Augvape and indeed YouTube reviewer Mike Vapes have been knocking it out the park lately and the Augvape Intake RTA is the first collaboration between the two.
We like Augvape products, they are top quality on the whole with performance to match so looking forward to this one!
Augvape Intake RTA
The Intake RTA is a single coil with a unique airflow that for once is indeed unique as we’ll see later.
It’s a crowded single coil RTA market out there with some amazing tanks competing for top spot such as the AvidVape Ghost Inhale and the Vapefly Horus catching our reviewers eye.
So has the clever pipe system bringing the air in from the top to the bottom put this one at the front of the single coil pack?
Let’s take a closer look and see if this can be rated as one of the best RTA’s available.
The Intake RTA was sent to me direct from Augvape – thank you – for the purpose of this review and as always my thoughts and opinions are my own.
Inside the Box
The usual Augvape tube style packaging rather than a box and inside you’ll find:
- 1 x Intake RTA
- 1 x Glass Tube(2ml)
- 1 x Screwdriver
- 1 x 510 Adapter
- 1 x Accessories Bag
Specs and Features
- Co-designed by Augvape and Mike Vapes
- 24mm diameter
- 4.2ml or 2.5ml capacity
- Top airflow in, bottom airflow out
- Two-posts deck with open channels for single coils
- Leak proof design
- Top fill
Key Features
As the name might suggest the key feature here is the airflow.
What you have is two hollow tubes that ‘intakes’ the air from the top and channels it to the bottom of the tank before bouncing back slamming into the coils on its way up.
The design makes this pretty much leak proof – more on that soon – and should do away with the dip in flavour some top airflow RTAs can have – more on flavour later too.
There’s two Cyclops style airflow ports and these are very small and narrow indeed – so a loose airy vape is not something you’ll expect from this one indeed as I’ll show later it’s very restricted.
OK, out of the box this has a 2.5ml e-liquid capacity but this can be switched out using the 4.2ml bubble glass.
Filling is as simple as unscrewing the top cap to reveal two smallish kidney shaped fill ports.
Despite being a relatively small if a little cramped deck you should have no issues building given both post holes are open at the side making coil placement a doddle.
The RTA also comes with x2 810 drip tips – a rather low profile blue one and a chunkier black one and a 510 adaptor.
Do take note the bore from the top cap is very narrow so the width of your drip tip is going to make little if any difference apart from personal comfort.
Design and Build Quality
It’s fair to say Augvape make good looking vape gear – especially their mods such as the V200 and that gorgeous Templar RDA.
The Intake is maybe not as aesthetically pleasing as some RTAs on the market – indeed with the bubble glass on it does look at little clunky – especially with that large knurling on the top cap.
Another design feature I don’t particularly like is the exposed gold deck peeping through the bottom of the tank nor do I think the shade of blue on the included drip tip is a particularly nice colour nor does it match the black version I received.
However as you might expect from Augvape those personal niggles aside the build quality is once again first rate.
Whilst the threads, like most RTAs out of the box, are a little tight they soon loosen up and whilst not silky they are well machined.
The Augvape Intake RTA is put together very well indeed with good machining with quality materials.
How Does the Augvape Intake RTA Perform?
As I’ve already mentioned building on this is a doddle with those open sided post holes making it an absolute breeze to build on.
There’s not a lot of room in there and I found having the coil as close the airflow intake as possible gave me the best flavour – and I mean as close as possible without touching the deck!
However and despite this being similar to a Genesis style deck the wicking can be a little tricky.
Being such a small deck means you’ll be using smaller coils and my first couple of builds using too much cotton gave me a poor flavour and a couple of dry hits.
The wicking holes are tiny so I was able to pack the coil and feather out the legs giving them room to swell once juiced up without choking them so to speak.
It might take a couple of goes but once you get it right it becomes second nature.
Filling is easy too with a simple bit of pressure on the top cap before a half twist anti-clockwise opens it up – similar to a bayonet fitting.
Flavour and Clouds From the Intake RTA
I have had x3 builds in there and found a 2.5mm Clapton coil around 0.3ohm gave me the best vape and I wicked with FUZZ which I find extremely easy to thin out to fit those tiny wicking ports.
At around 51 to 53w the vape was warm – cloudy and the flavour was good – not stand out but the better side of good.
I’m guessing the decent flavour comes from way the air has been channeled from top to bottom and the tight bore of the top cap.
Speaking of tight this is a restricted direct to lung draw [DTL] even with the air flow control wide open.
Personally I prefer a slightly looser draw however I soon got used to it but bare that in mind if you choose to buy it.
Cloud production will obviously be down to your build/cotton and e-juice – however using an 80/20 PG/VG mix the clouds whilst not spectacular were very good indeed – but for me this has been designed for flavour and whilst not amazing the flavour profile is on point.
Pros
- Easy to build on
- Good flavour
- Good clouds
- Clever airflow design
- Leak proof
- Sturdy
- Bubble glass included
- X2 810 drip tips
- 510 adaptor
- Decent price
- Choice of colours: black – stainless steel – blue and gun metal
Cons
- Very restricted draw
- Tiny bore despite x2 810 drip tips
- Wicking can be a little fiddly
- Looks wise decidedly average
- Not the best blue for a black drip tip
- No coils included
Final Review Verdict
I was extremely excited to get my hands on the Augvape Intake RTA given the last few items I’ve reviewed from the brand have been very good indeed.
Whilst I’m not totally disappointed with its looks and performance I’m not blown away either.
Sure the flavour is on par with similar single coil RTAs and the airflow is unique but the fiddly wicking – that exposed gold deck and the tight draw means this is one that might go into regular use with the emphasis on ‘might’.
I thought the Asmodus Zesthia was a tight draw and if you have that RTA then trust me the Intake is much much tighter.
However as to a mouth to lung vape?
I did pop the 510 adaptor on and tried and I shall say you can get an MTL of sorts but not one I particularly enjoyed especially with the airflow right down.
I’ll use the analogy of sucking a cricket ball through a hose pipe…
So on a personal level add that tightness to the overall look and maybe you can see why I’m a little lukewarm on this one.
On a positive note I have certainly not had any leaks whatsoever and trust me I’ve been traveling a lot lately [hence the lack of content] with the Intake regularly chucked into my rucksack.
It’s also taken a couple of drops – including onto concrete and has remained undamaged – so a bit of a tough nut too.
Yes I’ve enjoyed using it – yes the flavour is good and yes it’s an easy to build RTA – if you get the wicking right – I’m just not experiencing an intake of vaping joy…
