balance between clouds and flavour playing really well into both sides.

I think there are some minor critique areas in the grand scheme of things and I don’t want to detract away from how much I enjoyed using it. This RDA it’s a great start to 2019 and a cracking job to both Wotofo and Ryusei Sakaue.

Thanks for taking the time to read my review, I hope the information serves you well…. until next time KingPin!

 

[MrMeowgi]

Best review I've ever read. Forgot it was a review with the history lesson. Which was great. Actually going to look that up now. Bang up job covering everything too.

 

[f1r3b1rd]

Great review Bro!!!

 

[KingPin!]

Best review I've ever read. Forgot it was a review with the history lesson. Which was great. Actually going to look that up now. Bang up job covering everything too.

Great receptive Bro!!!

Thank you mateys it really means a lot to me, got to give credit where its due though the designer gave everyone something really interesting to write/talk and do you know what it might be a reviewer release, but its not the same 5 or so big names I keep seeing release everything from back in 2018...its refreshing really, and shows other people outside of that circle can come up with unique designs as well.

 

[BobsHere]

More info from a KingPin review than any other I've read or watched. Good work, thank you!

 

[Letitia9]

Very much enjoyed reading this review, thank you. Been curious about this one for a while and you answered some questions I had. Wondered why all but one reviewer I saw had the coil set so high, guess they just used recommended height.

 

[KingPin!]

More info from a KingPin review than any other I've read or watched. Good work, thank you!

Thank you Bob much appreciated mate

Very much enjoyed reading this review, thank you. Been curious about this one for a while and you answered some questions I had. Wondered why all but one reviewer I saw had the coil set so high, guess they just used recommended height.

Strange Letitia the thing is the company say snip higher...designer says place It higher but doing so is actually quite underwhelming ....and it whistles, but of course it could just be an opinion thing on my part

 

[St.Roostifer]

I don't know how you do it but I am glad you do. Awesome review KP!

 

[KingPin!]

I don't know how you do it but I am glad you do. Awesome review KP!

Thank you matey much appreciated

 

[St.Roostifer]

Thank you matey much appreciated

The hard work you put into these reviews is much appreciated.

Looks like another quality product from wotofo. Well done .

 

[KingPin!]

@WotofoOfficial

Giving this RDA my favourite atty of 2019, despite other fantastic performing releases from many companies which I’ve really enjoyed as well....this cheeky chappy for me was the RDA that gave way to artistic license by its creator, as well as a offering great performance and easy to use for an affordable price.

Whilst it might have been a sleeper to start with I feel it deserves a special mention looking back last year

 

[Just Frank]

@WotofoOfficial

Giving this RDA my favourite atty of 2019, despite other fantastic performing releases from many companies which I’ve really enjoyed as well....this cheeky chappy for me was the RDA that gave way to artistic license by its creator, as well as a offering great performance and easy to use for an affordable price.

Whilst it might have been a sleeper to start with I feel it deserves a special mention looking back last year

I started squonking about this time last year. I've collected quite a few mods and dozens of RDAs to try. I've settled on single coilers being my favorite. For the way I vape, and the type & size coil(s) I like, the Wotofo Elder Dragon is probably my favorite of all. Thanks for suggesting it. I'm pretty sure a few people did back when it was a mystery to me.

I continuously get fantastic flavor out of mine. I use it as my gold standard for flavor when comparing other single coil RDAs. Some have rivaled it but none have toppled it from the top spot. I'm starting to think the task is near impossible. (Again, for my preferences)

I don't like too much airflow restriction. That rules out lots of popular models for me. I can handle some restictivness, which the ED has. But it doesn't impede airflow like the Recurve or C4 does. Some of the most popular "single coil flavor RDAs" have even less airflow than those two. Hadaly/Entheon types just don't give me enjoyment.

 

[KingPin!]

I started squonking about this time last year. I've collected quite a few mods and dozens of RDAs to try. I've settled on single coilers being my favorite. For the way I vape, and the type & size coil(s) I like, the Wotofo Elder Dragon is probably my favorite of all. Thanks for suggesting it. I'm pretty sure a few people did back when it was a mystery to me.

I continuously get fantastic flavor out of mine. I use it as my gold standard for flavor when comparing other single coil RDAs. Some have rivaled it but none have toppled it from the top spot. I'm starting to think the task is near impossible. (Again, for my preferences)

I don't like too much airflow restriction. That rules out lots of popular models for me. I can handle some restictivness, which the ED has. But it doesn't impede airflow like the Recurve or C4 does. Some of the most popular "single coil flavor RDAs" have even less airflow than those two. Hadaly/Entheon types just don't give me enjoyment.

feel the same deserves its spot on my favourite cycle shelf, selected it as my atty for the UK vape expo in May ...walked over to wotofo stand to say hello to them all, they were like “oh” your using the elder dragon ...cool thanks” ...haha erm yeah i likes it, didn’t see anyone else with one while I was there either which was a shame.

like I said a sleeper RDA still sometimes things become popular later on when more of the community give it a punt ...would like to see something else from Ryusei...not a follow up as it’s great as is, something else new entirely

 

[Huckleberried]

When I started considering squonking more, this was the RDA I thought of. I had read this review, then saw a pic of one on @f1r3b1rd's PIco and simply loved the look. That pic stuck in my brain a long time. I ordered these before I ordered my Luna, used them until it got here. I really love this RDA.

 

[f1r3b1rd]

I love mine, and still use them daily!
They were the first atty I got to review for wotofo! Kind of momentous on multiple fronts for me.

 

[Pastorfuzz]

That was one of the best reviews i have seen.
Great job @KingPin!

 

[Just Frank]

but the 0.17 ohm Wotofo 3mm ID Tri Core fused claptons it comes with are actually the perfect fit for what I’m after,

I forgot to mention this. The included coils are actually very good with this RDA. I used one of them, and put the Elder Dragon on one of my Feedlinks. It hit really decent. I ended up getting multiple rolls of 3x26 N80 fused clapton wire. I haven't tried making my own yet. But that's the plan for 2020. I'm planning on learning how to do some spinning.

I usually use a bigger coil in mine. 3x26 fused clapton or alien. Coilology makes a framed staple alien that goes good in these too.

 

[KingPin!]

That was one of the best reviews i have seen.
Great job @KingPin!

thank you kindly pastor, much appreciated

I wish a very happy new year to you all

 

[BrokenChef]

Great review! Thanks for the in-depth explanations and fantastic pics!

I am new to RDA's and building. Had a golden ED laying around from 3 years ago.. Got frustrated building a Griffin 25 and gave up... had I only opened this ED, I would have learned 3 years ago how simple this can be! You said it was a bit difficult to build but I watched a 5 minute video and 5 minutes after that I was vaping this bad boy. Perhaps I got lucky.

Now, keep in mind I am very new to building and have no idea what I'm doing so I followed a YT vid on building this. I did not put the attention into the cotton you did and I cut the coil at 6 as per instructions. While I don't have anything to compare to, this thing hits like a dream and I absolutely love it at 35 watts!!

My questions:

1. Whats the advantage of cutting the coil at 5 instead of 6 - what does this do for you and does this not change the ohm value?

2. Why did you do all that with the cotton? I just cut it off, roughly at the first o-ring (as per the video I watched), stuffed it in and spread it out. What is the logic behind snipping the sides at an angle and thinning it out? Does this allow more space for juice? I would think you'd want more cotton for better wicking or perhaps I have that backwards...

3. This thing gets hot at 35 watts. I cant imagine how hot it would be at 60... why do you prefer 60 watts?

The biggest downside to the ED for me is that it's SMALL... My most recent tank was the GeekVape Zeus with the 5ml bubble tank (5.5 maybe, cant remember) but it's easily twice the size of the ED so I feel like it could be bigger which would help the heat issue. The silver ED looks awesome on your mod where mine looks very much out of place... I don't care though, I'm not entering any beauty pageants with it!

I don't care for the hassle of dripping but I don't see me going back now that I've tasted how awesome this can be. Time for a squonk!



Thanks for your time!!

 

[BobsHere]

Great review! Thanks for the in-depth explanations and fantastic pics!

I am new to RDA's and building. Had a golden ED laying around from 3 years ago.. Got frustrated building a Griffin 25 and gave up... had I only opened this ED, I would have learned 3 years ago how simple this can be! You said it was a bit difficult to build but I watched a 5 minute video and 5 minutes after that I was vaping this bad boy. Perhaps I got lucky.

Now, keep in mind I am very new to building and have no idea what I'm doing so I followed a YT vid on building this. I did not put the attention into the cotton you did and I cut the coil at 6 as per instructions. While I don't have anything to compare to, this thing hits like a dream and I absolutely love it at 35 watts!!

My questions:

1. Whats the advantage of cutting the coil at 5 instead of 6 - what does this do for you and does this not change the ohm value?

2. Why did you do all that with the cotton? I just cut it off, roughly at the first o-ring (as per the video I watched), stuffed it in and spread it out. What is the logic behind snipping the sides at an angle and thinning it out? Does this allow more space for juice? I would think you'd want more cotton for better wicking or perhaps I have that backwards...

3. This thing gets hot at 35 watts. I cant imagine how hot it would be at 60... why do you prefer 60 watts?

The biggest downside to the ED for me is that it's SMALL... My most recent tank was the GeekVape Zeus with the 5ml bubble tank (5.5 maybe, cant remember) but it's easily twice the size of the ED so I feel like it could be bigger which would help the heat issue. The silver ED looks awesome on your mod where mine looks very much out of place... I don't care though, I'm not entering any beauty pageants with it!

I don't care for the hassle of dripping but I don't see me going back now that I've tasted how awesome this can be. Time for a squonk!

View attachment 197048

Thanks for your time!!

1) lowering the coil by 1mm changes how the air hits it, and affects flavor. 6 is recommended, sometimes a little lower or higher actually works better.
2) trimming the tails helps the cotton wick better by getting rid of excess that just sits there and soaks up juice. Thinning the tails and combing the fibers out straight as you thin helps the capillary action, wicks faster.
3) a nice warm vape to some is scorching hot to others, while the same for you is cold to them, it's subjective. Run it where you like it.
That said there are many factors at play, coil mass, wire type, airflow, and even eliquid flavor, is it fruit or dessert...
Only you can play with these variables to find you. When you do all the rest becomes chatter.
You may find better performance for your preferred vape temp with a different build.

Hope this helps and, yes, squonk it, lol