Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA Review – Smaller In Size But Bigger In Flavour?

The Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA is slightly smaller than the previous version but still has that love it or hate it look.

Back in the dim and distant past of vaping, we hadn’t discovered the wonders of cotton as a wicking material.

Instead we used stainless steel rope – sounds crazy now doesn’t it?

But SS rope is actually an impressive wicking material, with the e-liquid being pulled up via capillary action between the narrow grooves.

Of course one of the downsides is SS is also pretty conductive, so you usually had to have a blowtorch handy to carbonize the end of it before you wrapped a coil around it!

This is the follow up to the Vapefly Brunhilde RTA designed – generally speaking – for direct to lung [DTL] vapers.

Kevin the Worthing Vaper reviewed that one and felt the performance wasn’t quite up to scratch.

Vapefly hasn’t been on the scene that long, but has generally impressed with its tanks and devices.

The Vapefly Galaxies MTL RTA was and still is an absolute flavour machine and the new Gungnir kit shows they can bring out decent mods too.

What Can We Expect From The Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA?

Well someone at Vapefly, or more accurately the German 103 team who designed this, thought stainless steel rope was due a comeback.

However this time, rather than having the steel running through your coil, it is effectively an e-liquid transport system from the main tank to your deck, where you have a normal cotton wick placed on top.

The German 103 team, a hundred and three vapers… who are German, have already created a DTL vape on this principle and you can read what Kevin thought about it here.

And now they’re back with the Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA, shaving a bit off the size of the tank, and going down to a single coil with a much more restrictive range of airflow options.

Original Brunhilde on the left, MTL Brunhilde on the right.

Incidentally, according to Norse legend a Brunhilde is an Amazonian warrior princess…so is this the Queen of the MTL RTA’s ?

This was sent over free of charge from Heaven Gifts, thank you.

As always, my opinions are my own, and I will report back honestly with what I find!

Inside The Box

• Brunhilde MTL RTA
• 6x Airflow Inserts
• 2x Drip Tips (1 preinstalled, 1 extra with radiator fins)
• T-Piece Tool
• Allen Key
• 2x Spare Steel Rope
• 2x Coils (Ni80, 2.5mmID, 1Ω)
• 2x Vapefly Firebolt Cotton
• Spare O-Rings and 8 (!) Spare Grub Screws
• User Manual

Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA Specs

• Dimensions – Diameter 23mm x 59.6mm with preinstalled drip tip, excluding 510
• Coil – Single Coil Rebuildable
• Weight – 68g
• Capacity – 5ml (2ml TPD w. silicone insert)

Design and Build Quality

Drip Tip

You actually get two drip tips in the box with the Brunhilde, the one it comes installed with is a stubby little thing.

It has double o-rings on a stainless steel tip, and a comfortable plastic mouthpiece that screws on.

However I think the spare that you get is definitely the one to go for in terms of looks.

It’s a little bit taller (about 10mm), with a longer plastic mouthpiece (again screwing on), but with three radiator fins that really make it look the part on the rest of the tank.

Of course being a standard 510, you can obviously put your own one on if you have a favourite!

Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA Top Cap

Those radiator fins I mentioned on the longer drip tip, are continued down onto the top cap.

It has some more nice detailing and Brunhhilde engraved in a Gothic script on one side.

The top cap also has a single hole which acts as both your airflow hole, and your fill port by spinning it 180 degrees.

More on this later.

Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA Main Tank

The main tank has the same engraving of a shield with wings that we saw on it’s bigger brother.

This is definitely not for the minimalist!

The base of the atomizer is held on by your positive pin, that protrudes an absurdly long way from the base of the 510.

Unscrewing this allows you to take the tank apart into it’s various pieces.

The glass is replaceable on the tank, though hopefully being inside the engraved cage should make it a little less susceptible to breaking.

Inside this you have your two steel ropes, made of 49 strands of 3mm steel.

This should allow plenty of liquid to creep up, does it?

We’ll find out in a bit.

Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA Deck

There’s nothing terribly fancy about the deck, and if you think about it more like an RDA than an RTA it makes more sense.

Where your juice wells would be, you instead have the tops of the steel rope poking up.

It’s otherwise a simple single coil deck, with grub screws to hold your coil in place, and deep cut outs, to allow you to snip your wire close and avoid a short.

Airflow Inserts

Airflow comes up directly underneath your coil and is adjusted by screwing in one of 6 different metal airflow inserts.

These are all single hole affairs, and have an inner diameter of 0.9mm, 1.2mm, 1.4mm, 1.8mm, 2.1mm and 2.5mm.

They have a cut out on top to allow you to use a screwdriver to screw them into the deck, but obviously once your coil is in place, getting at them again is more of a challenge than it’s worth!

Building The Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA

Decide which air insert to use, and screw it into the deck

Clamp your coil using the grub screws on the deck

Snip the excess off the legs

Gently dry fire your coil and strum out any hot spots

After it has cooled, push an end of your cotton through the coil and feed it through

Cut your cotton so it can fill up the juice wells

Place your cotton into the juice wells

Drip e-liquid directly onto the coil to start it off, then replace the top cap and fill from the side (look for the three droplet mark, the other hole is your airflow!)

How Does the Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA Perform?

I’ve been using this tank for well over a week now, and I’ve tried a variety of different builds and wicking methods.

My go-to build for testing has been a SS Microfine Fused Clapton from Vandy Vape, coming in at around 0.6Ω.

Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA Airflow

One of the reasons I’ve had so much time to experiment with different builds, is the various different airflow inserts that you get.

I’ve never been a big fan of airflow inserts, as I occasionally like to switch it up a bit when I’m out and about.

Also, I am always worried about losing them!

Because they’re only really accessible if you take your build out, I would recommend that you test them all out first of all to find what is going to suit you best.

You can tailor the airflow a little more by spinning the top cap, but it’s not terribly easy, as it has to be closed almost to nothing before you notice a difference (especially on the smaller inserts).

On a 1-10 scale, where 1 is sucking a golf ball through a hosepipe, I would say these are at the slightly looser end of the MTL range (with the side air inlet fully open).

The smallest airflow I would say is around a 3.5 and they range up to a 7.

They’re a little bit more “accessible” than some of the super tight draws you get, especially on high end tanks.

Though if you want to get that, you definitely can, by spinning the top cap and closing off the airflow coming in.

On the other end of the scale, you can get quite a decent DTL draw from these, especially if you use the larger inserts and leave the side airflow open.

My main criticism on the airflow, is that it’s fairly hard to change the airflow by spinning the barrel.

Although it wouldn’t have looked as clean, I wish the exterior hole was shaped like a teardrop on it’s side.

Having just a single round hole, means that it actually doesn’t change the amount of air getting in much as you start to close it.

Instead you need to close it off quite a lot to make a difference, and once you’ve reached that point, it only requires the tiniest of movements to radically change the feel of it.

Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA – Flavour

To get good flavour from a MTL tank, you really need a concentrated stream of air hitting your coil, and this is where the airflow inserts really shine.

I found that flavour was pretty indistinguishable between the smallest and the next smallest, but started to drop off a little as you went to the more open ones.

Obviously everyone is going to be different in where their sweet spot is, and the pressure of the air coming through is going to depend on how heavily you draw on it, and whether you’re restricting the airflow at the side as well.

Flavour was really good with my standard Berry Ice, but there was something about the draw with desert and pastries flavours that really stood out.

This is a really flavourful vape, and chances are if you’re vaping MTL, that’s what you’re looking for!

My personal preference was for the second smallest airflow insert, and with the side airflow shut off to just a sliver.

This was a nice tight vape, with the flexibility of opening it up some if I wanted it looser.

Wicking the Vapefly Brunhilde MTL RTA

You will have seen how I’ve been wicking this tank in my build tutorial above, but this is a bit unusual as it has two different materials that act as wicks.

The cotton wick needs to be set up quite like a dripper, as if it’s not touching the tops of the stainless steel, then it won’t have any e-liquid to absorb and carry on the rest of it’s journey.

I also recommend using a fair amount of cotton, and not thinning it out too much, as the extra cotton means that it acts like a juice reserve, which is especially useful as the levels in the tank get lower and the e-liquid has further to travel.

Of course, no matter how good the cotton wicking is, if you don’t have any e-liquid being passed to it, then it’s a wasted effort.

However I’m pleased to say that the stainless steel ropes did a bang up job of keeping the cotton supplied.

Even though it’s lost 2 of the ropes compared to it’s bigger brother, being a single coil and running at lower wattage, means you’ll not be needing as much e-liquid.

Because we naturally tilt our devices a bit when we vape, it encourages e-liquid to make it’s way up the ropes.

I did test it out holding it totally upright, and though I got some odd looks bending over my vape, I didn’t have any of the temperamental wicking that Kevin experienced on the DTL Brunhilde.

Any other thoughts?

One thing to remember, is the difference between your airflow hole and your fill hole.

Since these are both in the same place, and you change which one you have open by spinning the top cap, it’s pretty easy to accidentally try and fill your airflow if you’re not careful!

Just look out for the three droplets that show which is the one you’re supposed to fill with e-liquid.

On that note, I’m glad to see that Vapefly have increased the size of the fill hole, as on the original Brunhilde, it was sometimes a pain, as you had to be very careful with how you placed the tip of your bottle because the hole was so tiny.

Pros

• Really good flavour
• Beautiful design
• Bigger fill hole than it’s predecessor

Cons

• Air inserts are a faff
• External airflow control is tricky to get right
• Easy to accidentally fill your airflow hole with e-liquid (if you don’t pay attention)

Final Review Verdict

I was a big fan of the original Brunhilde, and I’m really pleased to see Vapefly keep the same overall look.

This is a tall tank, and for some people that’s going to put them off, no matter how well it performs.

Personally I think that with the right mod, it looks the absolute business.

I do wish they’d gone for a slightly more traditional airflow set up, with a fixed diameter airflow hole under your coil, and then controlled by spinning the top cap to different sized holes.

But since they have the e-liquid port where it is, I can certainly understand them not wanting to add any further confusion into the mix!

All in all, this probably isn’t going to be your daily beater tank, but for something a little bit different, with great flavour, this is hard not to enjoy!