Here is a look at a truly versatile release from the folks over at Wotofo. RDTAs or rebuildable dripping tank atomizers were all the rage about a year or so ago and at the time nearly every company out there was releasing one. That was right before pod devices and squonking made a come back and sort of stole the spotlight from RDTAs. Of course nothing truly goes away in this industry it just gets recycled and if you wait long enough chances are you’ll see your favorite vaping style/technique/equipment come back in to style since at the end of the day there’s only so many ways to atomize an eliquid. Wotofo at the height of the RDTA craze released what many considered one of the best RDTAs on the market, the Serpent RDTA and later the Serpent 24 RDTA but since then they haven’t released any other RDTAs to the market and at the same time the RDTA craze sort of petered out. However right before the RDTA craze stopped a few companies came out with the brilliant idea to include a squonk pin. I get that it might seem counter-intuitive to put a dripper with a tank on top of a mod with a squeeze bottle but for the most part folks who tend to enjoy squonkers appreciate the capacity and convenience the built in bottle provides, add a secondary tank for even more capacity and less squonks in between and it’s essentially a squonkers dream. Now you can probably already figure where this is going and I don’t want to give away too much in the intro so here are my honest thoughts on the Faris RDTA from Wotofo.

Package contents:

1pc Faris RDTA 1pc User Manual 1pc Wicking Port Block 1pc Extra 810 Drip Tip 1pc 2ml Frosted PC Tank Tube 1 bag Framed Staple Clapton Coil 1 bag Agleted Japanese Cotton 1 bag Extra Orings & Screws

Listed features and specs:

RDTA Size: Φ24*44mm RDA Size: Φ24*36mm Threading: S.S. + Pyrex Drip Tip: Colored resin, 810 sized Threading: 510 thread E-liquid Capacity: 3ml Filling Method: Side Filling & Squonk BF Method Airflow Type: Adjustable side airflow Insulator Material: PEEK Extra Accessory: 2ml Frosted PC Tank Tube

Included coil specs:

Framed Staple Clapton Coil

28G+38Gx9+28G+36G; N80

ID 3mm

0.33ohm

Packaging and contents:

The kit comes packed in Wotofos iconic black and green packaging. If you grew up in and survived the 80s like I did it has a very slime green sort of colour to it. On the front of the box the background is made up entirely of little Spartan logos which also happens to be the logo for the RDTA. The kit has a window on the front so you can see the RDTA before purchasing. On the back it just bears a giant version of the Spartan logo while on the bottom it lists the contents and on one of the sides it bears some warning text and an authenticity check sticker. In the kit you get the Faris RDTA, a spare frosted glass tank and an alternate 810 drip tip that looks to be delrin. It comes pre-installed with a colourful resin tip which I’m guessing will be random when purchased, just another reason that little window is handy. Also in the kit you get a manual and three neatly sealed accessory bags. One of them contains some of Wotofos agleted cotton, another one contains some framed staple clapton coils and the third one contains all of the extras including an L-shaped tool, two silicone single coil cotton blocks, a replacement duck valved fill plug/seal, four replacement screws, two non-squonk pins, an RDA base and a set of replacement orings including a red and blue one so you can add a touch of colour to the tank. You also get another little bag containing an Allen key and a rather nice black handled screw driver. As I’ve come to expect from Wotofo a very full featured and well equipped kit. I really love their attention to detail with each of the accessory bags being neatly sealed and labeled.

The RDA/RDTA:

The Faris RDTA is a multi-functional atomizer that can be converted from an RDTA to an RDA with just a simple swap of the tank for a bottom plate. Out of the box the Faris come in it’s RDTA configuration and I have to say it’s a sharp looking atty. Faris is actually the Arabic masculine name for Knight, Horseman or Cavalier so the Spartan looking helmet on the top cap makes sense although I’m sure I’ve seen it used on other products before so I don’t think it’s an exclusive symbol. It’s a 24mm diameter atomizer that’s mostly made of stainless steel that stands around 44mm tall in RDTA mode or roughly 36mm when in RDA mode. It comes with a colourful 810 resin drip tip but also includes a more subdued black delrin 810 tip as well if the colour doesn’t suit you. The kit does not include a 510 adapter though so if you prefer smaller tips you’ll have to source your own.

The two part top cap is heavily stylized with plenty of details cut in to the metal including a Spartan logo on the one side. All around the circumference it has a nice pattern that’s echoed on both the parts of the cap. I suppose the detail in the upper piece might help turn the cap to adjust the airflow of the two cyclops style slots but I should mention the cap is insanely tight to turn. Replacing the orings and lubing it up a bit helped but it’s still a very tight fit so adjusting your airflow can be a bit of a challenge. The inside of the cap is notched so it will lock in to place which does help with turning the airflow or screwing down the atty. It’s also concave to help concentrate flavour but with a little added twist. There’s a slight ridge that runs along the inside of the cap that Wotofo claims will act as a vapour-condensate barrier to help prevent liquid making it up in to your mouth.

One of my favorite features of this RDTA is the tank. It’s only a 3ml tank but it’s easy to fill and is sort of meant to be used as a squonking reservoir as opposed to a traditional RDTA. When you pull of the cap you’ll see a little silicone plug on the one side. That’s the fill port although you don’t actually remove it to fill up, instead you stick your tip in the hole and squeeze your juice in. On the inside there’s a duckbill shaped valve that prevents both back flow and leakage. Think of it like a one way valve shaped like a duckbill. It’s not the biggest hole so old school blunt tips might have an issue but most other bottle tips should fit fine. One thing to note however is if you’re tip is wet you can leave a bit of a mess when topping it up. Now my favorite part of this RDTA is you can remove the tank without any tools, just unscrew it from the deck to clean it out or replace it with the RDA plate and that’s it. This makes it incredibly handy for cleaning and for swapping it’s configuration. In the past it’s what’s made or broke a convertible RDTA for me and this one appears to have it all. The kit comes pre-installed with the squonk pin but includes a non-squonk pin for both the RDA and RDTA tank. The two pins are just as easy to swap out and that L-shaped tool they include is to help push the short pin out of the base if you want to swap from squonk to non-squonk. If using it in squonk mode the juice will fill up the tank portion which basically gives you a little reservoir to save you constantly squonking. If in RDA mode it’ll function pretty much as a regular squonker with the liquid coming up under the deck and feeding the wicks on either side. In regular RDA and RDTA mode it works as a normal dripper or dripper tank like you’d expect.

The Deck:

The deck on this thing is pretty simple and looks like a lot of other postless decks out on the market. I did find the post holes to be spaced pretty wide so your coils will need to either stretch or be long enough to reach both holes. I first built the deck using dual Alien coils from Campbell Coil Company but found the close proximity and rather confined deck led to quite a bit of heat build up. I later opted to remove one of the coils and it’s been a much more pleasant experience ever since. I still like the fact that they give you the option for single or dual coil and imagine it would fare much better with sightly smaller dual coils. Another handy addition for when using it in single coil mode is the inclusion of two silicone wick channel plugs that drastically reduce the size of the wick channels if you’re only using it with a single coil. However since they make the channels really small the size of your coil will also play a role. With the 3mm ID aliens I was using the amount of wicking used was too much to use the silicone wick plugs so I just opted to wick it without the plugs and it’s been working great.

Airflow to the deck comes in via three holes on each side that are angled down towards the deck so it’ll hit the lower side of your coil which is ideal for flavour performance. The airflow adjustment on the cap can be turned to close off one, some or all of the holes to set it how you like. While it was fairly comfortable at full open for a slightly restricted direct lung hit I was rocking it with one hole closed off on each side for just a tiny bit more restriction.

Build, Wick and Performance:

Building on the Faris has been a pleasure with two big Philips head screws on each side to secure your leads it takes nothing at all to get it setup. Because it’s postless you do need to trim your leads before mounting but once you figure out how long to cut them the installation is a breeze. I found they need about 1-1.5cm of length on the legs to sit properly in the deck. After cutting them to length, just pop them in the holes and tighten down the screws. When it comes to wicking it’s also a pretty straightforward affair, just trim your wicks as you normally would for nearly any RDA and tuck them in to the two wick channels. If you’re using it in single coil mode you have the choice to use the wick channel reducers but again that will depend on how big your coil and wicks are. If you’re using it in faris RDTA mode you might want to cut them a bit longer so they hang down in to the tank but my preferred method is to cut them on an angle and just drop the tips in to the wick channels.









In RDA mode I found it worked great as both a regular RDA and as a squonker. It even has the added benefit of having a very tiny little reservoir under the deck so it can handle quite a bit of juice. The angled airflow holes however don’t really offer much by way of leak prevention but since the liquid is mostly under the deck so long as you don’t over squonk or over drip you should be fine. In RDTA mode of course it works exactly the same but with the added 3ml reservoir underneath, in squonk mode it works well letting you top up the tank with a couple of squeezes and in regular RDTA mode it works just as well but you’ll need to top up more often which is also pretty easy using that duckbill valve on the side. Performance will ultimately depend on your ability to build but with the single alien coil I had installed it’s been a real treat. Flavour and clouds are pretty much perfect but a lot of that will obviously depend on the build you are using.

Likes:

Looks

Build quality

Versatile and full featured

Can unscrew tank without tools

Flavour and vapour with the right build

Squonk ready

Duckbill valve side fill

Dislikes:

Really tight airflow adjustment

No anti-leaking

Overall:

As I mentioned above I’m a big fan of Wotofos products with their Serpent line being one of my all time favorite atomizer lines out there and they continue to add new and exciting products to my favorites list with this Faris being the latest. I’ve actually been really enjoying it as a regular RDA paired up with an Ehpro Armour Prime and not only does it match up pretty nicely colour-wise but the two logos are nearly identical to really finish off the matchy matchy look. The quality, craftsmanship and design of the Faris are quite impressive and I wouldn’t have any issues recommending it to anyone who appreciates RDAs or RDTAs and likes to build. Even for newer vapers the Faris with it’s customization and versatility would make an excellent choice for someone just getting in to building and it would offer plenty of room to grow. So huge thanks to Wotofo for sending this bad boy over, colour me impressed!!!

Wotofo were kind enough to send over an extra Faris RDTA so we’re doing another Gleam giveaway, you can enter using the link below. The contest will run from today November 1st, 2018 until Wednesday November 8th around midnight EST at which point one winner will be selected. The contest is open to Canadian residents only and you must be of legal smoking/vaping age in your province to qualify. Please see any additional terms and conditions on the Gleam giveaway!!

Wotofo Faris Giveaway