Honest review time: The Serpent Elevate from Wotofo

I’ve said it in nearly every Wotofo review that I’ve ever posted, I’m a huge fan of the Serpent series of RTAs that Wotofo produces so of course I was excited to hear that a new addition was being added to the line up. The Serpent line has pretty much always been based on single coil flavour-centric RTAs that are well made, compact and easy to use. The newest member of the Serpent Family is actually a collaboration project with Matt from Suck My Mod and has definitely evolved in both form and function when compared to previous incarnations but does it meet up with my haughty expectations? Here are my honest thoughts on the Serpent Elevate RTA from Wotofo.

Package contents:

Included coil specs:

• Framed Staple Clapton Coil
• (28G+38G*9+28G)+36G N80
• ID 3mm
• 0.33ohm (40W-55W)

Listed features & specs:

Specifications:

• Diameter: 24mm
• Threading: 510 thread
• E-liquid Capacity: 3.5ml
• Filling Method: Top filling
• Airflow Type: Adjustable top airflow
• Insulator Material: German PEEK
• Extra Accessory: 4.5ml bubble tube, Coil trimming tool

Features:

• Silky smooth surface, mystic snake scale decor
• Leakage-free top air inflow design
• Breakthrough air splitting structure and scientific redirecting system
• Intuitive single coil mounting deck
• Upgraded accessory options

Packaging and contents:

The kit comes packed in a black and green cardboard box bearing the image of a Serpent on both the front and back. On the front there’s a little window so you can see the RTA inside which is always handy so you get an idea of what the product actually looks like. On the back there’s just a giant serpent logo with the name Serpent Elevate surrounding it. Instead of their usual place on the back the contents, info and authenticity check are located on the sides and bottom of the box. On one of the sides it even has a black on black serpent scale pattern which adds to the serpent motif of the kit. Inside everything is safely packed in a cardboard lined sponge insert. While it definitely adds to the presentation I sometimes find digging parts out of these cardboard sponge inserts a pain in the butt. In the kit you get the Serpent Elevate RTA equipped with a nice translucent wide bore 810 drip tip but it also comes packed with a colourful resin 810 tip as well if you prefer a bit more colour on your gear. You also get a regular 510 drip tip adapter if 810 tips aren’t your thing and a spare 4.5ml plastic bubble glass is also included. Underneath the sponge insert are hidden a manual for the tank, a small bag containing a Philips head screwdriver and a Allen key and three sealed accessory bags. In the accessory bags you get a couple of Wotofos agleted cottons, two framed staple claptons and a bag containing a coil building tool, some spare orings and some spare grubs and screws. Unfortunately when I went to take a picture of the last bag all of the stuff in it was pushed to one side so I gave it a shake to try and center it all but the bag had a split in it and all of the grubs and screws went flying. I only managed to find the coil tool and the orings but the screws and grubs are nowhere to be found. Another thing I should mention is the kit I got was a pre-release sample and the contact at Wotofo informed me that the final kit will be shipping with both tanks being made of glass not plastic and will include a handy dandy coil trimming tool to help trim your coils before mounting. In my opinion of all of the companies out there Wotofo does the best job when it comes to packaging and labeling their accessories and I have yet to be disappointed when opening a new product from them, the Serpent Elevate is no exception!!

The Tank:

The Serpent Elevate has to be the most elaborate of the Serpent series so far. At the top as I mentioned it comes equipped with two different 810 drip tips one a translucent plastic while the other is a colourful resin. Both are fairly low profile and comfortable on the lips but the kit does include a 510 adapter if you don’t find either of them suitable. One thing to note is the tips are 810 but taper down considerably and with the size of the chimney it’s really more like the airflow of a 510 tip. Just below the tip is the fairly short threaded top fill cap. Just unscrew it and you’ll expose two moderately sized kidney shaped fill holes. Nothing really innovative there and it works just as expected with little to no mess when topping up. Just below the top fill is the top airflow inlets. There’s one on each side and they are cyclops style slots with an airflow control ring you can turn to adjust the airflow. At full open it’s a pretty comfortable direct lung hit and you can close it down to get a much tighter draw but in my opinion with the airflow setup and the size of the drip tips it’s not really meant for mouth to lung. The AFC has stops at either end and is fairly tight so it should stay in place but once it gets lubed up with juice it loosens up a little bit. The AFC ring is etched with a snake skin pattern which adds a nice bit of style and would also help with grip when turning it. Inside the tank on the chimney housing it’s got the Serpent Elevate logo engraved on one side and the Suck My Mod logo on the other. I got the rainbow version which also has a nice sort of matte blasted finish to it. As much as I’m not really a rainbow kind of guy I have to admit that the finish on this one looks great.

The RTA in it’s default state holds 3.5ml of liquid but the tank can be swapped out for a bubble tank that will hold an additional 1ml for a total of 4.5ml. The tank can be broken down in to four pieces for cleaning but it’s also setup so you can remove the deck without draining the tank in case you need to work on your build. To access the deck you just unscrew it from the bottom of the tank. If you want to change the tank just unscrew the deck, pop off the glass and pop on the new one. The inside of the chimney is slightly concave where it meets up with the deck to help concentrate the flavour but it’s a pretty short step. On the very bottom of the tank it’s got a non-adjustable gold plated 510 pin with some Serpent related branding and the usual CE markings.

The Deck:

The deck on the Serpent Elevate is where things get interesting, it’s essentially a postless deck that sits in between two blades that have been cut through to allow air to flow through them. It’s supposed to have some sort of ‘Breakthrough air splitting structure’ but it looks pretty similar to a lot of top airflow implementations where the air travels down in an outer channel and is directed to the deck via holes cut through the blades on the sides of the deck but with the large wick channels it has I don’t see how the air wouldn’t also work it’s way around the sides through the wicking channels unless you packed them completely full. Each blade has a main channel cut through it but also a tiny hole. The channels on either side direct air down under the deck and will meet up in the center and come out directly beneath the coil while the two tiny holes that cut straight through the blades are aimed directly at the sides of the coil. So in essence you’ve got lots of air coming from underneath and a little bit coming from both sides of the coil essentially giving you what others have referred to as 3D airflow. Although it sounds like it might get a little turbulent inside the chamber so far for me the airflow has felt nothing but smooth.

The deck has four large oval shaped post holes and should fit some pretty decent builds. You do need to trim your leads before mounting your coils but as I mentioned the final version should include a coil trimming tool which will only make the job easier. I found you needed to trim them fairly short to get it to sit in the center of the 3d airflow and with four post holes you can choose the orientation that works best for you. I’m sure you could also build it with dual coils but they’d have to be pretty small and I’m pretty sure like it’s predecessors it’s meant to be used for single coil. To tighten your leads you can access the grubs from either side and so far when building and tweaking it I haven’t had any issues to complain about. The framed staple claptons that come with the kit fit perfectly and work quite well with the tank.

On either end of the deck there is a U shaped cutout where your cotton wicks will go. However this is where I encountered my only real issue with the tank but a pretty big one at that. When you wick the tank you run your cotton through your coil as normal and then you have to bend the wicks over the edges of the deck which is essentially a 90 degree angle and run them the full length of the build deck which sits pretty high and then tuck them in to GTA style wick channels on the bottom of the deck. I’ve tried beefing up, thinning out, cutting to points and every imaginable configuration for my wicking and I almost always end up with dry hits after just a couple of pulls. I believe the problem lies with the way the wicking works and the length it must travel, not to mention the 90 degree turn it needs to navigate and the lower the coil sits the harder the bend is it’s got to cope with. If I don’t put enough cotton in it I get wet gurgly hits, flooding and spitting but if I put in too much like I said it’ll dry hit after just a few pulls. On maybe my fifth or sixth attempt I got it almost right and was actually able to enjoy some successive pulls but even then it couldn’t keep up with any real chain vaping without running in to the same problem. As a seasoned vaper and not to mention reviewer I really shouldn’t struggle this much to achieve the right wicking and I’ve already seen my thoughts echoed by at least one other notable reviewer so unfortunately for me the wicking system on this one gets a thumbs down. Flavour and vapour will obviously depend on your build and airflow but when it’s working I get some incredible flavour and exactly the vapour production I’d expect from it as short lived as it might be.

Likes:

• Looks
• Finish
• Build quality
• Ease of use
• Top fill
• Top airflow
• Flavour and vapour
• Leak free

Dislikes:

• Wicking/dry hits

Overall:

While I will say that when it’s working it does work well but considering the constant trouble I’ve had with the wicking sadly this one likely won’t be spending time in the regular rotation like the original Serpent, Alto and SMM have. I’m still going to play around with it and I’m sure something like a spaced TC build would do wonders for it with it’s wicking challenges but I probably wouldn’t recommend this thing to anyone who doesn’t enjoy a challenge. Maybe my expectations were set just a little too high as I’ve come to expect a lot from the Serpent series but unfortunately the Elevate kind of misses the mark for me. Still huge thanks to Matt from Suck My Mod and Wotofo for sending it over, I still love you guys!!!