RichieRich
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- Joined
- Jan 26, 2016
- Messages
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Nǐ hǎo! Hello! Welcome!
Up for a group review is the BP Mods Pioneer 1.5 RTA, a collaborative test between 6 forum members.
Following Dovpo’s success at group testing, BP Mods have stepped up to pop their hat in the ring to offer their products up for a group test, knowing full well, the result could be good OR bad. Everyone’s input and opinions matter, whether it be great or crap. It ensures the outcome of the review is impartial, and absolutely honest, which you’ll see below. I will warn you, there might be a couple of swears in this review, but they are warranted.
Our group testers are: @Amnesiac, @Astral, @Chris K, @MTLMike, @RichieRich, and @Willo3092. Special guest appearance from @Phrasing, as he has one of these, and helped the group with coiling and wicking tips.
Starting with the introduction
The Pioneer 1.5 RTA comes in 2 colours, Stainless steel, and DLC Eclipse (matt grey). It will handle MTL, RDL, and DL. 22mm Diameter with a 3.2ml capacity. The tank is a top-fill RTA, with external adjustable airflow control, and 6 airflow pins (0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 2.0, 2.9) to adjust to your preferred style. It also has a replaceable positive post for DL vaping, and has its own 510 pin to secure it.
In the box, you get the RTA, some very good information cards, and an accessory pack which contains the air pins, Tobacco/DL chimney, DL driptip (MTL fitted), spare o-rings, spare top-cap gaskets, spare grub screws, and 3 coils to get you started (28Ga Ni80 2.5mm MTL, 28Ga A1 x2-40Ga Ni80 Clapton 2.5mm RDL, and 26Ga A1 x2-40Ga Ni80 Clapton 2.5mm DL).
The box itself (Repeating this information from the Sure Review), IMO is a little work of genius. All the different products use the same box, which from a production point of view keeps the costs down, rather than having multiple sizes and tooling costs for each design. One box fits all, the outer sleeve designates the product within, and its all recyclable too. No plastic packaging inside, so +1 point for the environment!
So, lets get stuck in.
To start off, 3 of us had issues out of the box. Mine had a short, with no coil installed, @MTLMike’s kept flooding, and @Willo3092 had a stuck AFC.
I think its important to note these issues not only to show what happened, but to also to give everyone some reassurance that aftersales support from @dovpo_uk Andy and BP Mods is second to none!
I spoke to Andy about mine, advising the posts are touching, and that i tried the DL post too, which did the same, but intermittently. I asked what i should do. I sent him the pics and he said he would feed it back to BP Mods. I suggested taking a file to the posts to create a gap to get it running for the test, but i would wait until i get the go-ahead, incase Andy needed it back to sent to BP for QC inspection.
5 minutes later.......
@dovpo_uk: "Rich are you on FB Messenger?"
@RichieRich: "Yeah why?"
@dovpo_uk: "Bruce doesn't do personal email, I'd rather connect you both together"
@RichieRich: "Err, Ok?"
@dovpo_uk: "Here's my profile, make me your friend lol"
.......
@RichieRich: "Err, Done"
2 Minutes later, i'm invited into a FB group message with Andy, and the scary kick-ass legend Bruce himself!!
I didn’t know what to expect but, Bruce could not have been a nicer bloke!! I explained what happened, what i'd tried, and sent the pics. Tried a couple of suggestions, but to no avail. He was dead apologetic, said a new one will be on its way, and to keep hold of the faulty one.
Honestly, lovely bloke, and can't believe that in about 10 mins, has tried to resolve a problem that would take other Chinese manufacturers weeks to respond to. I should note, what we have are samples to test, but this level of service from Andy and Bruce (might i add at 10:30pm too, Above and beyond!) goes to show how reassuring it is to have some proper fucking good customer service and support in the vape industry!!
So, all you guys know, you're in good hands!
I filed my posts while I waited for the replacement, and it now works, this went to @Willo3092 to resolve his jammed AFC, and @MTLMike received a replacement from @dovpo_uk for his flooding issue, so we could keep the group test flowing.
Now the issues are aside, we can get on to the building. The OG Pioneer had a reputation for being tricky to wick and get working, but @Phrasing provided some excellent support to get us started.
Popping your coil in is straight forward, but, you’ll need to ensure the coil does not stick up any higher than the posts, or you risk it shorting out on the chimney when the deck is installed to the tank. Also worth noting to do the same with the cotton, to ensure the chimney doesn’t touch it.
@Willo3092’s pics for illustration
@Phrasing's wicking method as follows:
BP Mods also show a wicking tutorial in the following handy clip:
It’s worth mentioning, this isn’t an RTA for beginners (or if you are impatient). Yes, its an improvement over the OG Pioneer, but, your wicking does have to be on-point to avoid flooding or dry hits.
Filling is taken care of via a sliding top cap. It also locks into place by turning the cap clockwise, to avoid accidental opening in your pocket.
Differences between the OG and 1.5 noted below for anyone interested in what’s changed:
Right off the bat, this RTA performs well, although it did take a few of us a couple of frustrating attempts to get the wicking right. Better luck seemed to be had from using a 3mm id coil as the cotton filled the juice wells better.
While the tank comes with 6 air pins, your airflow can be fine-tuned further with the AFC ring. At the base, there are holes for MTL on one side of the AFC, and a large slot on the other side for RDL/DTL. A “one tank suits all” experience, however, our testers focused primarily on the MTL aspects of this tank, which didn’t give us a bad experience where flavour is concerned.
On the subject of the Chimney (since there is another in the box), @MTLMike notes that changing it for the other one, made no difference to the flavour notes of his liquid. This may be down to the liquid, but BP Mods note in the literature, that it will improve Tobacco flavours or DL vaping, but for anything else, the pre-fitted chimney will do the job just fine. Same thing with the removable chamber expander on the deck, enhances tobacco flavours, but fine to leave in for anything else.
Overall, if you are patient, and experienced, then yes, this is a good tank. If you are a beginner, or have no time for perfecting the wicking technique, maybe sit this one out.
There is a lot of information and comments to go through, which can be seen in the scorecards at the end of the review (this is definitely worth reading), but we can summarize our thoughts below:
@Willo3092: Excellent if you get the wicking right!
@Phrasing: Feels like a very good clone of the original
@Chris K: Too faffy for me, I’m a simple creature with simple wants
@Astral: A Pioneer without the Pioneer's problems. Magnificent
@Amnesiac: Not very forgiving at all, wonderful when you nail it but far to infuriating to get dialled in.
@MTLMike: A decent atomiser that has a plethora of airflow choices
@RichieRich: Good, once you nail the wicking.
Now, for the scores:
@Amnesiac 8.2
@Astral 8.6
@Chris K 7.0
@MTLMike 7.0
@RichieRich 8.0
@Willo3092 7.9
Giving a group average score of 7.8 out of 10
If you've enjoyed this review, please give a thumbs up, and if you have any questions, please ask away! One or a few of us will respond as soon as possible!
Scorecard is attached at the bottom of this post, and more pics to follow in the second post.
Thanks for your time!
Up for a group review is the BP Mods Pioneer 1.5 RTA, a collaborative test between 6 forum members.
Following Dovpo’s success at group testing, BP Mods have stepped up to pop their hat in the ring to offer their products up for a group test, knowing full well, the result could be good OR bad. Everyone’s input and opinions matter, whether it be great or crap. It ensures the outcome of the review is impartial, and absolutely honest, which you’ll see below. I will warn you, there might be a couple of swears in this review, but they are warranted.
Our group testers are: @Amnesiac, @Astral, @Chris K, @MTLMike, @RichieRich, and @Willo3092. Special guest appearance from @Phrasing, as he has one of these, and helped the group with coiling and wicking tips.
Starting with the introduction
The Pioneer 1.5 RTA comes in 2 colours, Stainless steel, and DLC Eclipse (matt grey). It will handle MTL, RDL, and DL. 22mm Diameter with a 3.2ml capacity. The tank is a top-fill RTA, with external adjustable airflow control, and 6 airflow pins (0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 2.0, 2.9) to adjust to your preferred style. It also has a replaceable positive post for DL vaping, and has its own 510 pin to secure it.
In the box, you get the RTA, some very good information cards, and an accessory pack which contains the air pins, Tobacco/DL chimney, DL driptip (MTL fitted), spare o-rings, spare top-cap gaskets, spare grub screws, and 3 coils to get you started (28Ga Ni80 2.5mm MTL, 28Ga A1 x2-40Ga Ni80 Clapton 2.5mm RDL, and 26Ga A1 x2-40Ga Ni80 Clapton 2.5mm DL).
The box itself (Repeating this information from the Sure Review), IMO is a little work of genius. All the different products use the same box, which from a production point of view keeps the costs down, rather than having multiple sizes and tooling costs for each design. One box fits all, the outer sleeve designates the product within, and its all recyclable too. No plastic packaging inside, so +1 point for the environment!
So, lets get stuck in.
To start off, 3 of us had issues out of the box. Mine had a short, with no coil installed, @MTLMike’s kept flooding, and @Willo3092 had a stuck AFC.
I think its important to note these issues not only to show what happened, but to also to give everyone some reassurance that aftersales support from @dovpo_uk Andy and BP Mods is second to none!
I spoke to Andy about mine, advising the posts are touching, and that i tried the DL post too, which did the same, but intermittently. I asked what i should do. I sent him the pics and he said he would feed it back to BP Mods. I suggested taking a file to the posts to create a gap to get it running for the test, but i would wait until i get the go-ahead, incase Andy needed it back to sent to BP for QC inspection.
5 minutes later.......
@dovpo_uk: "Rich are you on FB Messenger?"
@RichieRich: "Yeah why?"
@dovpo_uk: "Bruce doesn't do personal email, I'd rather connect you both together"
@RichieRich: "Err, Ok?"
@dovpo_uk: "Here's my profile, make me your friend lol"
.......
@RichieRich: "Err, Done"
2 Minutes later, i'm invited into a FB group message with Andy, and the scary kick-ass legend Bruce himself!!
I didn’t know what to expect but, Bruce could not have been a nicer bloke!! I explained what happened, what i'd tried, and sent the pics. Tried a couple of suggestions, but to no avail. He was dead apologetic, said a new one will be on its way, and to keep hold of the faulty one.
Honestly, lovely bloke, and can't believe that in about 10 mins, has tried to resolve a problem that would take other Chinese manufacturers weeks to respond to. I should note, what we have are samples to test, but this level of service from Andy and Bruce (might i add at 10:30pm too, Above and beyond!) goes to show how reassuring it is to have some proper fucking good customer service and support in the vape industry!!
So, all you guys know, you're in good hands!
I filed my posts while I waited for the replacement, and it now works, this went to @Willo3092 to resolve his jammed AFC, and @MTLMike received a replacement from @dovpo_uk for his flooding issue, so we could keep the group test flowing.
Now the issues are aside, we can get on to the building. The OG Pioneer had a reputation for being tricky to wick and get working, but @Phrasing provided some excellent support to get us started.
Popping your coil in is straight forward, but, you’ll need to ensure the coil does not stick up any higher than the posts, or you risk it shorting out on the chimney when the deck is installed to the tank. Also worth noting to do the same with the cotton, to ensure the chimney doesn’t touch it.
@Willo3092’s pics for illustration
@Phrasing's wicking method as follows:
BP Mods also show a wicking tutorial in the following handy clip:
It’s worth mentioning, this isn’t an RTA for beginners (or if you are impatient). Yes, its an improvement over the OG Pioneer, but, your wicking does have to be on-point to avoid flooding or dry hits.
Filling is taken care of via a sliding top cap. It also locks into place by turning the cap clockwise, to avoid accidental opening in your pocket.
Differences between the OG and 1.5 noted below for anyone interested in what’s changed:
Right off the bat, this RTA performs well, although it did take a few of us a couple of frustrating attempts to get the wicking right. Better luck seemed to be had from using a 3mm id coil as the cotton filled the juice wells better.
While the tank comes with 6 air pins, your airflow can be fine-tuned further with the AFC ring. At the base, there are holes for MTL on one side of the AFC, and a large slot on the other side for RDL/DTL. A “one tank suits all” experience, however, our testers focused primarily on the MTL aspects of this tank, which didn’t give us a bad experience where flavour is concerned.
On the subject of the Chimney (since there is another in the box), @MTLMike notes that changing it for the other one, made no difference to the flavour notes of his liquid. This may be down to the liquid, but BP Mods note in the literature, that it will improve Tobacco flavours or DL vaping, but for anything else, the pre-fitted chimney will do the job just fine. Same thing with the removable chamber expander on the deck, enhances tobacco flavours, but fine to leave in for anything else.
Overall, if you are patient, and experienced, then yes, this is a good tank. If you are a beginner, or have no time for perfecting the wicking technique, maybe sit this one out.
There is a lot of information and comments to go through, which can be seen in the scorecards at the end of the review (this is definitely worth reading), but we can summarize our thoughts below:
@Willo3092: Excellent if you get the wicking right!
@Phrasing: Feels like a very good clone of the original
@Chris K: Too faffy for me, I’m a simple creature with simple wants
@Astral: A Pioneer without the Pioneer's problems. Magnificent
@Amnesiac: Not very forgiving at all, wonderful when you nail it but far to infuriating to get dialled in.
@MTLMike: A decent atomiser that has a plethora of airflow choices
@RichieRich: Good, once you nail the wicking.
Now, for the scores:
@Amnesiac 8.2
@Astral 8.6
@Chris K 7.0
@MTLMike 7.0
@RichieRich 8.0
@Willo3092 7.9
Giving a group average score of 7.8 out of 10
If you've enjoyed this review, please give a thumbs up, and if you have any questions, please ask away! One or a few of us will respond as soon as possible!
Scorecard is attached at the bottom of this post, and more pics to follow in the second post.
Thanks for your time!
