Tobeco Technology Company Limited based in Guangdong, China and should be quite well known to most vapers. Tobeco typically manufactures replicas of existing products but recently has started to produce some of its own authentic designs. In collaboration with Ohm Nation U.S.A., Tobeco has designed the Turbo. This RDA is quite unique because it incorporates a fan which allegedly boosts vapour production.
Box Contents
- 1x Turbo Rebuildable Dripping Atomizer
- Stainless Steel heat sink incorporated 510 drip tip adapter
- Spare O-Rings
- Spare Screws
- 22mm Pyrex Drip tip
- A warning card stating that highly acidic juice may break down the fan material
- 1x blue screwdriver
Look and Build Of The Turbo
This is certainly a well machined and reasonably nice looking RDA. It is a lot taller than most due to needing to include the fan. This RDA does not have typical air holes but instead has a “OM” symbol which I believe is in Sanskrit, laser etched on to both sides of the main barrel.The included Pyrex drip tip is of the wide bore variety larger than most but not as large as a Chuff Cap. The edges are smoothed off nicely and it is comfortable to use.
RDA Specifications
- 304 grade Stainless Steel
- Square Centre Post, which is designed to prevent spinning
- PEEK quality insulator
- Negative posts milled into the deck
- 5.5mm juice well
- Heat sinks
- Adjustable airflow control
The RDA breaks down into the following components:
- One piece deck and incorporated heat sink
- The main barrel with the laser cut air holes
- The fan turbine mount. The mount itself is stainless steel and the fan is made form heat resistant polycarbonate. Fins protrude from the fan surround and these are used to control the airflow
- The Pyrex drip tip or the 510 drip tip adapter top piece
The included spares are reasonable and everything is packaged nicely in a gold coloured box.
My Thoughts
Firstly this RDA is very easy to build and the deck is of a typical size. The screws are good quality and I am happy to report that there were no problems fitting or trapping wire. The well is also deep enough and typical of most RDA’s.It is important to stress that this RDA is solely for a dual coil set up.
The airflow does not support a single coil. Just for the purposes of covering all the bases I did try a single coil and taped over the the air hole on one side. It was lacklustre to say the least, flavour was OK but vapour production was poor.
So moving on and using it purely as a dual coil as intended I tried a variety of builds with 26 AWG (0.4mm) and also with 24 AWG (0.5mm) wire. Resistances used were 0.8 ohm, 0.5 ohm and 0.2 ohm. Please be extremely careful if attempting very low builds, always know the limits of your device and batteries and know your Ohms Law. Stay safe everyone.
So as I’m sure you’re all wondering how does it vape? Well to be fair its OK, I feel it compares to most average RDA’s. In terms of flavour its nothing fabulous so this is certainly not going to suit any flavour chasers. That’s not to say the flavour is bad, it just seemed to be middling.
As for vapour production it certainly does put out some clouds. Though the strange thing is that the clouds are only dense in places and in parts the vapour is quite thin. I suspect the circulation of the fan itself causes it to dissipate in this fashion.
Now for the noise, yes you read that correctly. When drawing on the Turbo there is this whizzing sound which reminds me of a home computer fan operating at top speed. It is somewhat distracting and I suspect there will be many who take issue with it. Depending on your own personal sense of humour it may even amuse you, however the overall feeling this user is left with is that this RDA is as much of a poor man’s musical instrument as it is a dripper.
The whizzing sound is at its most extreme when the airflow is fully opened up but thankfully can be reduced. Closing down the airflow does reduce it but that’s actually defeating the object of this being a cloud chasing RDA, so I guess you’ll learn to live with it or you won’t.
Experimenting with the Turbo I did notice that you can actually take very slow draws without putting in the kind of effort that would typically be needed for the average lung inhale and still put out a lot of vapour.
As to the question whether its putting out more vapour than other cloud chasing RDA’s I find that somewhat debatable. I would say its comparable to a good RDA with a large Chuff Cap. All the fan is essentially doing is circulating the vapour so personally I don’t feel it actually achieves anything beyond making an annoying sound, which sadly makes this something of a gimmick.
I am also mindful of possible safety concerns, the fan itself may break down eventually and come loose and given the diameter of the Pyrex drip tip it could end up in your mouth.
I found very minimal leaking with this RDA but the Pyrex drip tip does lead to heavy condensation build up. This is not a RDA for those out and about.
Given the constantly spinning fan and with the addition of the heat sink I did find that this RDA was a cooler vape than others at very high wattage but I don’t think that’s a massive benefit.
Tobeco Turbo Review Conclusion
While I think its nice to see a company try to devise new ideas, they don’t always pay off. In some respects the Turbo feels like something that may have been a half hearted concept which has given the entire thing a gimmick quality to it. Its a bit of a let down and its unfortunate because the device is actually very well made and I suspect some people may still enjoy it for its quirky fun factor. Other negatives are simply that it only supports dual coil and the flavour is nothing to write home about.
It is however reasonably cheap at around £25 which is a good price for an authentic RDA.
Pros
- Well made
- Potentially cooler vape at high wattage
- Good vapour production
- Decent enough spares
- Relatively cheap
Cons
- A fan that quite honestly achieves nothing
- Very noisy unless airflow is heavily closed down
- Average flavour
- Possible safety concern with the fan
- There are far better RDA’s out there
