DotMod has gotten into the RTA game and boy have they done it with some flash. The Petri RTA has to be one of the most blinged out attys ever! They have made the transition to Chinese production to help with costs making their products more affordable but there are even better deals to be had…
Everything about this clone screams authentic, right down to the packaging. It leaves you wondering whether it’s just a leaked/stolen authentic off the same production line. This takes 1:1 to a new level, all that’s missing are the 2 included clapton coils. At 1/4 the cost it may be tempting for many. But as always if you love this product, grab the authentic, without the original design it wouldn’t exist.
The Petri is a unique design, looking at the deck you almost can’t comprehend where you would place your wicks. The Gold finish makes this atty bling out any mod you throw it on. It’s pretty amazing that no one else has done a full gold atty till now. We aren’t even fans of gold, but something about the clean lines and mirror finish make it something almost everyone should love. It’s small and compact and stays remarkably clean, devoid of any finger prints. The mixed knurling styles add a detail that makes light refract in many ways. Basically it’s a beautiful looking atty. Bottom airflow, conical chimney, and large juice ports tick all the boxes to make this a flavour producer. The Petri is available in 22 and 24mm but we know the 24 would be a little too big and airy for us flavourchasers. Every thread is butter smooth and catches on the first try every time. The only qualm with the design is the custom sleeve style drip/chuff tips, they feel great in the mouth but you won’t be using any of your own drip tips with this one.
Flavour is very good, it helps that the chimney is rather short and you are right on top of your coils. The overall design saturates the coils very well which leads to warm luscious vaper full of flavour. The vapor production is very good, this is a cloudy atty for sure. Once everything is in place (coils & wicks) it get nice in condensed in the chamber which also attributes to the flavour.
Airflow is pretty smooth, there is a restriction throughout the AFC range. As always, for intense flavour the AFC closed down to 1/2 to 1/4 open works best. There is a slight bit of AFC noise, but we would still consider it a quite vape. The Petri doesn’t leak (maybe if your wicks are set very wrong), but we have notice a decent amount of condensation with use over time on the top deck of our mods. This atty gives you long and tasty hauls, the wicking really keeps up.
Building this atty is were it gets a little weird. In order to assemble/disassemble you need to loosen the 510 pin, it acts like a locking device which gives you worry free filling (it’s never going to open up the build deck when unscrewing the top cap). So you will need to take care with your 510 pin as it has a habit of dropping out of the build deck (good news, it comes with an extra pin, but still be careful). So once you get used to the idea of this extra step it’s really not that bad and it wicks so well that builds last a reasonable amount of time before you need a wick change. It’s a postless deck and everything locks down and works as it should. The big thing is to keep your coils toward the center of the deck so that the chimney has clearance and avoids shorts. So leave a little gap on the outer edge of the airflow holes and you should be good. The Petri is all about claptons, it shines most with them, it has a tiny bit of spitback a times but really hardly any. Our favorite build is a dual, 2.5mm, 6 wrap, 26/36 N80/KA1 coming in at 0.3 Ohms and run anywhere from 40-50W depending on the juice. Wicking looks harder than it is, there are multiple methods and they all seem to work pretty good. Basically cut your wick leads to the deck circumference and place them into the 2 indents beside your coils. The pictured method is folding one on top of the other creating a wall of wick but you can also go more traditional and just place them side by side like any other atty. Just trim the outer edges so that they angle in towards the indents, you don’t want too much wick to choke your juice flow holes. It’s possible to get into the deck with a full tank so don’t worry too much, you’ll know if you don’t have enough space, it’ll have a dryness to the vapor (you are looking for a saturated vape). Placing the chimney over your build is easy thanks to the 2 alignment slots that align with the edges of the airflow holes on the deck. Screw it all together and finish with tightening up the 510 pin.
Filling is pretty worry free thanks again to the locked deck. We haven’t had any leaking, maybe a tiny gurgle now and then on the first haul of a fresh tank. One note however is to wipe the under side of the top cap between fills to help with mess (if you don’t you will get a small line of juice on tightening it down). It’s not the largest juice capacity (2ml) but it seems to last longer than some others with the same capacity. Filling is a pretty easy ordeal so it doesn’t really matter. Larger juice fill ports would be nice, but with a unicorn bottle it’s cool.
It’s not just all bling with the Petri, it performs rather well. Like we said earlier, it looks great on just about anything. It gives you a little extra attention that you may or may not like. There is some pretty great design thinking going on inside here, for as weird as the build deck looks or the assembly procedure is, we feel the performance, especially when it comes to wicking, makes it worth it. DotMod got it seriously right. Whether you buy the clone or the authentic you are in for a treat. Bling bling baby!
Hi Ryan, thanks for the review. I wish to ask you about this atty, I’m currently using this same clone atty and I’m encountering a problem. When I fill the tank more than half the height of the tank, the liquid start to leak from the airhole below. I unscrew everything and notice that the liquid flows down from the chimney. Is it normal that I couldn’t fill the tank to more than about half the tank height? Or is something wrong? Fyi, a friend of mine set the wick, coil, etc and I’m still new to the world of vaping.
I will greatly appreciate any help I could get. Thank you very much..
Hey PYPW,
It sounds like your wicks are either not large enough to fill the juice flow ports or your wicks have degraded with use and no longer hold a seal. The chimney is a solid piece, so unless you have dropped the atty and created a leak we are almost positive it’s a wicking issue. Try to rewick and make sure to have enough fluffed cotton to block the juice flow ports. This is a great RTA but isn’t super friendly for new vapers. Good luck and if you are having trouble take a look at our pics or do a quick search on YouTube for some build tutorials for the Petri RTA. Hope it works out for you.
Hey PYPW,
It sounds like your wicks are either not large enough to fill the juice flow ports or your wicks have degraded with use and no longer hold a seal. The chimney is a solid piece, so unless you have dropped the atty and created a leak we are almost positive it’s a wicking issue. Try to rewick and make sure to have enough fluffed cotton to block the juice flow ports. This is a great RTA but isn’t super friendly for new vapers. Good luck and if you are having trouble take a look at our pics or do a quick search on YouTube for some build tutorials for the Petri RTA. Hope it works out for you.
Hi Ryan, turned out my wicking was wrong. I could now fill my tank to its full capacity. Thanks for replying and assisting me! Just like you said it sure isn’t friendly for newbie..
Thanks Ryan!