Tobeco Turbo V2 RDA Review – Definite Improvement On The Original

The original Turbo RDA (Rebuildable Dripping Atomizer) despite good quality machining wasn’t the most successful design. It tried to be innovative but in many respects but seemed nothing more than a pointless gimmick. This time Tobeco Technology Co. Ltd once again in collaboration with Ohm Nation U.S.A. have tried again.

Turbo V2 RDA by Tobeco – An Improvement On The Original?

Is the Tobeco Turbo V2 worthy of consideration then? Maybe even a place on our best RDA list? We shall see:

The Turbo V2 RDA Features:

• Polycarbonate Grade Plastic Turbine Wheel
• Smaller and considerably different in appearance to the Turbo V1
• 304 Stainless Steel Construction
• Square Post to prevent spinning
• Negative Posts milled directly into the deck
• PEEK Insulator
• Deep Juice Well
• Adjustable Airflow
• Designed for a Dual Coil build

The Turbo V2 box contains:

• 1x Turbo V2 RDA
• 1x Pyrex Wide Bore Drip Tip
• 1x Delrin 510 Drip Tip Adapter
• Spare Screws
• Spare O-Rings
• 1x Small Blue Screwdriver
• 1x warning card stating that highly acidic juice may break down the polycarbonate fan material

Abandoning the gold coloured box design the original Turbo came in, Tobeco have made their new packaging smaller with a mainly black box with bright yellow lettering. Its not massively important but I do think the new packaging looks far more professional.

The Turbo V2 looks nicer than the Turbo:

For me the problem with the original Turbo was that it was too big, a rather overly tall RDA that seemed unnecessary. The Turbo V2 is much more compact and overall I feel it is far better designed.  The machining is very good much like the V1. Everything fits together well. The screws are good quality and have bigger heads, they work well and trap the wire without issues.

The review item was the black coloured version and the coating seems very good. It has not flaked at all up to this point. The Pyrex drip tip has been reduced in size and while still suitably wide bore it far more comfortable to use.

In every way that counts Tobeco have refined the Turbo design and aesthetically I prefer this version to the previous one.

One safety aspect I mentioned regarding the original Turbo was due to the size of the Pyrex drip tip and the possibility of the fan material breaking down I pointed out that the fan could potentially end up in your mouth. Tobeco have remedied the problem and fitting a mesh section directly above the fan itself, top marks to them for addressing this.

The airflow is exactly the same as the original with the air flow holes being a laser cut “OM” symbol on opposite sides of the atomizer. The protruding polycarbonate blades that are attached to the fan/top cap assembly can be rotated and open up or close off the air flow.

Is The Turbo V2 Better and How Does It Vape?

The Turbo is still a dual coil only RDA, so nothing has really changed in terms of how you go about building it. I used 26 AWG (0.4mm) wire  and made two identical coils of eight wraps apiece. My final resistance was 0.4 ohms. I wicked the coils with Japanese Cotton.

In terms of vaping the Turbo V2 is superior in every respect to the V1. I found the V1 to have distinctly average flavour but the V2 is far better. Certainly at its most wide open airflow the flavour is fairly reasonable probably above average compared to a lot of cloud chasing RDA’s but heavily closing down the airflow really boosts the flavour in this one.

I would say closed down the flavour is very nice, perhaps not as full on flavoursome as a Derringer or a Mini Freakshow but nothing that will really disappoint you. The flavour is most likely better than the V1 due to the reduced size of the atomizer itself.

Regarding vapour production it really is quite immense. In the original Turbo the fan tended to dissipate the vapour rather than boost it and also due to the large size of the RDA itself I think a lot of the vapour was diminished before it reached your mouth. Being far smaller the V2 excels with the most casual effortless draw producing huge clouds for your enjoyment.

Finally the fan has become something more than a gimmicky placebo effect and actually does seem to improve things. Essentially the vape is equivalent to a huge chuff cap style of RDA but with at least two to three times more vapour being distributed by the fan, quite the accomplishment when the drip tip itself is only the wide bore variety.

One advantage of the original Turbo was that the fan helped to cool the vape to a degree when vaping at high wattage. The V2 also succeeds in that department and 75-100W is a much cooler vape than would be the case with another RDA. Its still warm  enough but its far more comfortable when vaping heavily.

Another failing of the original design was the heavily irritating noise that was produced, for some it may have been entertaining but to others it was an annoying distraction. The Turbo V2 is not that noisy. There is still a slight whizzing on its most wide open air flow setting but its not that noticeable.

The fan does rattle somewhat but its not especially loud, the crackling from your juice spitting and hitting the walls of the chamber is louder. With the air flow heavily closed down the sound is unlikely to trouble anyone.

The only issue I find is that at high wattage like a lot of RDA’s it gets extremely hot. If Tobeco want to consider a Version 3.0 then a good idea would be to at least double up the bottom heat sink.

I would also like to see Tobeco introduce a single coil option for users who prefer it. It wouldn’t be hard to achieve either, just add another blade to the top assembly.

Is The Turbo V2 Worth It?

Yes it certainly is. What I appreciate here is that Tobeco have taken a design that had potentially good ideas and refined it to the point where it achieves what it originally meant to do.

For a authentic, well machined, quite flavoursome, fog machine of a RDA this is certainly worth considering.

Final Thoughts

I found the original Turbo to be a well machined RDA that tried to innovate but was in the end flawed and nothing more than a gimmick.

The Turbo V2 is superior in every respect. The manufacturer has taken the criticism of the V1 on board and improved their design to the point where it now is a unique and very worthy RDA. I actually rather like it.

The Good:

• Effortless draw thanks to the fan
• Huge vapour production
• Far more compact and aesthetically pleasing than the V1
• Deep well
• Decent flavour
• The vape is noticeably cooler at high wattage compared to other RDA’s
• Previous safety concerns have been addressed
• Well machined and reasonably cheap for an authentic RDA

The not so good:

• Dual Coil only
• RDA gets very hot at high wattage