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Pizza Dave Delivers - A Squonk Kit Review - The Surge by Hugsvape

pizzadave80

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Hello everyone, Pizza Dave here, delivering you a review of the Surge Squonk Kit by Hugsvape. Hugsvape is a company that has been coming out with some excellent products at affordable prices. They snuck in under the radar and released the Lotus, which many are regarding as one of the top RTAs of the year for flavor. This time around, they have released a regulated squonk mod. However, the first thing that everybody is saying about it is how it is a clone of the Vandy Vape Pulse 80w. They definitely have their share of similarities and I have some detailed photos in my gallery showing them side by side. Let’s dive in, shall we? I will go over the operation, how this vapes, do a few comparisons with the VV Pulse 80w, and see you down at the bottom for my final thoughts.




DISCLAIMER: This device was sent to me by Sourcemore for review.


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WHAT YOU GET


  • 1 Surge Squonk Mod
  • 1 Piper RDA
  • 1 18650 battery adapter
  • 1 USB cable
  • 1 Spare parts/tools bag
  • 1 pack of cotton and coils
  • 1 User manual


Available in Black, Gray, Purple, Gold, and Silver


PACKAGING
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OUT OF BOX
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STOCK SHOT
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FEATURES



The Hugsvape surge is an 80w regulated squonk mod. It is powered by 18650 batteries via adapter, or 20700s without an adapter. The squonk bottle holds 6ml of e liquid and is made of silicone. For size comparison, this is very similar to the VV Pulse 80w. It is a couple of mm shorter and is rounded off a bit more, but overall it is very close in size and overall shape. This was bashed pretty hard on release by just about everyone I have seen talk about it because it resembles the Pulse so much. I don’t know if this was something in the works for a long time or if it is intended to be a clone of it. I am going to attempt to review this as its own device, but it is hard to deny the similarities.

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OPERATION



The screen and menu system of the Surge is the first big difference that sets this apart from the Pulse 80w. It has a much larger display and has a vertical orientation. The chipset is simple to use, and it won’t take long to do a rundown. For starters, like many devices, this powers on and off with 5 clicks of the fire button. To lock the adjustment buttons out, simply holds both down and the same time. To unlock, you will do the same. The last means of operation is changing modes, which is done by clicking the fire button 3 times, and then cycling through the modes with the up and down buttons. The following modes are available.


  • POWER
  • TC-Ti
  • TC- Ni
  • TC-SS
  • TC-TCR
  • BYPASS
  • WATTAGE CURVE


The adjustment of each mode is very simple. Once in the mode you want, press the fire button and it will cycle through the options. For example, in power curve mod, you can scroll through and adjust 5 wattage setpoints which are per 1s of vape time. When in the temp control modes, you can alter the coil resistance, preheat wattage, and TCR (in TCR mode). All modes allow you to reset the puff counter on the bottom by highlighting and pressing down. This is very simple to get used to and isn’t anything new or special, it just works.



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MISCELLANEOUS PHOTOS

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HOW IT VAPES


This is always the million-dollar question with all devices I review isn’t it? For the most part, this device functions just fine as a wattage mode device. I did not use this with temp control much at all because I would rather my readers go to someone like Anthony Vapes that shows if it ACTUALLY does what it is supposed to do, rather than me going off feel or a cotton burn test. I tested this mod with a variety of atomizers including the Piper RDA (included with the kit), Wotofo Recurve, Vandy Vape Paradox, Vapefly Pixie, and Cthulhu Mjolnir. What I found was it didn’t work with all atomizers. I had a couple that wouldn’t make a solid connection in the 510 pin. The Pixie wouldn’t work at all. I found that the 510 pin is rather deep and is one of the more odd-looking shapes I have seen. It is very flat and doesn’t have a ton of spring to it. There were times when I would rock an atomizer for a while and suddenly it wouldn’t work anymore. I found that just a tiny bit of liquid would get in the 510 and I would no longer have a solid connection. The longer the atomizer 510, the fewer problems I experienced. When it worked as intended it worked just fine. Power seems to be just as solid as another mod of this style and the curve mode is something, I found myself using more often than any other mode. Another thing I should talk about is squonking. For starters, the squonk bottle sits in the device kind of funky. It isn’t a big deal or anything, but just looks like it was rushed. The biggest con I have with the bottle is the capacity. At 6ml, this thing requires way too many refills to get through a day. The feel of the bottle is fine, it just seems like they rushed into it and didn’t consider everything. Another thing I will touch on in this section is the included Piper RDA.



The Piper RDA is a dual vertical coil squonking RDA. It features bottom air flow that comes up the bottom, into the middle of the posts, and outward into the coils. The design is weird, there is no doubt about that. It isn’t awful to build on for experienced builders, but it requires you to either bend up the leads of one coil or have two coils wrapped in different directions. Due to the vertical design, you can’t stick a step-down coil tool into the coil to form them, so that adds a varying level of difficulty to building. The next hurdle to jump over is wicking it. I was able to feed through the top and eventually pull the cotton through the bottom, but it was a tedious process that I am not a fan of. The vape that this provides is average at best. I tried to use their coils and it vaped, but not good. I ditched them and went with my own fused Claptons and it got a little better. However, the building process made it not worth messing with. It is a cool idea. The air flow is innovative, and it has a squonking action that comes up the core and goes down the coils, so it’s cool in that way. Building on it is just a pain, and wicking is even worse. Another con with this is the dual coil nature. I don’t know why companies think a regulated single battery matches up well with a dual coil RDA. Running a dual coil kills the battery way too fast and also drinks more liquid so more refills are needed. Not a good RDA to toss on this mod out of the gate.



RDA PROS

  • Innovative design
  • Matches the mod

RDA CONS

  • Flavor is average
  • Building takes too much patience
  • Dual coil RDA isn’t a good match for the single battery mod



 

pizzadave80

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
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FINAL THOUGHTS



So, after all my bitching above, I think you know what I am going to say here. The Hugsvape Surge looks to be a copy of a VV Pulse 80w in a lot of ways. However, they skimped out on some parts and it could have been something decent. They did a great job on the magnetic doors, the fire button, and the display. It is easy to operate and functions fine for the most part. The cons on this one stick out in a big way. The squonk bottle is too small and requires refills nonstop, but the biggest con is the 510 pin. It looks SUPER cheap, and it didn’t work with all my atomizers. That one con was enough to make me not want to touch the thing much at all. I vaped on it for about 20 puffs or more and took it to work with me. It stopped worked part way through the day and I couldn’t get it to recognize my atomizer anymore! This made it a VERY long day at work without a backup but taught me a lesson as well. If I wrote this review that day it would have been full of f bombs and other choice language, but I found some atomizers that work and kept on using. The RDA that comes with this is not good. It just takes too much time to dink around with and provides a so so vape experience. It also doesn’t work well on this mod as it requires extra power and drains the battery down quickly. This seems like a rushed kit that copied a lot of the things people like about the Pulse, but then didn’t execute in some areas. I can’t give this one a Pizza Dave seal of approval.



THE OVEN TEST

If this device went into the oven, would I go out and get another one? No, easy no.





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PROS


  • Nice display
  • Easy to operate
  • Decent fire button
  • Fits up to 25mm atomizers
  • Low price point



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CONS


  • 510 pin is deep and doesn’t work with all atomizers
  • Squonk bottle is too small
  • Doors and overall design are rather blah



Thank you all for reading this review and thank you to Sourcemore for sending it my way for review. I am seeing this one selling for roughly $50 as a kit and have seen the mod only listed for as low as the mid $20s for price. Cheap indeed.








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Pizza Dave – Delivering real reviews, with no extra toppings


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REVIEW CRITERIA: I use each item for about two weeks to ensure I have collected enough data to adequately write a review. I use the same e liquid in tanks or rdas throughout all my reviews to ensure that I am comparing apples to apples between all modern equipment. I do not post reviews until I feel confident that I have used it enough to give an educated review. The reason I started doing reviews was due to poor purchasing decisions in my vaping infancy about two years ago. Back then, I purchased several different pieces of hardware without really enjoying it and I hope my reviews can guide people into spending their hard-earned money more wisely than I did! ****Keep in mind that some items I receive may be pre-release and not in retail packaging. Quality may be less than the finished product and what is in the package may differ from the retail package as well.
 

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