Hellvape Dead Rabbit V2 RTA Review by Derek

Thanks out to Sue from Healthcabin for spurring me into action, shipping this to me for the purposes of this review, and getting me off my lazy reviewing butt. Having never owned the Dead Rabbit V1, I kept seeing this one mentioned, and was interested to see how the Dead Rabbit V2 actually performed. Let’s just see what’s what here …

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Overview

Now admittedly I’ve never had great flavor luck with top air flows, but you just NEVER know. Honeycomb vents on the chimney top cap ?? What’s up with that ??

Looks interesting, not hitting at or under the coils, but very interesting none the less. We’ll just see.

Who doesn’t get excited by an orange box, I know I do !!

Plenty of extras in the box, including o-rings, slide gasket, grub screws, hex driver, screw driver, 5ml bubble glass, and user’s guide.

When breaking it down to clean, checked everything, and the machining, fit / finish, and detailing appeared to be above average.

Little extra touches like the knurling on the adjustment ring were nicely done.

Dual airflow slots (one on each side) allowed good top airflow.

Domed cap with “honeycomb” patterned air holes for improved flavor production.

On the top, 810 wide bore.

Smooth threads on the top cap and body.

Slide fill worked without issues.

What’s not to love about a PC Thermal Insulation Plate ?

The dual dual post gold plated build deck was super easy to build on, AND, trim the coil legs under the posts !!

Specifically used some quad core coils to check and no issues with fitting or leg twisting upon tightening.

The installed screws were fine, but almost switched them out for the grubs.

Made sure to keep the coils close to the deck to avoid any issues with the domed cap.

Minor thinning and topping of the tails to prevent packing, and the stop guide was nice in keeping the tails inside the cap threads.

Little bit of prep sauce…

Although the fill slot was smaller than my cosmo tips, was able to slow fill without issue.

I had considered using the larger bubble glass, but once I saw how the flat glass looked, I stopped fiddling, and started vaping …

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Testing/Usage

I have tried more than my fair share of top airflow tanks, and they always seemed to be lacking for one reason or another, most resolving around flavor production/representation, or lack thereof, so I really wanted to put this one through it’s paces, to see if the honeycomb airflow, and directed airflow at the coil(s) could overcome some of the shortcomings. I was actually surprised at how good the flavor I did get from this setup was. Tested my tried and true bakeries and custards, and even did an A/B comparison between this and my go to setup, and although this didn’t quite match it in flavor production, it was very impressive in the amount that it did produce. Flavors were spot on, and production was quite good. I typically left the airflow wide open for 65w vaping, and it was somewhat restricted. This actually seemed to work IN it’s favor, as it allowed for a more saturated flavor experience, and who’d complain about that ??

Having never been a huge fan of slide cap fillers, I wasn’t looking forward to filling it, and my cosmo bottle tips wouldn’t fit in the medium sized slots, but I WAS able to easily and cleanly fill on an angle, and filling at a reasonable rate. Not one drip, dribble, or dab. Threading was uneventful and the threads felt clean and easy to use, airflow ring was stiff enough to prevent accidental adjustments, but easy enough to turn, especially with the decorative knurling. The included 810 worked and felt fine, but when I removed it, the o-ring fell off from inside the cap ?? Apparently the tip gets inserted, then the o-ring gets put on from the underside of the cap. Not the best design, but as long as you know that’s how it is, then you know what to do. Did a few leak tests, flipped the unit on it’s side (and NO, I CANNOT do this with my regular setup), and no leaks !!! That’s a huge plus.

Pros

• Easy to build on deck with coil leg trimming under posts.
• Great threading, knurling, and detailing.
• Smaller 25mm footprint.
• Single or Dual coils.
• Good flavor production with dense flavor production.
• Little to no leaking.

Cons

• Slide cap filling with smaller slot, can be harder to fill, with some bottles.
• Even wide open, air flow still slightly restricted.
• Installed flat head screws can be bleh, but grubbs are included.
• Flavor not quite up to bottom airflow tanks.
• Drip tip o-ring tomfoolery.

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Conclusion

I went into this thinking I was NOT going to be a fan, as it had some of my “trigger” features, like top air flow, slide fill, somewhat restricted airflow, but honestly, I think HellVape did a great job on this, and overcame MOST issues that I’ve experienced with past top air flow tanks. Might not be the bestest best flavor tank, but with no leaking, easy building, great looks, and a small 25mm footprint, the saturated flavor it did produce was more than enough.

Thanks again for the opportunity to review this, as it DID surprise me. Looked pretty damned good, with the small tank on the Lost Vape as well. As of this writing Health Cabin is having a Pre-Holiday sale with extra discounts.

This review was written by Derek from vapingcommunity & e-liquid-recipes, click to view original review there with more pictures.