Gitchy
Achiever
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2017
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Lilia @Sourcemore sent me this to try out. I am not affiliated with POTV or Sourcemore, nor am I paid to review things. I like to give away most of the stuff I get to review to friends or people on here but I do sometimes keep things if they suit the way I like to vape.
The Artery Cold Steel AIO, RBA Version
https://www.sourcemore.com/artery-cold-steel-aio-pod-mod-kit.html
Again, Lilia gave me a code that will get you the Cold Steel Kit for $27.79. It is CSAP
In the box you get:
1 COLD STEEL AIO Mod
1 COLD STEEL AIO RBA Pod (Including RBA)
1 COLD STEEL AIO Mod 510 Adapter
1 Pre-made Coil (Ni80 Triple Fused Clapton)
1 18650 Battery Adapter
1 RBA 510 Adapter
1 Allen Key
2 Hex Screws
2 O-rings
1 User Manual
1 Warranty Card
The official description says you get airflow reducers as well but I couldn’t see them in the pack at all.
The Cold Steel is a 21700/20700 device with an adapter to take an 18650 battery. It goes up to 120w. The pod in the RBA version is 2ml capacity and holds a build deck instead of a coil so you can make your own coils to suit your vaping style. A 510 adapter is included and you also get a nifty little RBA 510 adapter that screws onto the build deck so that you can check the ohms of the coil and give it a dry burn if you need to.
Functions of the mod itself are accessed by 3 clicks of the power button and the more complicated modes such as TC have their own sub menus as well. The main ones are:
Power Mode
E Juice test on or off
Power lock or unlock
Curve mode
Bypass mode
Voltage mode
Temp Control mode
Now in there is the e-juice test mode which detects the level of juice in the pod to avoid dry burns. I personally have eyes so tend to use them instead but it is a nice touch as I have felt the pain of a dry burn from not using said eyes to check the juice level in the past.
It also has a power lock you can activate to limit the wattage to the higher level of the coil and not go too high wattage wise. I’m not sure this works too well as the 0.3ohm coil I was using is great at 45w for me on all my other mods but this mod kept trying to restrict it to 30w at the most and gave a very insipid draw. It also tried to automatically set it at 26w every time I took the pod off and put it back on. I think it may go on the ohms of the coil and go more for a round wire build rather than the Ni80 Alien I had in there. Either that or I just wasn’t using it right but I didn’t really give it time and switched it off pretty much straight away out of frustration.
Despite this it is a great mod. I find it really hard to describe the style of the Cold Steel so the photos will have to give an idea better than words can. I love the look of it and with a 21700 battery in it has the lovely heft I like in a mod. It’s also not massive and fits well in your pocket. There is some branding on one side and it’s nicely understated. The screen is bright and you can see it in daylight, which is nice for a change. The buttons are nicely clicky and responsive. For charging there is a USB type C port in the bottom of the mod if you don’t use an external charger like you should and there’s no battery door as it’s a screw out coin thingy, which I do prefer. I really like the mod part of this and with the 510 adapter that’s included I could use that with any of my tanks up to about 24mm without any overhang. One thing to note is that the wattage/voltage will drop off when the battery is very low, and I’m talking about around 5-10%. I noticed it more when I had a beefier coil in as it didn’t seem to drop off when I was vaping on my usual alien at 45w and it ran out totally.
Now the pod and deck. It’s a 2ml pod with the RBA version. The XP one that takes Artery coils is 4ml but then that one doesn’t have the bell cap for holding the build deck in, and it is a build deck rather than a fiddly little RBA coil type thing. You do find yourself filling it a little often but it’s not that bad compared to some other tanks. The pod clicks into the mod rather than using magnets and it is quite hard to push in at first, I thought I was going to break the bloody thing. You do have to angle it forward a little and then click it in at the back. There’s a little push thingy at the back to release it easily. After a couple of times it’s easy to remember though. Filling is easy as there’s a slidable door at the top that you just pull back and fill with, no silicone bungs on this baby.
The build deck is a decent size. It fits in well to the pod and if wicked well enough it won’t leak. As mentioned there is the little adapter to put on it so that you can dry burn the coil and adjust if you’re using contact coils. It is big enough to take a 3mm coil without restricting the airflow too much and there is an airflow control under the deck so you can adjust your airflow to suit. The thing is that the mod has 3 big holes on each side for airflow as well and the advertised silicone adapters weren’t in my kit so I feel this is a DTL only kind of deck. And it does that very well. You can get a good, reasonably airy draw with this and it can take some decent coils.
I tried a simple 2.5mm 23awg brochrome coil first with about 6 or 7 wraps. It worked really well and the vapour was nice, as was the flavour. Wicking is a little tricky as there is nothing to hold the wick in, it kind of just sits in the little channel so you do have to be sure that it is in right or the whole thing leaks like a sieve. I found trimming it right to the bottom worked and a 2.5mm coil worked best as you didn’t have to thin the hell out of the wick to get it to fit.
I next tried my usual 3mm Ni80 Alien. It’s got 3 28awg cores and wrapped with 34awg wire. Not a big coil but certainly bigger than a simple round wire coil. It also worked really well at about 45w but my first attempt at wicking was a disaster as I left too much room above the bottom of the wicking channel on one side and it pissed all over the top of the mod part. My 2nd attempt was better and although I did have to thin the wick a bit it was nice draw and flavour. One thing with the 3mm coil is that you do have to thin the wick properly or it seems to hit against the bell cap and give a bit of a cottony flavour to the juice for a while till it breaks in.
After that I went for the bigger (to me) kind of coil and papped in a 2.5mm 26awg 3 core Ni80 fused clapton coil. This looked like a beast on the little build deck but fitted and worked really well. I had it at 70w and it was giving good flavour and good vapour and I suppose I could have had it even higher but I don’t like that personally so didn’t try. The vape was just too warm for me as I like it cool so if you like a warm vape and higher wattages then this wee thing works really well despite not being a ‘proper’ rta. As I also noted earlier the wattage did seem to drop when the battery is low with the bigger build but the battery was pretty low at the time and I noticed no drop until it was at around 5-10%.
In all I really liked the Cold Steel AIO. I love the design of the mod and the RBA pod works really well, like an RTA but with just a touch less flavour than a dedicated tank. It can take the kind of coils most of us use and gives a nice draw. I would probably buy one of these if I was looking for a decently priced 21700 mod and I would also probably use the RBA pod on occasion as well.
This one’s going to another forum member as they will use it more than I would.
The Artery Cold Steel AIO, RBA Version
https://www.sourcemore.com/artery-cold-steel-aio-pod-mod-kit.html
Again, Lilia gave me a code that will get you the Cold Steel Kit for $27.79. It is CSAP
In the box you get:
1 COLD STEEL AIO Mod
1 COLD STEEL AIO RBA Pod (Including RBA)
1 COLD STEEL AIO Mod 510 Adapter
1 Pre-made Coil (Ni80 Triple Fused Clapton)
1 18650 Battery Adapter
1 RBA 510 Adapter
1 Allen Key
2 Hex Screws
2 O-rings
1 User Manual
1 Warranty Card
The official description says you get airflow reducers as well but I couldn’t see them in the pack at all.
The Cold Steel is a 21700/20700 device with an adapter to take an 18650 battery. It goes up to 120w. The pod in the RBA version is 2ml capacity and holds a build deck instead of a coil so you can make your own coils to suit your vaping style. A 510 adapter is included and you also get a nifty little RBA 510 adapter that screws onto the build deck so that you can check the ohms of the coil and give it a dry burn if you need to.
Functions of the mod itself are accessed by 3 clicks of the power button and the more complicated modes such as TC have their own sub menus as well. The main ones are:
Power Mode
E Juice test on or off
Power lock or unlock
Curve mode
Bypass mode
Voltage mode
Temp Control mode
Now in there is the e-juice test mode which detects the level of juice in the pod to avoid dry burns. I personally have eyes so tend to use them instead but it is a nice touch as I have felt the pain of a dry burn from not using said eyes to check the juice level in the past.
It also has a power lock you can activate to limit the wattage to the higher level of the coil and not go too high wattage wise. I’m not sure this works too well as the 0.3ohm coil I was using is great at 45w for me on all my other mods but this mod kept trying to restrict it to 30w at the most and gave a very insipid draw. It also tried to automatically set it at 26w every time I took the pod off and put it back on. I think it may go on the ohms of the coil and go more for a round wire build rather than the Ni80 Alien I had in there. Either that or I just wasn’t using it right but I didn’t really give it time and switched it off pretty much straight away out of frustration.
Despite this it is a great mod. I find it really hard to describe the style of the Cold Steel so the photos will have to give an idea better than words can. I love the look of it and with a 21700 battery in it has the lovely heft I like in a mod. It’s also not massive and fits well in your pocket. There is some branding on one side and it’s nicely understated. The screen is bright and you can see it in daylight, which is nice for a change. The buttons are nicely clicky and responsive. For charging there is a USB type C port in the bottom of the mod if you don’t use an external charger like you should and there’s no battery door as it’s a screw out coin thingy, which I do prefer. I really like the mod part of this and with the 510 adapter that’s included I could use that with any of my tanks up to about 24mm without any overhang. One thing to note is that the wattage/voltage will drop off when the battery is very low, and I’m talking about around 5-10%. I noticed it more when I had a beefier coil in as it didn’t seem to drop off when I was vaping on my usual alien at 45w and it ran out totally.
Now the pod and deck. It’s a 2ml pod with the RBA version. The XP one that takes Artery coils is 4ml but then that one doesn’t have the bell cap for holding the build deck in, and it is a build deck rather than a fiddly little RBA coil type thing. You do find yourself filling it a little often but it’s not that bad compared to some other tanks. The pod clicks into the mod rather than using magnets and it is quite hard to push in at first, I thought I was going to break the bloody thing. You do have to angle it forward a little and then click it in at the back. There’s a little push thingy at the back to release it easily. After a couple of times it’s easy to remember though. Filling is easy as there’s a slidable door at the top that you just pull back and fill with, no silicone bungs on this baby.
The build deck is a decent size. It fits in well to the pod and if wicked well enough it won’t leak. As mentioned there is the little adapter to put on it so that you can dry burn the coil and adjust if you’re using contact coils. It is big enough to take a 3mm coil without restricting the airflow too much and there is an airflow control under the deck so you can adjust your airflow to suit. The thing is that the mod has 3 big holes on each side for airflow as well and the advertised silicone adapters weren’t in my kit so I feel this is a DTL only kind of deck. And it does that very well. You can get a good, reasonably airy draw with this and it can take some decent coils.
I tried a simple 2.5mm 23awg brochrome coil first with about 6 or 7 wraps. It worked really well and the vapour was nice, as was the flavour. Wicking is a little tricky as there is nothing to hold the wick in, it kind of just sits in the little channel so you do have to be sure that it is in right or the whole thing leaks like a sieve. I found trimming it right to the bottom worked and a 2.5mm coil worked best as you didn’t have to thin the hell out of the wick to get it to fit.
I next tried my usual 3mm Ni80 Alien. It’s got 3 28awg cores and wrapped with 34awg wire. Not a big coil but certainly bigger than a simple round wire coil. It also worked really well at about 45w but my first attempt at wicking was a disaster as I left too much room above the bottom of the wicking channel on one side and it pissed all over the top of the mod part. My 2nd attempt was better and although I did have to thin the wick a bit it was nice draw and flavour. One thing with the 3mm coil is that you do have to thin the wick properly or it seems to hit against the bell cap and give a bit of a cottony flavour to the juice for a while till it breaks in.
After that I went for the bigger (to me) kind of coil and papped in a 2.5mm 26awg 3 core Ni80 fused clapton coil. This looked like a beast on the little build deck but fitted and worked really well. I had it at 70w and it was giving good flavour and good vapour and I suppose I could have had it even higher but I don’t like that personally so didn’t try. The vape was just too warm for me as I like it cool so if you like a warm vape and higher wattages then this wee thing works really well despite not being a ‘proper’ rta. As I also noted earlier the wattage did seem to drop when the battery is low with the bigger build but the battery was pretty low at the time and I noticed no drop until it was at around 5-10%.
In all I really liked the Cold Steel AIO. I love the design of the mod and the RBA pod works really well, like an RTA but with just a touch less flavour than a dedicated tank. It can take the kind of coils most of us use and gives a nice draw. I would probably buy one of these if I was looking for a decently priced 21700 mod and I would also probably use the RBA pod on occasion as well.
This one’s going to another forum member as they will use it more than I would.
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