RDA/RTA

An RDA tank is a dripping atomizer, which means that you’ll add e-liquid to it by dripping the vape juice directly down the atomizer’s drip tip. Using an RDA means that you’ll need to have a bottle of e-liquid nearby when you vape, because you’ll need to add more vape juice to the atomizer after every few puffs. You can alternatively connect an RDA to a squonk mod, which has a soft bottle of e-liquid under your atomizer. When you squeeze the bottle, e-liquid travels up through a small tube and wets the atomizer’s wick.

When you remove the top cap, you’ll see what has made RDA tanks so popular among expert vapers for so many years. An RDA from a brand like Vandy Vape has a generous build deck that allows you to execute complex dual coil builds with ease. Along with the large build deck, the other major feature of an RDA is that the coil isn’t submerged. That allows you to take very deep puffs with no air resistance, and that’s the reason why you should buy an RDA if you want to experience the best cloud production the world of vaping has to offer. You can find the best RDAs in the UK right here.

An RTA tank is a rebuildable atomizer with a design more like that of a traditional vape tank. Although an RDA offers the best vapour production that you can get, it doesn’t offer any storage for your e-liquid. You’ll need to add e-liquid through the drip tip repeatedly to keep the wick wet. An RTA, on the other hand, is a true vape tank that offers around 2 ml of e-liquid storage along with a coil build platform that allows you to build your own replacement coils from scratch. Virtually all vape kits designed to work with sub-ohm tanks will also work with RTAs.

You can find RTAs supporting single or dual coil builds, and you’ll generally enjoy about the same vapour production with an RTA that you would get with a traditional vape tank using pre-built coils. Since the coil is submerged within the tank, you won’t get the same airflow or vapour production that you would get with an RDA. Since an RTA offers e-liquid storage, though, it does eliminate the need to carry a bottle of e-liquid wherever you go. Using an RTA also allows you to enjoy enormous cost savings compared to using a tank with pre-built coils. If you’re looking for an RTA in the UK, you’ll find a spectacular selection right here.

A rebuildable dripping tank atomizer (RDTA) is a rebuildable atomizer that combines the e-liquid storage of an RTA with the airflow and vapour production of an RDA. In a traditional vape tank or RTA, the coil is submerged within the tank. The air enters the tank through small intake holes, and that restricts the airflow slightly. With an RDTA, on the other hand, the coil is positioned above the e-liquid. The vape juice reaches the coil by traveling up a vertical wick. Since the coil isn’t submerged, an RDTA allows you to take deep puffs with ease. You do have to wait a few seconds between puffs, though, because it takes a bit of time for the e-liquid to travel up the long wick.

Rebuildable atomizers are completely safe as long as you test the resistance of every coil that you build before using it. Before you use any coil, you want to be certain that the coil’s resistance falls within the expected range and that it doesn’t have a short. Connecting a lithium-ion battery to a component with a short circuit is always potentially dangerous because a short circuit can cause a battery to overload and overheat. The need to check coils before using them is particularly important for owners of mechanical mods because a mechanical mod doesn’t check coil resistance for you. Using a mechanical mod means that you’re taking responsibility for your own safety, so owning a resistance checker becomes doubly important if you’re going to use a rebuildable atomizer.

If you currently use a vape tank with pre-built coils, switching to a rebuildable atomizer will fundamentally change the way you vape. You’re already aware that using an RDA means that you’ll build your own coils instead of installing factory-made coils. Until you actually start building coils, though, you may not truly understand how dramatically your vaping experience will change as a result.

When you switch from a traditional vape tank to an RDA, you’ll enjoy enormous cost savings. A typical pre-built coil costs around £2, and high-end coils may cost even more than that. Building a coil from scratch, on the other hand, only requires cotton and resistance wire. You can buy both of those items in bulk, so building your own coils can cost only a few pence each. Over time, that can add up to a truly meaningful amount of money. That’s especially true if you prefer heavily sweetened e-liquids and need a new coil every day or two.

Performance is the other factor that RDAs strongly have in their favour. Even the best vape tanks can’t compete with RDAs in terms of airflow, flavour and vapour production. With an RDA, you can build the most elaborate cloud chasing coils that you can possibly imagine. An RDA represents the absolute pinnacle of vaping performance.

On the other hand, using a rebuildable atomizer does have one drawback in that it consumes more of your time than a traditional tank. When you’re using a vape tank and need a new coil, all that you need to do is unscrew the old coil and screw in a new one. It takes seconds. Building a coil from scratch, meanwhile, takes several minutes even if you’re an experienced coil builder. Your time has value, and only you can decide whether the cost savings and increased performance of using an RDA justifies the extra effort required to build coils.

When you use a rebuildable atomizer, you’re going to need plenty of coil building supplies. The most important of those supplies are wire and cotton. The wire forms that coil’s heating surface, and the cotton provides the wicking action. You’ll need to restock those supplies when they run out. Most of the other tools that you need for coil building, on the other hand, you’ll buy only once. We suggest making things easy by buying a coil building kit. The most essential coil building tools are a set of wire clippers for trimming the wire and a pair of ceramic tweezers for adjusting your coils. It’s also important to own a resistance tester. You should never connect a new coil to your vaping device until you’re certain that the coil’s resistance falls within the expected range and that the coil doesn’t have a short.