This review will take a loser look at the Vandy Vape Berserker MTL RDA, the latest in a line of reviewer collaborations, this one with Alex over at VapersMD.
This is a nifty little RDA coming in at mere 18mm in diameter, so petite they have included not one but two beauty rings (22mm & 24mm) to accommodate most device’s.
This RDA boasts an innovative air flow design to fully customise the desired hit for every MTL user through a nifty little system where you get 6 interchangeable air flow sticks (more on those later) that when combined with the airflow holes on the barrel give a whopping choice of 36 airflow options from the tightest MTL draw all the way up to a restricted direct to lung hit.
Plus.. this little bad-ass comes with a bottom feeder pin (squonk pin) so you can even run it on your favourite squonk mod. Let’s get on and I’ll break it down for you.
In The Box
- 1 x Berserker MTL RDA (Available in 4 colours Matte Black, Stainless Steel, Gold & what I like to call Acid Ink (Rainbow)
- 1 x 22mm Beauty Ring
- 1 x 24mm Beauty Ring
- 6 x Air Flow Tubes
- 1 x Baggy of Spares (O-Rings, Grub Screws, Squonk Pin, Blue Magic Screwdriver & An Allen Key for The BF Pin)
- 1 x Coil Adjustment Tool
- 1 x Spare Ultem Screw in Drip Tip
- 1 x Baggy of x 2 Premade Fused Clapton Coils (0.7 Ohm’s Ni80)
- 1 x User Manual
- 1 x QC card
Features / Specs
- Size: 18.1mm Diameter X 42.2mm Tall
- Deck: Dual Post Single Coil Configuration (With Gold Plated Cross Screws)
- Thread: 510 (With a Prominent Solid Looking Peek Insulator & Gold Plated Pins)
- Modes: Drip & Squonk
- Drip Tip: Heat-sink 510 with 2 Screw in Tips 1x Delrin 1x Ultem at The Top (Or Replace Whole Thing With Your Own Drip Tip)
- Material: Coated Stainless Steel (Black One I Have)
- Air Flow Control: Side Air With 36 Different Combinations From 6 Tube Inserts Mixed With 6 Holes on Barrel
- Well: Unsure of Size But Bigger Than Expected
- Small in Size Big On Flavour
- Low Power RDA
Design & Build Quality
Let’s break this down:
The Drip Tip
This is a standard 510 hole with a proprietary heat dispersing fin drip tip with a choice of either Delrin or Ultem. A teeny weeny screw in top tip, which I find goes quite well but if this doesn’t float your boat you can change the whole thing for your own custom 510 drip tips.
The Barrel
The 18.1mm barrel fits as snug as a bug on a rug to the deck which has 2 nicely spaced O-rings to hold it in place firmly but not so firmly you can’t spin it around. I suppose this has been done with such precision because you use the actual barrel for the airflow control (AFC).
It has 6 holes perfectly placed for that tailor made MTL adjustment and it’s constructed of Matte Black coated (unsure of coating at this time) Stainless Steel body, it also has a conveniently placed removable section for easy access to drip. This section also has the 510 hole in for that fin bodied drip tip.
With this being such a petite suction pumped nipple looking RDA it comes with two beauty rings, one 22mm and one 24mm that. They fit perfectly over the bottom of the RDA giving it a bit more girth so it can be attached to most mods making things more pleasing on the eye.
The Unique Air Flow System
This is the main feature that sets apart this RDA from most others.
The unique fully customisable airflow offers you have a total of 36 (42 if you don’t use the AFC tubes) different combinations.
The airflow tubes look to be made from some sort of peak insulator, they fit snug in a hole going through the side of the deck (located under the top cap) and fits totally flush within the inner deck allowing the top cap to be placed and removed without any problems.
One end of the tube is blocked off and the other end sports a 2mm opening allowing air into it forcing it up on to the coil.
The 6 included tubes feature holes along the length of the tube that faces up directly under the coil. The different sized tubes are:
- 1.2mm
- 1.4mm
- 1.6mm
- 2mm
- 3x 1mm holes side by side
- One long narrow slot
Coupled with 6 holes around the barrel (cap) of the RDA which are 0.8mm, 1mm, 1.2mm, 1.4mm 1.6mm and 2mm, you can really find a draw that suits your needs from a real tight draw all the way up to a quite restricted direct to lung hit.
Having said that, you can use it without the airflow tubes too which gives the user a further 6 options on top of the 36 making this the only RDA I know giving you 42 different airflow settings to choose from.
That is just an amazing feature on its own in my opinion,
The Build Deck
This is a single coil build deck similar to that on the Berserker RTA, featuring a screw clamp system that is quite easy to build on.
It also comes with another unique feature in the form of a coil jig tool that has two size lugs, 2.5mm and 3.0mm, this is really handy for fine tuning you coil into place.
Included in the kit are two Ni80 Clapton coils. IMPORTANT – do not have any of the airflow tubes in place when pulsing and heating your coil for hotspots! Once you have the coil right where you would like it you can cotton it up, I still left out the airflow tube out so I could set the cotton and saturate it for the first time. Once all this was done I replaced the tube I wanted and dripped ready for use.
How Does The Vandy Vape Berserker MTL RDA Perform?
The Build
I used one of the two stock coils that came with the kit which was the Ni80 Clapton micro-coil ohming in at around 0.70. The coil quality seems to be very nice and was relatively easy to install under the lip of the grub screws, it was a little fiddly for my fat fingers to get the perfect placement for me but was accomplished in no time at all.
Flavour
I used quite a few different e-liquids as I was testing this for a long period of time.
Nearly all the juices I used were 70VG/30PG and gave me satisfying vapour production BUT the flavour on this little bad boy is something else.
With this being such a compact RDA with short top cap and airflow so close to the coil the resulting flavour is immense.
Using different wattages did make a difference in cloud and flavour too
10/13 Watts
This setting gave me little vapour and a touch of flavour
15/19 Watts
This was my pick when it came to wattage range. It gave a decent little cloud and flavour in abundance.
21/25 Watts
This range gave you a little more vapour but it was a bit warm for me so I couldn’t enjoy the draw on it.
AF Tubes
Customising air flow to suit your needs, what a great feature.
Finding the right setup in the AF tubes (for my tastes) took quite a while as i’m sure it will for you.
I ended up using the AF tube with the single 2mm hole partnered with aiflow set at 2mm on the top cap. Using anything smaller was too tight for my liking and I didn’t really see much of a difference between the one with 3 holes to the one with the slot in it if I’m honest.
I did try using the RDA minus the tubes and this is where I got the DTL hit, albeit restricted. another thing to note was without the AF tube installed it got a little messy juice wise for me leaking from the AFC on the cap.
Changing these tubes on the fly whilst out and about was not an option for me, it’s not that it’s a difficult thing to do it’s just that I found it a hassle leaving me with a wet tube then trying to find the next size AF I want.
For me, the Vandy Vape Berserker MTL RDA is a playing around at home kind of device so be sure to find your sweet spot.
Wicking
With a little common sense I found wicking simple and straightforward. You don’t want too much building up at the bottom of the juice well so cut your cotton (approx) to the deck, don’t feed too much through the coil and leave a bit of room in one of the corners when tucking your cotton in. This is where you’ll be able to drip the juice into the bottom of the RDA.
With my choice of AF tube installed and being wicked up it surprisingly used a bit more juice, this is because of the relatively deep juice well. It didn’t give me any leaking issues at all until I left out the AF tubes so I’d recommend using one all the time.
Dry Hits
What dry hits? I hit this bad ass lil mofo like a trooper on one full top up, I got easily 27/28 hits before it started even coming close to dry hitting which is freaking awesome and insane at the same time… I loved it.
Pro’s
- Awesome flavour
- Small form factor with 2 beauty rings
- MTL RDA – not many on the market
- Nifty coil adjusting tool
- Fully customisable airflow to get desired hit from very tight draw to restricted lung hit
- Interchangeable propriety drip-tip along with ability to use your favourite 510 drip tip
- BF (Squonk) compatible BF Pin included
- Good juice well considering the small form factor
- Easy to build on and set up
- Hits nice
- Makes vaping on one set of batteries all day a reality as you run it at low wattage
Con’s
- Finely threaded proprietary drip-tip could cause cross threading
- Took me ages to find right airflow combination as there is many configurations (but fun trying)
- No little bag or proper pot for airflow tubes (could be easily lost)
Final Review Verdict
The Vandy Vape Berserker MTL RDA is a cracking bit of kit.
I had fun building, setting it up and using it, this crazy little thing (Ha that’s what she said) is perfect for anyone wanting flavour for days. For such a little thing the flavour & cloud production is immense.
I was also really surprised how many hits I could get from one drip up on this, I could get 25+ full blown lugs/hits which impressed me somewhat.
I would recommend any who builds or wants that fully adjustable MTL hit to try this just for shits and giggles if nothing else, but I really like it and I’m using it on a daily basis.
Would I buy the Vandy Vape Berserker MTL RDA again if lost or damaged? 10 out of 10 Big yes from me I would definitely replace it, I really enjoy vaping on this now I have found my setup with it.
