Kudzu Mods are know for some extremely beautiful and high end mods, usually out of stab wood, and sculpted pieces of artwork more than mods. They have a new squonk version of their popular Lutra mod coming out any day now. Well about a year back maybe more they released their own RDA, the Gambit. It was the first dual airflow on a single coil alternative to the hard to get and elusive NarDA. It came with two different styles of top cap and a black & ultem drip tip. It was a great little package for a great price, we don’t know why we waited so long to review it to be honest, we have had it in our rotation for a while. Let’s dive into it…
No matter which top cap speaks to you they both offer super clean lines with interior domed roofs and super condensed vapor chambers. It’s pure aesthetic choice, both provided equal performance. We like how simple the lines are and inside there is a deep juice well with a very tight area left for your coil and wicks to keep things efficient and condensed. The quality of materials and fit & finish are extremely high. The little extra laser etching detail/design on the bottom of the atty is stunning. The o-ring tolerances are perfect in our opinion, the caps go on easily and stay in place. The deck is designed for an angled coil similar to preferred building technics for the NarDA. The drip tips are beefy and extremely comfortable in the mouth and just look great. There are other attys on the market now that offer the variety of included tips and top caps to allow you to customize the look, but the Gambit was one of the first. Great packaging and all this value make it a hard atty to turned down.
Flavour is good, is it as good as the NarDA? Maybe? It’s a little hard to judge it now with so many newer attys now on the market that have really pushed the envelope with the dual airflow design (NarCA, KRMA, Impact, Convergent, Hussar RDA & more…). But why we still think the Gambit is worth a review is the quality, look, and possibly for those of you that are looking for a reasonable second hand option that should be really affordable while giving some pretty great performance. Don’t get us wrong either, this is still better flavour than many RDAs and Tanks on the market. And remember we only post reviews on outstanding products worth owning.
Airflow is smooth, even has a nice swoosh or slight turbulence. But there is also a slight whistle at times (very similar problem that plagues the NarDA) and it’s not the quietest atty by any means. About 1/3 open renders the best flavour and reduces noise. The lower position of the AFC slots really helps with giving the Gambit a clean look, through on a beauty ring that sits just below it and this is a very please looking setup (check out Never Normalz Choker low profile).
Building isn’t a huge challenge but also not the easiest in the world. The beefy flat head screws take torque well but the heads themselves are not that large. So securing your leads is not as easy as it could be. The Gambit definitely can handle more intense builds than say the NarDA. With it’s wider or more open airflow it allows for lower ohm builds. The quality and thickness of the top caps also keeps heat down. We like a 23 awg, 5 wrap, 2.5mm ID, coming in around 0.25 ohms run at 50W for a nice dense flavourful vape.
Juice capacity is good with the Gambit’s deep juice well. Squonk action is good and you can gauge you juice level by the AFC slots. It and many attys would benefit from a slightly raised BF pin to allow for juice pooling. But you get a good number of hauls between squonks.
The Gambit is not currently available on the Kudzu site, we aren’t sure if they are even still in production at this point. But they are and were a pretty great deal for what you get. A beautifully machined atty of the best materials with lots of extras to play with. They are more of a mod company after all, but maybe it’s time for a v2. If you are looking for some good second hand options the Gambit should definitely be on your list. Something about this atty keeps us coming back to it time and time again.