Vandy Vape Bonza Kit Review – Excitement Followed by Disappointment

The Vandy Vape Bonza kit is the latest offering from Vandy Vape in collaboration with the Aussie Vape Reviewer, The Vaping Bogan.
The Bonza kit, as you can see, comes in the form of a tube, mechanical, unregulated Mod along with the eagerly anticipated Bonza 1.5 RDA.

On first look, the mechanical mod is a simple, clean design with the Vaping Bogan’s skull and cross sitting front and centre. A 21700, 20700 and 18650 battery can be used with this kit.

I should mention right now, before we go any further that an unregulated device of any sorts should not be used with the correct knowledge. You will need to know about Ohm’s law, voltage and battery safety. In the wrong hands and no prior knowledge, an unregulated device can cause serious harm.

I received the Vandy Vape Bonza kit in Stainless Steel. At this moment of writing, the kit comes in two colours, Stainless Steel and Copper Wrinkle Painted Black.

As always, the Vandy Vape Bonza kit was sent to me for review. As always, I will give you my own, honest opinion of this product after a lengthy testing period.

Check Out The Vandy Vape Bonza Kit in Action

What’s in the Box?

• 1 x Vandy Vape Bonza Mechanical Mod
• 1 x Vandy Vape v1.5 Bonza RDA
• 1 x 18650 Battery Adapter
• 1 x Set of Spare Magnets
• 1 x Spring for the button
• RDA Spare Parts
• Warning Card
• Warranty Card

Features

Bonza Mechanical Tube

• Product Size: 5 x 27mm
• Hybrid 510 Connection
• Batteries: 21700, 20700 or 18650 with adapter (Batteries not included)
• Mechanical Unregulated Mod
• Magnetic or Spring Button Mechanism
• Low Voltage Drop (Manufacturer Quote)
• Interchangeable Sleeve
• Safety Insulated Tube

Bonza 1.5 RDA

• Height: 25.5mm (Without Drip Tip)
• Diameter: 24mm
• Clamp Style Dual Post Deck
• Adjustable Side Airflow
• Squonk Pin Included
• Gold Plated 510 pin

Design and Build Quality

When I heard I was going to receive the Vandy Vape Bonza Kit for review, I was thrilled, I had really been looking forward to the Bonza kit coming out and to receive it for review was fantastic.

Once the box is opened and you take the kit from the box, the overall looks and feel of the kit is very good indeed, attaching the Bonza V1.5 RDA to the top of the Mechanical Mod sets it up for a very good looking device indeed, BUT….

When the tube was taken apart, I found that the threads on the bottom section were very sharp indeed, so sharp that I managed to cut myself!

Inserting a battery and putting a build into the RDA, e liquid onto the cotton and away we go. Uhm, that’s not good.

The switch with the magnets in feels very stiff to press. The switch overall (in my opinion) is badly designed as it has to be pressed exactly in the centre, anywhere off centre and you have a 50/50 chance of it working or just sticking.

Onto the button with the spring inserted, surely this couldn’t be as bad as with the magnets?

When the spring is used instead of the magnets, it seems a little easier to press, not much, but a little. You really do need fingers like Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (Worlds Strongest Man) to press it.

The Bonza 1.5 RDA is well designed, the finish on it is done very well without any sharp protruding parts at all. My only one fault with the RDA was that once the top cap was removed, there was some sort or grease residue around where the o-rings sat on the bottom of the RDA.

Bonza V1.5 RDA

Anyone who had the original Bonza RDA will tell you that it was a great RDA, good airflow with excellent flavour. What more could they do to make it better?

One thing you will find instantly when taking apart the Bonza V1.5 RDA is the tolerances on the o-rings. The original Bonza would sometimes need a wrench to take the top cap off, thankfully, with the 1.5, everything moves and comes apart as you would expect.

When you want to adjust the airflow, instead of the airflow being closed off from the side and across, you now find it is closed off from top to bottom.

My ideal airflow setting on the Bonza 1.5 was to have the top row closed off and having my coil placement allowing the air coming in to hit the bottom and centre of the coils allowing for better flavour production.

The juice well on the Bonza 1.5 is very big indeed making it very hard to over drip.

The deck is a beefed up version of the original and is a dual post, clamp style deck with plenty of room to put a big coil build in there if you so wished.

Vapour production, if that’s your bag, is excellent as is the flavour.

My time spent using this RDA has been a pleasure. I was a huge fan of the original Bonza RDA and I find the subtle changes on the Bonza 1.5 make it all the more pleasurable to use. The Bonza 1.5 certainly had a lot to live up to, it has and exceeded it.

The RDA comes in five colours, Matte Black, Stainless Steel, Gun Metal, Rainbow and Copper Wrinkle Painted Black.

Bonza Mechanical Tube

The Bonza Mech looks very nice out of the box with a very interesting design incorporating the interchangeable sleeve. I for one suffer terribly with OCD so it very refreshing indeed when I can align the Skull and Cross Mechs with that on the RDA so it all becomes aligned.

I am also led to believe you will be able to buy these separately in the future, so, if you wish, you can change them out to a different colour of your choice. The design is very nice and sleek looking with the outside of the tube having a good finish to it. It’s not until you delve deeper when you find the problems I mentioned earlier.

There is four battery venting slots towards the bottom of the tube allowing for good battery venting. You will also find the tube is very well insulated. There are insulator rings both top and bottom and an insulator tube running the full length of the tube.

The Bonza Mech is fired with the button on the bottom where you can use the pre installed magnets or use the silver spring that is also included with the kit.

How does the Vandy Vape Bonza Kit Perform?

Well, this is a bit of a difficult one for me. When the Mech fired, it performed very well but getting it to fire because of the way the button is designed became very frustrating indeed.

I used a pair of Alien Coils at 0.1 ohm so when the Mech fired it hit hard and had great performance. I am no expert on voltage drop but I didn’t notice any significant drop.
However, Vandy Vape do say that the tube is designed for low voltage drop.

Flavour and Vapour Production

The flavour produced from the Bonza 1.5 is excellent. Vandy Vape already had a top performer with the original Bonza but a few tweaks here and there have certainly made it a very flavoursome RDA indeed.

As for vapour production, the Bonza 1.5 can certainly keep up there with the best.

Pro’s

• Excellent build for the Bonza 1.5 RDA
• Excellent Flavour
• Clean, well designed Mech Tube on the outside
• Very good insulators
• Good battery venting

Cons

• For me, the fire button is terrible
• Sharp threads on the inside of the Mech Tube

My Final Thoughts

The Vandy Vape Bonza kit could be great, it really could, but in my opinion the design of the button, which is one of, if not the most important parts of a Mechanical Tube, should and must be better. The sheer pressure needed to press the button to fire is huge. Unless the button is pressed dead centre, more often than not, the button will stick.

I did think I was having a nightmare and took the Bonza Mechanical Tube to my local store. The store owner is a Mechanical Mod freak and owns a wheelbarrow full. He confirmed to me that I wasn’t going mad and it was all true. A bit of a relief.

The only saving light for me from the Bonza kit is the Bonza V1.5. Very well done in making an already great RDA even better.