Chris 'majorvapes' SissonHere’s a look at a stylish RDA from a company called StageVape. It was sent over from the wonderful folks at Buybest for review and I believe it’s the first product I’ve seen from the company StageVape. When looking around I wasn’t able to find much information on the company but from the RDA I received I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of them. Here are my honest thoughts on the Venus RDA from StageVape c/o Buybest.
Package contents:
• 1 x Venus RDA
• 1 x User Manual
• 1 x Comp Wire
• 1 x Japanese Cotton
• 1 x Extra Screws & O-rings
• 1 x BF Pin
Listed specs and features:
Size: 24mm x 28.4mm
Drip Tip: 810 drip tip
Material: 304 stainless steel
Thread: Gold-plated 510 connection
• Unique etching process with elegant appearance
• 24mm diameter with 810 resin drip tip
• Side airflow system
• Angled airhole for huge cloud & excellent flavor
• Postless deck for easy building
• Germany-made PEEK insulator
• Gold-plated contact pin for better electronic conductivity
• Bottom feeding pin included
Packaging and contents:
The Venus comes packed in a neat little cardboard box with a clear window on the front so you can see what you’re buying. In the kit you get the Venus RDA equipped with a colourful resin 810 Goon style drip tip, a user manual, a bag of cotton, a bag of spares and a bag containing two pre-wrapped coils. In the spares bag you get some extra grub screws, a non-bf gold plated 510 pin, some spare orings and an Allen key. The coils look like staples of some sort but they don’t list what they are made of or any details on their construction. It’s just and RDA so I don’t really expect much with the kit but they’ve included all the usual basics which is handy.
The RDA:
The Venus RDA has to be one of the nicest looking RDAs out there. It’s a 24mm diameter RDA made of 304 stainless steel and is heavily etched with an interesting pattern that incorporates the face of a skull. It’s also fairly low profile standing at just 28.4mm in height. The company claims a unique etching process and to me it looks very well done. Depending on the colour you get the engraving might be filled in with paint like on mine it’s filled with a blue pigment of some sort. The etching looks nice and deep and doesn’t appear to be cheaply laser engraved like I’ve seen on others but with the skull motif the aesthetics might not appeal to everyone. I particularly like how the etching even continues in to the air flow cutouts on the cap which is a nice attention to detail. The design also continues around the top of the RDA and underneath the drip tip which really completes the design. Considering the extra cost etching and engraving tends to add I was amazed to see the price on this thing which dare I say it is extremely affordable for an authentic RDA. Sure it’s from a company I’ve never really heard of but the quality speaks for itself.
The top cap which also acts as the airflow control by turning it has two cyclops style slots cut in to it, one on either side. The tolerance on the cap is pretty much perfect where it’s not too tight and not too loose so there’s no struggle taking the cap on or off or turning it to adjust the airflow. The inside of the cap is slightly concave at the top but the drip tip juts out creating a small lip. That lip is actually beneficial in preventing condensation from making it’s way up in to your mouth and doesn’t seem to affect airflow or flavour in anyway. The two slots on the cap are meant to line up with two holes cut through the sides of the deck. Those two holes are offset and are slightly angled towards the center of the deck. By turning the cap it closes off the holes letting you adjust it to your liking. At full open it’s a nice very slightly restricted direct lung hit. You can tighten it up a bit but it’s definitely not going to be for mouth to lung at all. One odd thing about the design is on the outer cap the slots are angled upwards but the cutouts through the deck are angled horizontally on an angle. I don’t notice any real turbulence from it or anything just thought it was an interesting choice. Just below the airflow cutouts on the sides of the deck is where you access the grub screws, they’re deeply set but haven’t been an issue to get to. On the very bottom it’s got some basic branding and a non adjustable gold plated 510 squonk pin that comes installed but the kit also includes a non-squonk pin which I have pictured below.
It’s a four hole postless dual coil deck with a little peak in the middle of the deck. It sort of separates where your two coils will sit but also sort of limits this thing to dual coil unless you wanted to sit your coil really high above that peak. The peak is also sort of dual purpose with two holes drilled through underneath it where liquid will come out if you’re squonking. With the way your wicks sit in the channels the juice will come up underneath from each side and perfectly saturate your cotton from either side but not directly underneath the coil. It will also help mitigate any leaking since the juice comes out under the cotton and is essentially trapped there unless you drastically oversquonk.
Build, Wick and Performance:
Building on the Venus is much like any postless deck. You’ll need to trim your leads before mounting your coils but it’s an easy enough thing to manage. I found the leads needs to be about 2.5mm in length but there seems to be a bit of space in the post holes so if your leads are too long the grub screws will bend your leads sort of hooking them in to the post holes which sometimes make it a challenge getting your coils back out. Aside from that they mount like any other postless deck. If done correctly the airflow will lineup just below your coil so it hits it from the bottom at an angle. Wicking it is equally simple and you can wick it pretty much like any basic RDA trimming your wicks to touch the bottom of the deck and tucking them in to the two wick channels on either side of the deck. The wick channels aren’t the biggest but they should accommodate the wicks from dual 3mm coils without any extra trimming. For my first build I opted to use the included coils. I’m pretty sure they’re four core claptons, most likely made of kanthal with the resistance coming out to 0.12ohms and they’ve got a pretty slow ramp up. Flavour and vapour production from them was actually quite good but I soon switched to a pair of homemade fused claptons 2×26/40g ni80 around 0.14ohms and got very similar performance but with a much quicker ramp up. As a regular RDA the big 810 drip tip made dripping easy and with the split deck design with the little peak in the middle it seemed to spread the juice evenly when dripping right down the top. In squonk mode the fact that the juice comes out under your cotton makes it all that more leak resistant which is something every squonk fan looks for. As with any RDA performance will ultimately depend on your ability to build and wick it but with the Venus I’ve got to say it makes building with dual coils a pretty simple affair and the performance I’ve gotten from it has been fantastic.
Likes:
- Great build quality
- Etched design
- Beautiful aesthetic
- Ease of use
- Flavour and vapour with the right build
- Comes with a squonk pin
- Low profile
- Colourful resin 810 tip
Dislikes:
- Clamps can bend leads
- No single coil option
Overall:
I’ve got to say I was very surprised by the StageVape Venus. For an affordable RDA from a relatively unknown company I have almost nothing to complain about and even the cons I listed were pretty much negligible. While this one will definitely be for the more seasoned vapers who enjoy working on a postless dual coil deck it might also be a good starting point for those just getting in to building with it’s easy to work with design. I found it worked great as both a regular RDA and as a squonk RDA and it easily made it in to the regular rotation if that says anything about it. I personally found it worked a treat, it didn’t retain much heat, the airflow is ideal for dual coil, the flavour I get from it is fantastic and it looks stunning with it’s etched design. Easily one of my new favorite dual coil RDAs!!