Become a Patron!

Vapefly Brunhilde Top Coiler RTA Review by KingPin!

KingPin!

In my defence, I was left unsupervised ^^
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
Reviewer
Hi Folks

If only this review medium played background music as you read my musings, I’d feel obliged to play “Ride of the Valkyries” for this review…oh well, you can always play it in the background, get a dinner jacket on, and an e-pipe on the go or something…for we have the warrior princess Brunhilde!...daughter of Odin before us.

No wait hang on….this isn’t Norse mythology, it’s German…the story slightly changes, instead the bloke she would marry had to best her in strength and courage….. To cut a long story short; she twatted him after he won because he tricked her, and I have no doubt it was probably with an object the size of this beast of a tank.

Personally I prefer the Norse story myself, but regardless I’m still sticking with that theme tune, it comes to mind every time I take a “toot” from it.

So in honour bound tradition, I kindly received the “Broon-hilt” for the once over from Vapefly, as always I don’t like to make recommendations in my reviews, instead ill present you with my findings should you be interested in the product.

ADC05E30-B8A6-4EF9-A91C-3A0F59B12533.jpeg

What’s in the box?

  • 1 x Brunhilde Top Coiler RTA (its an RDTA)
  • 1 x 510 Drip Tip Adaptor
  • 1x Allen key
  • 1 x 8ml spare glass tank section
  • 2 x Fused claptons, 2 x 26g cores (Kanthal), 36g Wrap (N80), 0.35ohms each (dual is 0.17ohms)
  • 2 x Firebolt Cotton
  • 1 x spare O-rings, post screws, spring
  • 1 x User Manual (worth reading)
Product Information: http://www.vapefly.net/vapefly-brunhilde-top-coiler-rta-designed-by-german-103-team-2/

Available Colours: Black, Gunmetal, Stainless Steel, Ranbow available


RTA Specifications

  • Height: 65.5mm
  • Diameter: 25.2mm
  • Capacity: 8ml
  • SS rods 3mm diameter, 33.7mm Length (7 x7 steel rope)
  • Thread Length: 4.7mm
  • Build Space (max Coil length 10.8mm, 6.5mm width)
  • Post hole Size 1.5mm H, 2.2mm W
  • Airflow: Three adjustable (2 side, 8 holes each side 1mm each, 2 centre, 6 holes each side 0.8mm)
  • Drip Tip: Resin (Visible Height: 10mm, Width at the tip : 18mm, Tapered Bore 8.8mm up to 14mm)
  • Positive Pin: gold plated SS304

Impressions, Build Quality & Assembly

The 103 German strong team are back with their follow up to the Core RTA, honesty I struggle to believe that many people can collaborate successfully without concessions, or at least breaking off into smaller teams for multiple projects, maybe a lead person making the final call?…let’s face it none of us vapers seem to agree on anything…well maybe a handful of us do, but I’ve never seen consensus of that sort scale while I’ve been involved in any sort of social media interaction, but however they managed to do it…..here she is the Brunhilde Top Coiler RTA

DF971C59-BF58-4F6D-BF62-2265C509BBAC.jpeg

Vapefly are marketing it as “high end” and that means they get held to higher degree of scrutiny…to me if something is high end, first…they don’t have to announce it, machining is always meticulous, attention to detail is next level, screws can take a beating, assembly on every one is individually inspected, and materials used are of a high standard ….where these things are concerned Vapefly have produced their finest product to date, in terms of weight, machining, fit and finish, I have nothing to point out except for O-rings being slightly too lose around the deck…everything is finished very well indeed so top marks there Vapefly.

Material wise it looks to be the usual SS standard you’ll see on their other products like the Galaxies, I believe it’s 304, screws are the same, you’ll find the same SS gold plated positive pin found on most Chinese products, in addition the drip tip is supposedly resin, but I believe it’s acrylic because it has that glue smell to it….finally while the anodising has been applied everywhere really well, it’s no different to anything else they’ve put out…so these things takes it out of the upper league for me…It doesn’t mean it’s not of a “higher standard” though, because it definitely is, as I said it’s the best piece I’ve seen them put out so far, I can’t pick up any flaws outside of the O-ring on the one in front of me.

6A2EAB22-3093-4ABC-ACB2-6BBCCBF89BB8.jpeg 58B0B230-89A0-40DA-8FB1-CA8EC35A351F.jpeg

Vapefly are one of the few companies out there willing to take risks and explore different things with airflow, and deck design which for the most part pays off well for them, so let’s get the obvious size of the tank out the way, personally I think it’s at that point where you have to ask the question “what have I got that I can put that thing on”…at a whopping 65.5mm tall there is only one option for me, and that’s a tube….don’t get me wrong here I don’t want to promote this idea to any new vaper reading this, but those who have done their research into mechanical mods, know the risks, how to build safely, and know battery safety well, it really suits a tube much more in the looks department, also the positive pin protrudes nicely for hybrid use.

8E36E7DD-CE8C-44CE-969E-761981E1B2F9.jpeg
185B8EB2-725A-4224-B196-84BC6DFCD828.jpeg

I managed to get on just fine with the stock 810 tip. While its bore is rather large, it captures the vapour funnelled up from either side of the centre post well, and goes with the size of the tank well.

A6CF0C1A-B81B-4D6B-AFB2-17C1D0ACAB4F.jpeg

It breaks down into 17 pieces (not including O-rings and seals), the glass tank sits inside of a warrior crested cage which is another reason I think it works great with a tube.

0D8FFB03-B36F-417A-9592-146D7C4E7302.jpeg

There is a single 3mm hole in the chamber ring, by twisting this section it exposes either; the centre airflow directing air out from its central post (you can see the cut out in the breakdown shot above), or on the opposite side (marked by the 3 drops indictor), is the refill port…one thing to note here is you need either a needle, or thin tipped refill nozzle to refill, if you try to offer up a regular gorilla bottle, or worse twist top nozzle you’ll find it’s a very messy experience, This part is even more painful because that tank is large at 8ml, although does mean you fill it less often.

08CA2167-A26C-48C8-9065-C6C17AE6A02B.jpeg

In addition to the above, one thing I think would help this tank in the refill department is an extra hole near the juice inlet for the air to escape as you fill it up, I get they probably didn’t add it to help push juice up through the steel rods, however if you choose not to use them, and go for straight cotton or mesh wicking instead it means the deck gets flooded very easily which slows the refill experience to a crawl.

Underneath the top cap is a steep dome, the drip tip extends slightly inside this domed area rather than sitting flush which helps a little with condensation build up and reducing spit back. Outside of that you have stepped sections cut out which allow you to restrict airflow to just the bottom tier of airflow holes or half of top and bottom.

BE3DC087-7D77-4FFF-8FE3-365AE75DDF3D.jpeg
 
Last edited:

KingPin!

In my defence, I was left unsupervised ^^
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
Reviewer
Coil Building and Wicking

In terms of airflow, you have choices; personally I keep the centre port wide open and just run the bottom set of side airflow holes – this means I can keep both coils centred to maximise the surrounding airflow hitting the coil. This tank enjoys being pushed, and in my opinion only wakes up at the higher wattages, which does make for a rowdy vape, albeit not too hot with all that air coming through. If you choose to close the centre hole up, it will offset the side airflow meaning you might need to play about with coil positioning to get the most from it.

Personally with the coil width build area being over 6mm, I think a 3.5mm ID coil suits this tank, although a 3mm works as well. Vapefly (or maybe the German team) recommend having the top of the coil in line with the top of the post, but that’s presumably with the sides wide open, being I’m only running the bottom set of holes I leave the coils lower set at a position where I can see the bottom half of my coil though these holes.

21C8A24E-DFD0-4BE9-90B5-4714F5E244C7.jpeg

Mounting is easy as it’s the traditional velocity style post system (one leg top, one leg bottom), which suits wrapping coils in either direction.

The only thing you might find is wicking hit or miss using a coil at 3.5mm ID in size…I have had problems with the cable wick…if you look back to the old genesis tanks back in 2013 -2015, it was common to use these steel rope wicks in addition to mesh. It’s a tried and tested method and does work…this same capillary system is present throughout nature, for instance it’s how tress transport water to such great heights, even your tear ducts use the same forces, which is to say; we want the liquid to lose its “cohesive” force holding it together, instead be more attracted to the “adhesive” force of the surface its moving over…in this case that’s the steel wire

…..what the heck is he going on about? I hear you say….ok try these two things;

1.. Take a straw a place it in water, the line of the liquid in the straw will be higher than the surface its placed in, that’s the adhesive force pulling it higher I’m going on about. Now if you have to hand a narrower straw try that next to it….this time the liquid rises higher right…this is because there is even more of an adhesive attractive force pulling the liquid further up inside….it’s worth noting here that not all liquids react this way (thankfully we aren’t vaping on mercury though)

….This process is the idea behind steel rope. In an ideal world quality steel rope of this size will have 5 such straws running in a twisted fashion top to bottom, being the wire is comprised of 7 batches, of 7 thinner twisted wires (7x7), this transport system should accommodate the thicker juice many of us use for sub ohm vaping. If you prefer using thinner juice there are different rope compositions to try (7x19 for instance like the diagram below)

73319DD4-6A9C-4255-B786-065EDA37ED69.jpeg

2..The next test is to take a piece of glass, put some cooking oil on one half, then add water across the entire surface….the side with the oil on you’ll find water will bead because the cohesive forces in the water is stronger than the oily glass….this is our enemy

….this second test is precisely why the old guard used to burn their steel/mesh wicks to remove any oil residue…you don’t want any of that interfering with what’s going on here…if you get dirty steel rope no amount of heating is going to help as its all locked inside in the points you can’t reach ….it’s why it’s really important to source clean wire.

Finally the last piece of the puzzle is evaporation through heat….this process removes the top surface layer of liquid, then draws more liquid through, this is how a tree does it by allowing water to evaporate through its leaves...as we vape juice is removed from the top, then more juice is attracted to this area by the adhesive force replenishing the cotton in a constant manner….the good thing about this process is there is no need for the tradition RDTA “tank lean” like you do with trailing cotton in RDTA’s.

So why is it not used anymore? Good question…I suspect cost mainly, metal is more expensive than cotton, in addition if you get some crappy bound, cut or dirty metal…its game over, and can be a real pain to work with. At least cotton is consistent, and as we’ve progressed past the cotton ball days, so too has the wicking speed of the cotton (like Vapefly’s own Firebolt cotton which I really enjoy using)……… and this very long winded way of explaining is why I’m having problems….A picture speaks a thousand words…

So as you can see I lack the very straws needed in most of these wicks for the process to be effective. After just 4 puffs, it’s taking over 3 minutes to replenish the wicks!!

71E79666-47DB-465B-9693-A4C4DAE59C7B.jpeg
65039DA1-5E75-4437-9080-CA611B731835.jpeg
311DF37D-FD79-4111-96F8-FEE33EB88A18.jpeg
59775E95-866C-4FC0-AFC7-4E9154BA59BB.jpeg

So I tried multiple things to improve this replenishing speed;
  • Manipulate the steel rods by offsetting some of the wires at the ends, this increases that adhesive force we want
3CD401AF-D6E6-4A4C-A5AB-D539F95709CD.jpeg
90B47F88-D9C2-4924-8F67-047F7A33B16D.jpeg
  • Used some grips to try and loosen up the wire to open the 5 straws back up, as it had been overtightened or cut in a way is pushed the wires together. Had to heat treat the wire after doing this.

  • Tried removing the core of the rod completely leaving a single straw….didn’t work well at all.
DA7979E7-F6B6-4C44-9F2D-360E75B8DEDE.jpeg
  • Tried trailing cotton inside the tank area and going RDTA wicking style instead. This just doesn’t work well with this particular tank the holes are too tight for it to be efficient

  • Use mesh instead…I purchased some 325, 316 marine grade A5 sheets and cut each of the 4 pieces to 33mm height x 60mm width. Then I heat treated the sheet before rolling it to burn off any impurities (holding it with ceramic tweezers and using the blue part of the flame on a lighter), rolled them up and plonked them in done, took all of 10 minutes….this wielded the best results of the lot for me keeping the wicks nicely saturated even when chain vaping….Todd did a great video of how this process works, it’s well worth a watch to see what I mean…just google search "mesh wicking" and you’ll find it (SS mesh for wicking RDTA’s is the title of the video)

However should you want to wick it in the semi “traditional” sense there are two things to note. First make sure the steel rope is hanging up from the bottom of the tank just slightly to allow the straws to work. Second is avoid stuffing the top of the small wells full of cotton, ideally you want a fluffy topping sitting just on top and around each rod….if its working well avoid priming the cotton, instead as soon as you fill that tank you’ll notice the wicking sucking up the juice…if its wicking too quickly for you add a bit more cotton on the next re-wick to slow it slightly.

DB800C40-86C4-4AD0-A984-F8665702E412.jpeg
 
Last edited:

KingPin!

In my defence, I was left unsupervised ^^
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
Reviewer
How’s it Vape?

When the cotton is nicely saturated, it’s a lovely smooth draw, it shares uncanny characteristics in fact to the Core RTA…again there is a great balance of clouds and flavour and it goes about its business in both camps well. I would normally only use a dripper on top of a tube but I’ve enjoyed using this so delayed this review to find some wicking material to make it work best for me.

If you care to look my review up on that Core RTA, I noted it had a fairly narrow wattage band because the tank started to get too hot beyond that …well that isn’t the case on the Brunhilde, I’ve been vaping this toward 90 watts and its staying comfortable to vape…there is a massive airflow potential on this tank, much more than I personally care for, and assuming you got it wicking well then it can be pushed well beyond. What this tank isn’t designed for is the low to mid wattage crowd, or those who like simple builds because it doesn’t even start waking up until 65W and likes the wider surface area of complex coils.



Pro’s

  • Excellent machining, fit and finish, its Vapefly’s finest piece to date
  • I like the styling and it matches a tube
  • Stock 810 suits this tank
  • Great balance of flavour & cloud
  • Easy to wick (the Firebolt cotton it comes with is worth a try)
  • Large build area (huge posts) can take large coils (diameter and length)
  • Decent recessed screws
  • Easy to figure out coil positioning
  • Large tank capacity
  • Smooth draw, & not too noisy
  • Comes with plenty of spares (except a spare set of rods)
  • [personal] suits complex coil builds and mid-high wattages
  • Easy to break down and clean
Cons

  • O-ring around the deck could be just a touch thicker
  • My wicking rods were not working as they should be, lack of spares to try
  • [personal] not fond of its size for a box mod
  • The side fill port is too small ideally it needs to accommodate gorilla bottles at the least.
  • Could have an air escape hole incorporated to stop the deck from flooding during refill

Final Conclusion

I think it was ballsy of Vapefly to deploy a system with a unique selling point being the way it wicks similar to tank more than 4 years ago….the difficulty here is it’s mass produced, and inspecting every rod to make each is spot on is obviously out of the question, unless of course they have some sort of computer system checking the tops and bottoms of every single wire piece…as such I think this will create a hit or miss experience for some.

However this is a replaceable part, and is something I can address myself, so outside of that I think if you like the Core RTA you will like this, likewise if you like the Wormhole RDA you will like this, they all vape the same way, and have similar flavour and vapour production, I happened to like the previous products and feel the same way about this tank as well and enjoy using it, when its wicked it’s a got a bit of everything going on with great balance in all areas.

7A023A89-7D6D-4933-BCE8-FE4FAEEE6C47.jpeg

Thank you for reading my review. I hope you find the information useful, until next time KingPin!
 
Last edited:

Letitia9

Citrus Junkie
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
I love this atty and broken hearted it simply doesn’t suit me. If I had the spare cash I'd buy it just for display. Enjoyed the read, thanks.
 

KingPin!

In my defence, I was left unsupervised ^^
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
Reviewer
I love this atty and broken hearted it simply doesn’t suit me. If I had the spare cash I'd buy it just for display. Enjoyed the read, thanks.

My pleasure as always :hug:

I wasn't overly fond of its size until I got it on the tube ...have to say though hasn’t left it since I got it paired...the finish is satin rather than flat matte in case people were wondering pairing it with the vindicator or something
 

Letitia9

Citrus Junkie
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
Most appealing pics I've seen of the rdta are all on tubes. Almost looks like their using a stack at first glance.
 

f1r3b1rd

https://cookingwithlegs.com/
Staff member
Senior Moderator
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
VU Challenge Team
Member For 5 Years
VU Patreon
Great review KP! Very meticulous indeed!
 

KingPin!

In my defence, I was left unsupervised ^^
VU Donator
Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
VU Challenge Team
Reviewer
Dear Kingpin,

Bravo, seriously, best write up in wicking I've read in several years
emoji41.png


Truly superb
emoji4.png


Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Thank you very much laird of the shed peoples, that means a great deal to me!

...granted pictures can only show so much, so I did direct readers to watch your vid Instead, which was spot on for this very subject ...erm hope that was ok should have asked really :facepalm::oops:
 

VU Sponsors

Top