I reviewed the original and said it was very close to being a superb dripper so does the Augvape Druga 2 RDA get even closer?
There’s been a number of changes which I shall go into shortly and the designer of the original Druga dripper – Indonesia’s Mike House Vapes now gets his name on the base.
I’ve worked closely with Augvape for quite some time and as I always say, tend to really enjoy the company’s rebuildables – tanks and mods.
My go to dripper is still the Augvape BTFC – the recently reviewed Augvape VX217 is a decent vape kit, whilst the Augvape and Mass Mods S2 squonk mod rarely leaves my side.
It’s not all been plain sailing though – I really didn’t like the Druga Narada nor the Druga Narad Pro pod kits – but hey a company as classy as this can be forgiven for the odd blip – plus many people loved them – I mean what do I know lol.
What Can We Expect From the Augvape Druga 2 RDA?
An easier build experience is top of my checklist!
Augvape says the major transformations are the new bigger harder wearing clamps and a big change in the airflow control.
And as always I’m hoping the great flavour and clouds – the original was very tasty indeed so it will be interesting to see if there’s an improvement.
OK, this was sent to me free of charge direct from Augvape – thank you – and as always my thoughts and opinions ain’t swayed by freebies.
Incidentally – Druga means ‘second‘ in Polish, so is it better the second time around..?
Inside the Box
Sparse contents and no cotton or coils.
- Augvape Druga 2 RDA
- 510 Pin (Preinstalled)
- Hollow BF pin
- Spares kit
- User card
Specs
- 24mm
- 2 clamp post design
- Gold plated deck
- Dual or single coil
- Dual adjustable airflow
- Squonk pin
- Low profile drip tip
- Weight: 67g
- Height: 2.9cm (1.1″)
- Diameter: 2.4cm (0.9″)
Key Features
The major overhaul is the clamps – if they were big on the original on the Augvape Druga 2 RDA they are massive.
And that chunkiness goes through to the much larger post slots for your coil and the overly large and deep Phillips head screws to tighten your legs. And unlike the original dripper, they don’t completely unscrew either.
The clamps/posts are 18k gold – as are both 510s – which Augvape says increases conductivity.
The juice well is 6mm deep – it actually looks shallower being dwarfed by those huge posts.
There are 6 airflow holes on either side – making a dozen in total – and there’s a number of airflow options to choose from which I’ll look at later.
There’s also a squonk pin and really that’s about it for features.
Design and Build Quality
The Augvape Druga 2 RDA is made from stainless steel and as tends to be the case with most of the company’s products, the machining is perfectly acceptable.
The airflow control moves with just enough tension to make sure it stays in place and it’s a very smooth action even straight out of the box.
As for the new and improved clamps – or to give it the full name the CSS [Clamp Snag System] – as I’ll keep saying, they are big chunky and again very smooth to screw and unscrew.
The larger post slots coil legs bite down well and as I’ll mention later, you can get some big old coils in there in both dual or single coil mode.
Design wise it’s bang on point for my tastes – it’s a no frills unfussy clean lines kind of look and the stainless steel version I received looks very classy indeed – no garish logos and company names here.
The 810 drip tip is extremely low profile – which I like – and I have been able to swap a couple of my larger ones – though one didn’t fit.
So is it easier to build on than the original?
How Does the Augvape Druga 2 RDA Perform?
In my review of the previous version I said it was within “touching distance of being a superb RDA…”
That was 3 years ago and I was pretty new to all this building malarkey, and given Augvape had said the CSS was easy for even brand new builders – I did struggle – and wasn’t alone!
So how did I get on with the Augvape Druga 2 RDA? Let’s take a look…
Building On the Augvape Druga 2 RDA
I’ll cut straight to the chase…easy as pie!
Those posts/clamps whilst towering over the deck and taking up a lot of real estate – really are a vast improvement.
Being so big and wide means there’s much more room to slot in your coils.
In dual coil mode I was able to pop in all 4 legs tighten down and snip them tight no bother, and even fingers thumbs old man me sorted it first time – get me ha!
BTW – I only had 3mm Tri-Core Fused Claptons in my cupboard and they do look tiny in there, ‘proper‘ builders will enjoy popping a pair of chunky fancy ones in no worries – or of course a big single.
Wicking was a cinch too – and I kept quite longish tails to pack out the juice well as it is indeed deeper than it looks.
Augvape Druga RDA 2 Airflow
The original had a pair of quite narrow Cyclops style slots.
The Augvape Druga 2 RDA now has 6 holes either side and the clever top cap has steps so that each side mirrors.
Wide open and it’s a very airy vape with very good flavour – on a scale of 1:10 with 10 being gale force – it’s a 9 at least – a little bit of turbulence and a bit noisy too.
Just one airflow open and it’s very very tight indeed – not quite MTL tight – but close.
I found a happy medium with 2 of the holes closed off – this gave me very good flavour indeed – cut down on the turbulence and still delivered amazing clouds.
Incidentally the coils ohm’d out at 0.17ohms and I used Supergood Cosmopolitan flavour [lovely stuff] at 70/30 VG/PG – and it almost matched the flavour off my go to dripper – the Augvape BTFC.
And if I’m honest the squonk pin works with a nice action – though I did get one leak through the airflow holes by over-squonking.
Pros
- Very simple to build on
- Deep juice well
- Excellent airflow control options
- Great flavour
- Amazing clouds
- Classy design
Cons
- A little noisy – depends on airflow
Final Review Verdict
I ended my review of the original Druga dripper with the words:
…let’s hope the Druga 2 – should there be one – is genuinely ‘easy peasy’ to build on.
Augvape has certainly achieved that with the Druga 2 RDA – it’s probably one of the easiest decks I’ve built on.
Those clamps are massive and that deck might look crowded, but it really isn’t with more than enough wiggle room.
As I said earlier, I’m sure the real builders out there will enjoy popping in some of those fancy Dan chunky coils.
So yeah, it might have taken 3 years, but those little changes have made a big difference.
As to if the Augvape Druga 2 RDA is superb..?
Once again it’s close – but for me it doesn’t surpass the performance of the BTFC dripper.
However, if you don’t own that one – then this will give you great flavour and clouds – what more do you want?
So – are you using this one?
Planning to buy it?
Any thoughts let me know in the comments below.
