The Digiflavor Mesh Pro RDA is the brands first foray into the Mesh vaping scene.
As a brand, Digiflavor have quickly been making a big name for themselves as one of the foremost names in tank design.
With flavour maximisation as their focus, you almost know before time that their latest product is going to be special in some way, especially on the flavour front.
I’ve been raving about some of their gear lately, not the least of which is the Digiflavor Siren 2 GTA but offerings like the Pharaoh RTA, the Aura RDA by DJLsb and many more have found places in many a vapers heart and I know a number of people who have a special relationship with one or two of their Digiflavor tanks…I am one of them.
What Can We Expect From The Digiflavor Mesh Pro RDA?
Now, todays subject is the Mesh Pro RDA and, in Digiflavor style, we do of course see a little bit of extra attention given to flavouring up the matter.
Where Vandy Vape’s Mesh RDA followed the normal dripper format, this one gives us a deep juice well to keep those wick tips drenched and absorbing, so none of those dry hits which mesh users know so well, just flavour, flavour, flavour…well, at least that’s what I expect. So does this sit on my list of the best flavour RDA’s available?
Let’s find out.
Oh, before we get started, I know this review comes in a little late but with the assortment of mesh provided in the pack and the fact that the Mesh Pro supports normal coil builds as well, I needed a little extra time to get to know my Mesh Pro.
What’s In The Box
- 1 X Digiflavor Mesh Pro RDA
- 1 x Multi Screwdriver
- 1 x 510 Adapter, 810 and widebore 810 driptips
- 1 x BF Pin
- Extra Screws and O-rings
- Mesh Assortment, SS316L, Ni80, KA1
Features
- Postless Clamp Deck System
- Suports both mesh and standard coils
- Deep juice well
- Squonk compatible
- Available in SS, Gunmetal and Black
- Dimensions 25 x 34.5 mm with drip tip
Build Quality & Design
I received the SS colour option for review and on opening the recognisable Digiflavor red and white box, I saw, firstly, the big Mesh Pro logo etched into the side and I guess you’d have to be forgiven if you confused this with Vandy’s Mesh RDA, since the logo is so similar, what with a big M and all.
The SS version has a brushed finish and I find it to be quite rugged looking, it’s all metal, except the drip tip and besides the heavy, circular knurling on the top edge of the top cap, the airflow holes and logo, it is wholly unadorned.
The RDA is all barrel, the barrel or mid cap covers the base with only a heat-sink wide silver ring visible at the base.
Midway between the base and top of the top cap there are airflow holes, 2 rows of four 1mm wide round holes either side. This airflow is adjustable by way of twisting the top cap.
The knurling is cut out of the top edge of the top cap, it lies at an angle and I’m not able to grip the top cap and pull it out of the barrel, since so little of the top cap is visible.
I twist the top cap to try and adjust airflow…it’s very difficult and at the expense of the simplistic aesthetic, I can already tell you that more of that top cap should have been visible for grip. I can deal with not being able to remove it entirely, with ease, but I don’t like having to struggle to adjust my airflow.
I begin taking the Digiflavor Mesh Pro apart to inspect the deck, base and top cap a little closer. The o-rings are great on the drip tip and the 2 beefy ones on the base give a good amount of tension but don’t make things difficult, machining is definitely right on the barrel and base.
In order to separate the top cap from the barrel I have to push it out from the inside, I see a big single o-ring and massive airflow adjust notches. The inside of the cap is nicely rounded for circulation above your coils and I foresee zero spit back, because of the mesh and the shape/height of the cap.
The base is of interest, it’s hella deep, at more than 1cm, and I’m delighted to discover that this is all juice well.
A clever innovation by Digiflavor, who’ve actually cut out the floor of what would be a postless clamp deck, leaving this massive juice well and a deck that actually looks like a post deck.
Of course, it doesn’t look like a normal deck. Picture a normal postless deck but instead of two holes either side for your coil leads, you have a single 1cm x 3mm slit and the screw which would usually clamp the leads now pushes a plate within the slit to clamp the thin mesh tightly.
Of course, you have to remember that the floor has been cut out so it actually looks like one big rectangular post…only the space between the slits has a break in it and a plate is left extending out from the one clamp. Ish…that’s a mouthful.
The space below the plate has been cleared to accommodate more juiciness and a bottom feeder, which pin is included. I guess, in the end, it actually resembles a dual post deck more than anything. By the way, it’s gold plated by the looks of it.
It’s wide…25mm, which is great for me when it comes to RDAs and here, what this means is that there is probably going to be room for a tank’s worth of juice in this well. I’m looking forward to this.
Oh, it’s actually rather good looking and found it a real bit of eye-candy when atop my Smoant Charon Ts 218W, as used in the pics.
Accessories
I’m fond of narrow tips these days so I’m pleased about the 510 adaptor and narrow 810 which are included along with the fitted wide bore 810. Also I have all the extra screws I could need, screwdriver and of course…a squonk pin!
The big plus here is the variety of three mesh types, with two 8x40mm strips of each in neat little marked bags…sweet.
How Does The Digiflavor Mesh Pro RDA Perform?
The fast heating nature of mesh might come as a shock to you the first time you see that arch of mesh instantly set aglow. All that surface area, combined with the real juiciness of this deep juice well and the space for allowing your wick tips to remain submerged isn’t a bad thing.
Once I’d settled on a length for my mesh strip, so that the wick wasn’t too thick and there was space enough above the arch for circulation beneath that rounded inner cap, I started to enjoy a really good cloud factor and what is, on one hand, good flavour but…for me, the flavour, even when enriched by a raised temp setting, seemed underlined by a metallic taste.
That’s when I learned rule one of meshing: make sure that your wick is tight against the length of your coil and no mesh is out in the open…or METAL YOU WILL TASTE YOUNG PADAWAN !
That said, wick has a tendency to weigh down when soaked and as a result, sink away from the mesh…to make matters worse, stacking the wick too thick makes dry hits a likelihood, even with that deep well so, long short, mesh is not for the hot blooded. Not in the least.
The potential is there for a solid, delicious, cloudy experience but it’s neither easy to achieve nor is it easy to maintain.
I want to like it but I don’t.
I like the novelty, the instantaneous ramp with that fast heating mesh but for me, I didn’t have a flavour punching experience like I’d hoped for. I tasted the flavour but that metal underline, after a number of hits, starts to be a whole lot more than an underline.
The airflow is a winner, right from restricted to open, the rounded inner cap is perfection, the deep juice well is more than ample but the mesh is just not as convenient and functional, in my opinion, as the standard coil.
Attempting to alleviate the metallic issue is a freakin’ catch 22 situation which I literally spent a week attempting to successfully bypass in a way that wasn’t too short lived to be really helpful.
Beyond that, one issue is that the deep juice well, when full, will result in an epic spill through the airflow slots if you so much as tilt the RDA too much.
The RDA has real merits…the mesh is the problem.
I enjoyed the slightly higher resistance SS mesh the most out of the selection, although they all have a fairly similar vape quality, in my opinion, with the Ni80 producing somewhat less vapour.
I suspect that my preference has to do with the diminished metallic taste with a higher resistance and while the Ni80 is also lighter on the metal taste, I’m a cloud monger so, yeah. I’m sorry guys, I tried so hard to like it!
When fitted with regular coils, I found the heat up too slow.
I pulsed a few different builds on it and concluded that the heat is getting distributed over the plate instead of directly heating the coils, it’s made for mesh and that’s that. The mesh, you either like or don’t and even when my wicking was perfect, I still tasted something off so, maybe it’s about palate sensitivity.
How To Fill
Simply drip through the drip tip.
Ease of build
Note: Mesh is insanely fragile.
Okay, well…don’t be over eager and come in ready to coil that entire strip over your deck.
Even after my first trim of the mesh, the heavy wicking I placed got caught between the top cap and barrel when I tried to adjust my airflow and it pulled the build round in a circle, crumpling the mesh in an instant and resulting in a catastrophic hot juice splat and 5 minute stream of pretty hard core swear words.
I settled on the coil size you see in the pics, although I advise you to stack your cotton a little fuller than in my photos, since it didn’t take long to fall away from the coil.
In the end I found that simply unclamping one side of the mesh and clipping it was easier than adding wick so my coil got progressively smaller.
While mesh conducts so fast that resistance doesn’t change with clipping, this also results in diminished surface area, cloud and flavour but I gotta say, I wasn’t complaining since the flavour profile wasn’t tickling my fancy to begin and for me, less became more.
Fitting any flat shaped wire, such as staple fused claptons, is insanely difficult when you have to position leads from two coils in one long clamp…so only single builds really flow with those wire types.
Rounded wire, like alien wire, is easier for a dual build but conductivity is geared for mesh and you’ll wait 5 seconds plus to heat a pair of 5 wrap aliens, even at 90 Watts and for me, that’s a bit of a drag.
What I Liked
The ease of fitting and clamping mesh, the deep juice well, circulation from the rounded inner top cap and the good airflow range.
What I Dislike
I find a metallic taste near unavoidable with mesh, I find balancing wick thickness very difficult, I find that when the juice well is full, I get airflow slot leaks every other minute and when the juice level is low, dry hits become too likely.
I’m afraid to say, I dislike the mesh option and found the deck unaccommodating to regular builds. Sorry Digiflavor, I still love you!
Final Review Verdict
Mesh heats instantly, has a massive surface area and is easy to install but I think more innovation is necessary.
For example, a cotton mesh strip or pad that can be fitted along with the mesh and somehow clamped so that the mesh never breaks contact with the cotton, after that, a wicking of the same material could do it’s wonderful job of absorbing all that lovely flavour to be atomised over that epic surface area…then the flavour would be off the charts.
The Digiflavor Mesh Pro RDA has some outstanding elements, the rounded cap, deep well and excellent airflow range are not the least of those but sadly, for this reviewer, mesh is not the order of the day and it’s time to wash the juice of my desk, hands and self in general and get going on the next review.
If you’re curious, give it a try, maybe you’ll be the one to find a solution to that problem, I know there are some who have no such complaints, fingers crossed you’ll be amongst them.
And..
Would I buy this if I lost/broke the device? Certainly not.
Pros
- Airflow range
- Deep juice well
- Rounded inner cap for circulation and flavour
Cons
- Tendency to leak if tipped, when the well is full
- Doesn’t mix well with normal coils
- Difficult to grip top cap for airflow adjust
- Prevalent metallic taste with a solution that’s difficult to maintain
- Too much wicking equals dry hits and too little equals metallic taste so, I guess, it’s a fine art
