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Anthony Vapes: Vandy Vape Bonza V1.5 RDA Review

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
Hi All, Anthony Vapes back here with my review of the Vandy Vape Bonza V1.5 RDA, please see the bottom for disclaimers and links. Note: This is marked as a sample version.

Introduction:
The Bonza V1.5 RDA is the latest RDA from popular vape manufacturer Vandy Vape. They came onto the scene in 2017 with a ton of gear and have been a pretty hyped company ever since so probably don’t need no introduction. They’ve had a pretty good year IMO but have had some missteps along the way as well but their recent kylin II RTA was excellent so at minimum should have a strong finish to 2018. The Bonza V1.5 RDA is a Dual coil DTL RDA with an included squonk pin and designed in collaboration with popular youtube reviewer the Vaping Bogan and a follow up to the original Bonza which came out about 10 months ago. It’s available in 5 colors SS, Gunmetal, Matte Black, Rainbow, and Copper Wrinkle. Looking around online i see it around the 25-35 USD price range so typical price point for a geekvape atomizer. Elementvape has them for 28.95 in the US.

Manufacturer's Specs
  • Collaboration with The Vaping Bogan
  • 24mm Diameter
  • 9mm Deep Juice Well
  • Superior 303 Stainless Steel Construction
  • Spacious Build Deck
  • Unique Two-Post Design - Fixed Screw Clamp Post Design
  • Outer Terminals - Top-Secured via Cross Flathead Screws
  • Inner Terminals - Top-Secured via Clamp Mechanism
  • Parallelogram Air Slots on Each Side
  • Improved Airflow Top Cap Design - More Modifications
  • Direct-to-Coil Chamber Effect
  • 810 Resin Wide Bore Drip Tip
  • 810 Delrin Wide Bore Drip Tip
  • 510 Drip Tip Adapter
  • Squonk-Ready 510 Pin
  • Gold-Plated 510 Connection
Included in box:
  • 1 BONZA V1.5 RDA
  • 1 810 Resin Wide Bore Drip Tip
  • 1 810 Delrin Wide Bore Drip Tip
  • 1 510 Drip Tip Adapter
  • 1 Squonk-Ready 510 Pin
  • 1 Accessory Bag
Picture Album
album



Initial Impressions
When I first got this RDA well much like the loop V1.5 form geekvape it became abundantly clear the V1.5 is an apt name or maybe even a V1.1 would have been better. Not much has changed since the original Bonza here at all. They made the posts, screws and clamps a little beefier, the juice well is a little deeper, the airflow control allows for a little more options, the top cap now locks into place, and lastly the squonk pin is slightly raised up and not flush on the deck. All those improvements are nice to have though. The squonk pin one is kind of preference some may see it as a downgrade while others may enjoy it. Mostly though it was pretty much the same as the bonza RDA which i reviewed a while back and enjoyed.

Build Deck and Wicking (pics above)
Let’s talk about the build deck now. It’s the same deck style as the original bonza which was taken from the OBS cheetah 2. It’s a 2 post 1 hole and 1 clamp per post deck that’s staggered out. Similar to a straight horizontal deck like the Mad Dog RDA but with clamps on the bottom. It’s a really cool design that works well so kudos to whoever came up with it. It’s also pretty innovative IMO and very easy to build on. Unscrewing the clamp screw makes it drop down to create clearance to slide your lead into and tightening it raises the clamp back up to clamp it against the post. The other hole on each post is a standard hole with a top down screw more than large enough to accomodate most coils. Each lead gets their own hole or clamp and you can install each coil by itself. The post screws are pretty beefy and good quality flat head/phillips combo screws. The negative is not milled and is instead screwed in which gave me no problems here but i know some people don’t like that so worth a mention. Overall it’s a nice deck that’s easy to build on

Wicking on it is quite easy. It’s an RDA so nothing fancy just drop your leads to the bottom.

Performance
Performance wise, I used it as a Dual Coil RDA only as intended. I ran 4 builds in this 1 fancy 3mm ID build, 1 fancy 3.5 mm ID build, 1 fancy 4mm ID build and 1 simple round 3mm ID build. For size I found it best to use 3-4mm ID max. Depends on the wraps as you have limited room before you hit the top cap with too many wraps. So you can do 4mm ID with a couple less wraps or 3mm ID with a couple more. Performance wise I don’t notice any difference between this and the original bonza really. It’s a very airy DTL vape and it can provide some really good flavor if you are willing to vape 100+ watts. If you vape under that though much better choices. Flavor is great but it really needs a massive build or you’ll get muted flavor and it’s much better with fancy builds and not great for simple round wire builds
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
VU Donator
Diamond Contributor
Member For 3 Years
Reviewer
Airflow, Misc. Details, and Extras
Let’s talk about the airflow now. It’s side airflow with 5 columns of 3 holes for 15 total lined up. You can adjust it but like the original it’s stupidly and frustratingly hard to adjust the airflow. The area to grip to adjust it is very thin on top and the o-rings are very tight. They should have made the top part you turn to adjust bigger and the o-rings a little smaller. When you adjust it it closes off 1 hole at a time first starting with the top right holes then closing off the rest of the top row 1 at a time. Then the middle row then the bottom row then fully closed. After that it’ll open up the holes 1 column at a time until fully open. So it’s cool they added in more meaningful adjustment and it is easier to adjust then the original due to the locking cap, it’s still harder to adjust then most RDAs on the market these days. I don’t get any whistle on any setting and you can get a restrictive DTL vape to a very airy vape. But it’s best used wide open as a high watt RDA. if you want a less airy RDA there are better options out there for that. The top cap locks into place to make it easy to screw on and off your mod but has some leeway in the adjustment to line it up since your coils will be offset due to the deck style so well done there. The top cap gets insanely hot especially when chain vaping, i mean it is a high watt RDA so that’s somewhat expected but this one really gets hot. EVen having the copper wrinkle one i have with the coating on the outside it gets really hot so i’d imagine the full metal non coated ones are even worse. Does Not dissipate heat well at all

It comes with 2 standard drip tips, one is a Resin friction fit 810 tip (color vaires based on color of RDA. my copper wrinkle one came with a red one that’s nice) and one is a black delrin friction fit 810 tip, and they include a delrin 510 adapter as well. No 510 tip though but not a big deal. 2 Tips and an adapter is good in my book. The Drip tips all fit very well in the RDA. snug, not loose, not tight. You can use your own as well and most should work just fine. I tried a couple other 810 tips with no issues personally. The quality on the Vandy Vape Bonza V1.5 RDA is excellent. The o-rings for the top cap onto the base feel right and the top cap is snug but not tight. Very easy to take apart with no issues. My only quality complaint is the airflow adjustment is harder than most RDAs. The post screws are excellent quality as well and 4 spare screws are included (spares are flathead only). It comes with a standard 510 pin and a BF 510 pin like most RDAs these days as well.

The juice well is quite large as well. Due to the airflow being kind of high up on the side and the improvement to the wall height of the base, there is plenty of room for juice on the bottom. The over squonk protection and Over drip protection is pretty good. I used it as both a dripper and a squonker and it worked well both ways. As a dripper you can drip right down the drip tip without taking off the top cap. As a squonker the pin is slightly raised off the deck so it wont’ suck back all the juice when squonking and will leave a little in the bottom

It’s a 24mm diameter so should not overhang on most mods on the market today. There is plenty of spare o-rings and 4 spare post screws for it, 2 spare clamps, 1 allen wrench, 1 screwdriver, and a 510 tip adapter but no coils or cotton. good amount of accessories overall no complaints there. A couple of coils and cotton would have been nice though. Branding is well IMO quite cringy. On the one i have which is the copper wrinkle there is a huge logo which is the vaping bogans logo of a skull and crossbones that stands out in copper against the black wrinkle coating. Not a fan of that at all. Would have looked much better without it IMO

Pros:
  • 2 Standard 810 Drip Tips (Resin and Delrin) and 510 adapter
  • standard positive and squonk pin included
  • plenty of spare o-rings
  • Color Options (5)
  • great quality post screws
  • Good over squonk protection
  • works well as a dripper or squonker
  • good build quality overall
  • Price point (under 30 USD)
  • Good Size Juice Well
  • stopper locks cap into place to make it easy to get on and off mods
  • great flavor for really high watts
  • Great easy to build on build deck
Cons:
  • flavor lacks if you don’t use massive builds
  • included coils not labeled
  • not a fan of the branding
  • AFC is harder to adjust then it should be
  • Top cap gets really hot
Conclusion
So with all that said, do I recommend this RDA?I don’t like to do a hard yes or no, and this one i have to lean towards the yes. Mind you if you already have a bonza is it worth the upgrade? Probably not but much like the original if you like to vape really high watts it’s a great RDA and i’d opt for this over the original with the slight improvements they made if you were buying one now. If you don’t vape like 100+ watts though there are better options out there. I’ll be adding this to my sheet of recs linked down below.

This is Anthony Vapes just keeping it honest, hopefully you all can say the same and i’ll catch you on my next review.

Product Disclaimer
This product was sent to me from Vandy Vape

Review Disclaimer
Due to possible QC difference your experience may vary.

Reviewer Disclaimer
I’ve been doing vape reviews since late 2016 and have done around 300 reviews to date. I enjoy helping vapers on forums as well and helping contribute to the great vape community. I’m not an “out of the box” reviewer. I do my best to be thorough at all times and have enough experience with many products to tell what’s good and what’s not. All mods get tested with an oscilloscope and stress tested and results are posted in my reviews.

Recommendations and Past Review Links
written reviews list here

Youtube Channel here

Spreadsheet of Recommendations here

Best of 2018 so far list here

Best of 2017 list here
 

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