The Armor 1.0 is definitely the hottest atty of 2017 so far. It’s a gorgeous looking RDA with a super compact design with elegant angular lines that make it right at home on any high end mod (any mod). And it’s not just about looks, there are some great design features inside. So is it worth all the hype?
The Armor is clean, with simple lines that give it an elegance and an understated quality. But there is a lot under the cap that makes this a top level flavourchaser. The Airflow design has a baffled insert that sits inside the top cap that makes the air travel in a silky smooth fashion. This design also allows you to shut down the AFC entirely to get a rather nice MTL draw (make sure to adjust your wattage accordingly). This also attributes to a very nice condensed vapor chamber for awesome flavour. Included is a further Peek chamber reducer for single coil builds.
Really every detail and need has be accommodated for by the designer. Add the included BF pin and you have a top in class squonking atty. The top cap is finished with a lock ring that keeps the baffled insert in place and makes for easy AFC adjustment with a simple twist. There are quite a few accessories available too (reasonably priced), stainless, delrin, and ultem drip tips as well as a couple options for the lock ring and drip tip adapter give you tons of styling options. There really isn’t a single option or detail missed.
The 2 post clamp design works very well thanks to the two deep slots on each post. Sliding your wire leads through is a simple task and the grub screws clamp down well for temp and regular builds. The small foot print of the post design makes setting your wicks an easy task too, basically this is a very easy to build atty. O-ring quality and tolerances are perfectly nailed and the entire atty is finished in 316 stainless steel with a Peek insulator. Changing 510 pins is also a simple and easy task.
Flavour is very good, awesome really. The condensed size and smooth airflow make it hard to have a bad build/experience. Aligning your coil(s) vertically with the top of the posts and splitting the space between the inner lip of the base and the posts will give you the clearance and best flavour in our opinion. You want a bit of the airflow hitting the bottom of your coil(s). You will taste all the subtleties in your juices, this is expected performance for an atty of this caliber. We run ours with the 510 adapter and a medium bore tip for the best flavour in our opinion.
Airflow is smooth. Adjusting the AFC is simple and has a surprising range of options. We find ourselves playing with our settings quite a bit, you can close it down for an intense flavour hit, or open it for still very good flavour with more cloud. That’s the thing, the Armor is so well engineered that you have so many options.
You can build it many different ways and enjoy an awesome experience with all of them. Single coils shine with the reducer and give you nice lower wattage vapes. Dual coils give excessive flavour (a great thing) and the Armor can handle a decent amount of power while not getting insanely hot. Our favourite builds are simple round wire. A single(0.5 Ohms) or dual(0.25 Ohms) 24 awg, 6 wrap, 3mm, spaced coil does the job insanely well. Both will give you a warm, dense, tasty vape. We run the single around 30W and the dual around 50W. Again you can rock many different builds to get the temp you are looking for, the Armor might be one of the most versatile attys we have vaped to date.
Juice capacity is decent for a dripper, there is a decent juice well. But the Armor really shines as a squonker. In single coil mode it’s a nice easy squonk, in dual you need a bit more pressure with a pause to let the wicks saturate. Squonking the Armor is hours of wonderful worry free vaping. Sure you could drip it too, the top cap o-ring tolerance/resistance are nailed, so popping & dropping would be just fine too.
Is the Armor worth the hype? YES! Not only is the Armor the hottest atty so far this year, it’s the atty (RDA) to beat for 2017! It’s a work of art, the design is so throughly thought out, and it comes with everything you could want if not more. Sure it’s pricey and hard to get at the moment, but the modder (Darren Loh) is a great guy that is dedicated to getting them in everyone’s hands. There are frequent lists on his closed group (you will need an invite), and at this point there have been more than 230+ made. Really the value is pretty great when you compare it to the likes of the NarDA and the M-Atty (both with more expensive rrps), and it’s a better atty in our opinion. If you are a flavourchaser, you need the Armor in your life.
How does this compare to the O-atty?
It’s more versatile, better quality, easier to build, more airflow options, and the flavour of the O-atty is close, but the Armor has better flavour too. A better atty on all fronts.
Wow, better flavor. Damn, this chase for flavor will never end. Does it beat the O-atty even in single coil mode?
Flavour is very good but the O-atty is better in this case.
But does it take out the Hellfire Havoc? And the answer launches a K.WEST
Great site btw, seems to be one of the strongest voices pushing vaping towards its greatest potential. Very nice work doctor….
By “it” I meant the Armor :/
How’s the flavor if compare to hadaly rda?
Hey Devils,
Much much better. The Hadaly doesn’t compare.
Chiming in on the hadaly vs armor… vaping both as we speak on mech squonkers, and I’m getting much stronger flavour from the Hadaly. Anecdotal, because the builds are different resistance, and different juice in both. But I do have the reducer in the armor, running a 8ply 0.3mm ribbon staple build wrapped in 44g all ni80, at 0.33 ohms. Hadaly is running 26g 3 core alien wrapped in 36g also ni80 reading at 0.22 ohms. Worth noting, the armor has better conductivity and will hit harder
@Jeremy, please update us if you ever pit these two together on equal footing. Would love to see the less dear Hadaly win out. Thanks brother….
Hi, nice review and i’m interested with this rda..
Can i use this as not squonking mode?
I mean i love this rda design, but i dont have squonk mods.
Maybe jam bottom 510 pin with something so ejuice wont leaking?
Hey Hasley,
The Armor comes with a regular 510 pin too. So you can use it as a regular dripper too. Happy vaping!