Dead Rabbit V2 RTA Review by Shawn

Disclaimers right up front… The fine folks over at Health Cabin net sent this to me for the purposes of a review. Gonna change my mind? Nope!

TL;DR A worthwhile upgrade, but not without a few small flaws.

To be honest, when they reached out to me, I said I was only interested in RTAs, RDA, and mods that take external batteries. I’m at that stage where I don’t need anything at all, and I don’t really want much either. I’ve been vaping for around 7 years, and I guess I’ve gotten comfortable… I primarily use dual coil or mesh RTAs on dual 18650 mods. I don’t do pods (with 2 notable exceptions… ask me if you really want to know), and I don’t do internal battery mods. End of story.

Not, however, the end of this review!

I own just about every top air RTA ever made. I think I’m missing two at this point… the Juggerknot V2 (you listening QP Designs? I’d love to review one hint hint hint), and maybe another. I own multiples of many of them. Why? No leaking… well, almost no leaking…

On to the main event, the Dead Rabbit V2. This can be picked up from Health Cabin for around $21 (once you’re logged in).

• 

• 

• 

This is a dual coil (but can be run with a larger single coil) RTA. The RTA measures 25mm at the base, and can be used with a 2ml capacity straight glass or a 5ml capacity bubble glass. The RTA, overall, looks a bit sleeker with a straighter bubble glass, and a lower profile air flow adjustment ring. The height is very close to the original, as well, coming in at 50mm. It features a sliding top fill and adjustable – with stops – top air that will go from nothing to restricted direct lung to fairly airy direct lung. MTL vapers need not look at this RTA. Like the Dead Rabbit V1 RTA that preceded it, there are 2 pair of flopped over rabbit ears for posts… 2 are positive, and 2 are negative. All 4 have flathead grub screws. The ears are raised up a bit, and slanted a bit, so that getting under to cut the leads is easier. Honestly, I continue precut the leads as I still find the space under the terminals to be a bit on the tight side. Also like the DR V1, the wick is tucked into fairly generous ports at the base of the slightly raised deck. Bubble glass like the V1? Yup. 810 drip tip like the V1? Uh huh.

If so much of the V2 is like the V1, why bother?

Several reasons…

• Sliding top fill. I can’t count the number of times I’ve unscrewed a top, and had to balance the top, the bottle cap, the mod, and try to fill a tank only to end up dropping something and having to crawl around on the floor to find it… dusting off the cat hair afterwards… Ugh!
• An insulator/heat sink built into the base. This sounds like nothing, but when vaping the V1 and the V2 side by side with the same build at the same wattage, the V2 (and the mod attached to the V2) stay significantly cooler.
• The design is a little slicker. In place of the heavily knurled base and top cap, there is a subtle Celtic braid worked in to the base and the airflow ring. Looks nice.
• Assembly. The OG DR had to be put together off the device as the 510 would spin. The V2 has a fixed 510, and the inner barrel of the tank section spins instead.
• Wick guards (for lack of a better term). There are little tabs sticking up on the outside of the wick ports that make tucking the wick in without packing (and risking dry hits) a little easier.

Do I like it? Yeah! Quite a lot.

Pros:

• Sliding top fill
• Easier to assemble
• Sleeker look
• Slightly higher capacity (5ml vs 4.5ml)
• 810 drip tip compatible
• Slightly easier to build and wick
• Can be fully disassembled for cleaning… including the sliding top cap

But there are cons, to…

• Branding. On my black units, the logo and the graphic are etched through the paint and are bight silver. This might not be the case on all of the colors
• Does not come in as many different colors as the original. This is a very small point, but if you wanted another purple RTA, you’re out of luck.
• The sliding top fill offers no venting that I can see, and can back up… fill a little slower to avoid this
• The sliding top fill does not lock into place and has come open on me once
• The Celtic braid design looks a lot better, but is not as easy to grip as the knurling on the OG

So, would I buy it? Already did… have a matched set sitting on my desk as I write this. One is filled with a fruity flavor, and the other with a dessert flavor.

• 

• 

• 

Thanks for reading… keep on vaping!

Addendum and edit: an eagle-eyed reader pointed out that I skipped over flavor production… Flavor and vapor are going to be relatively dependent on the build and juice. That is to say that poor juice and build will produce poor flavor and vapor, and good juice and a solid, well positioned build will produce good flavor and vapor. I’m running dual fused claptons 26×2/36 ni80 3mm ID 6 wrap coming in at 0.17 ohms at 75 watts. Those coils are sitting about 1.5 to 2mm above the deck (around 4mm legs), and are wicked with organic cotton. I’m getting good flavor and decent vapor.

I also realized I forgot to mention whistling. The V1 was notorious for a loud whistle unless the coils and AFC were positioned just right… a mm off here or there would result in a draw that would make dogs howl. The V2 seems to have eliminated the problem. The draw is still a little louder than some RTAs I own, but not bad.

It was asked if I could compare the Dead Rabbit V2 to the Zeus X RTA. As luck would have it, I also have a Zeus X handy. It’s not filled with the same juice, but does have the same build… I find them to be equivalent… the Zeus X is a little airier, so I cut it down just a bit.

This review was written by Shawn from reddit, click to view original review.