Dead Rabbit Solo RDA by Hellvape
Review by Jen_Turista
Hellvape Dead Rabbit Solo RDA – Single Coil Flavour Banger!
What’s happening, vapers! I’ve got some new gear to look at with all of you today: the Hellvape Dead Rabbit Solo RDA!
This atomiser was kindly supplied to me by Hellvape (thank you, guys!) for review purposes.
Hellvape is not a newcomer to the atomiser, or indeed the rebuildable market. Their highly successful “Rabbit” devices are mainstays of the industry, and that is why these are still widely used by vapers worldwide.
As for the “Rabbits”, there have been several iterations of this line from Hellvape (Dead or Fat), and probably the most popular ones are the Dead Rabbit RDAs and RTAs (in up-numbered versions!). Throughout my years of vaping, I do count myself as a “rabbit” fan; in fact, one of my favourite RTAs is the Fat Rabbit RTA!
So, what is the Dead Rabbit Solo RDA and how does it perform? Let’s find out!
As always, I will be reviewing this RDA as an average vaper, as most of us in the community are.
Packaging and Contents
I was sent a sample version of the Hellvape Dead Rabbit Solo RDA, the packaging of which contained:
- The RDA comes with a 510 pin and an 810 clear drip tip by default. Although, Hellvape did say that retail units will come with resin drip tips.
- 1 x 510 drip tip adaptor.
- Coil cutting tool.
- 1 x 0.42 ohm Ni80 Clapton coil.
- 1 x shoelace cotton.
- 1 x squonk (BF) pin.
- Baggie of spares with o-rings, post screws, and building tools.
- User manual.
Salient Features include:
- A base diameter of 22 mm, with a height of 33 mm with an 810 drip tip.
- Single coil deck with two posts.
- Deep and slightly domed juice well.
- Honeycomb airflow with 1.2 mm holes x 30 (15 on each side of the RDA).
- Uses standard 810 drip tips.
- Will come in 7 colours.
Impressions and Experience
The RDA came in a very compact box, as I expected from Hellvape as this is quite similar to other Hellvape atomisers I have used. It is covered in Hellvape’s trademark orange, with a white front that has a viewing window displaying the RDA.
Features, package contents, warnings, and manufacturer information adorn this box. The RDA sits snugly inside a compartmentalised foam tray, with all kit accessories neatly tucked inside an inner box. All in all, a simple but effective way of hardware packaging, which always goes down well with me!
The kit packaging has pretty much everything you’ll need to get started, which makes it very vape beginner-friendly.
Aesthetics & Ergonomics
At first glance, the RDA might look understated but it really gives off a classy vibe. In the Stainless Steel finish, the Dead Rabbit logo is engraved in front of the RDA, with airflow slots on either side of it. The top cap has fairly deep knurling to assist with adjusting airflow on the fly. The 810 drip tip supplied matches very well with the rest of the RDA.
Branding-wise, there isn’t really much apart from the product series logo and product name printed on the underside of the base. If you’ve been reading my reviews for a while, you’ll know that I love products like these: subtle and yet recognisable!
The RDA and its parts are machined perfectly with no rough edges, and all movable parts operate with just the right amount of tension. The drip tip, top cap, and chamber all fit together seamlessly with no part being too tight or too loose. The RDA as a whole is quite easy to disassemble for cleaning.
In terms of ergonomics, it weighs 32 g on its own, and of course, would be a bit more with cotton and e-liquid. But it is very lightweight and is ideal for smaller mods. The stock drip tip is very comfortable to use and dissipates heat quite effectively.
Being a 22 mm diameter atomiser, it will fit on almost any mod (or any mod that has a 510 platform measuring 22 mm or more). So, you shouldn’t have a problem matching this up with most mods on the market.
Airflow Control
The top cap spins to adjust the airflow by limiting or exposing the airflow holes, which are arranged in 3 rows of 5 holes on each side. And you can control the airflow by row and also by column, and even both at the same time! It’s quite innovative, isn’t it? For the way that I vape, I kept it simple by just covering up the top row, allowing airflow to hit the underside and side of the coil with the two rows exposed (more on this in a bit when we get to discussing the build).
For a single coil RDA, the Dead Rabbit Solo is impressively very open with all airflow holes exposed; and covering these holes via the top cap is really quite effective. Kudos to Hellvape here for a brilliantly designed RDA airflow system!
The airflow holes are drilled into the chamber, which in turn locks onto the RDA base, keeping it in place and everything about the RDA aligned. Unlike your run-of-the-mill RDA chamber, the Dead Rabbit Solo RDA chamber is so uniquely and cleverly designed! That’s because this one is narrowed to fit and align with the deck posts. The narrowing does create some distance for the air to travel, and so the airflow holes traverse all the way from what you see outside of the chamber, to where the narrowing ends at each side and inside the chamber.
It’s probably not that easy to imagine but perhaps the best way to describe this is: to imagine how chamber reducers are used in some RDAs. Whilst they are OK to use, one of their drawbacks is limiting airflow to just one side of the RDA (and sometimes it affects taste too because, well, they’re usually made of heat-resistant plastic). Now imagine a single coil RDA with posts bang in the middle, and chamber reducers on either side and now imagine that these reducers have holes delivering airflow in close contact with your coil. That is how Hellvape designed the Dead Rabbit Solo RDA’s airflow: by engineering a reduced metal chamber that has airflow holes almost kissing the coil. And that is why the flavour from this RDA is so, so impressed with just the one coil!
Now We Build!
The build deck is quite roomy because the posts are in the middle of it. It is also slightly domed, which I thought was also very clever as it aids in ensuring continued wicking. The juice wells are more than enough being several mm deep.
There are two posts for trapping the leads, and these posts in combination with the narrowed chamber may be able to accommodate up to about 4 mm ID coils by my estimation. Anything more than that starts obstructing the airflow a bit, which will be a shame since the flavour from the airflow of this RDA is just absolutely brilliant!
For a simple build:
- Unscrew the post screws.
- Cut your coils as recommended by the coil lead guide. You will notice that I spaced my coils a bit (after trimming the leads). It’s a force of habit for me, but in general, it helps to avoid spitting back.
- Slot your coil leads in and tighten each post screw.
- Adjust coil height. I’d recommend positioning the coil in line with the airflow holes of the chamber. So not too low or too high, else the flavour may suffer.
- Pulse the coil to burn oils and address hotspots (especially if you don’t space your coils). At this point as well, I recommend putting the chamber on the deck to check coil alignment and to check for shorts.
- Then slide the cotton thread in. I’d recommend trimming to just the end of the RDA base.
- Since this type of wicking will function on capillary action, thin the cotton out a bit (but not too much), making sure that the threads are straight.
- Tuck the wicks at each end, with the end of the wicks just about touching the deck (trim the wick if they’re too long).
- Prime the coil, and enjoy!
I used the Ni80 coil supplied in the kit, and it ohmed out at 0.41 on the mod I was using, which is pretty good! And using the cotton in the kit as well, the flavour was just heavenly (9/10)! Usually, I don’t get or even expect amazing flavour from single coils RDAs, because, well, there’s just one coil in use. But the Hellvape Dead Rabbit Solo RDA proved me wrong, and I am so happy it did!
I really took this RDA for a spin, trying dessert, fruit, iced flavours and any other e-liquid I had on hand. And it performed beautifully every time, with crisp and strong flavour notes coming through, all with that smooth airflow. As I mentioned earlier, the flavour quality is largely because of the reduced solid chamber, however, the reduced nature of this chamber also helps draw warmth that is so satisfying.
Overall: Yay or Nay?
If it’s not obvious by now, this RDA gets a resounding Yay from me! I tried very hard to look for a con or even a note for improvement, but I seriously couldn’t find any. Amazing flavour, easy to set up, doesn’t leak, looks phenomenal- it’s a dream of an RDA!
I can happily recommend the Hellvape Dead Rabbit Solo RDA for vapers of all levels. Even for the experienced hobbyist, I can tell you that you will really enjoy this one!
My sincerest thanks again to Hellvape for sending the Dead Rabbit Solo RDA for the review! To check out more of the RDA, head over to the Hellvape website via the links at the start of the review!
This review was written by jen_turista who is very active within the vape community. You can go give her a follow on Instagram and Twitter.