In for review this week we have a single coil RTA with a couple of interesting quirks, this is the Yachtvape Eclipse RTA designed by Mike Vapes.
In fact you can’t ignore the fact it’s Mike that designed it, as it even has his face on the packaging!
What Can We Expect From the YachtVape Eclipse RTA?
Mike Vapes is a well known YouTube reviewer, and he’s also done plenty of design work including the Clutch X18 (that I loved!) the Intake MTL RTA and the Recurve Dual RDA.
Yachtvape is still relatively new on the scene, having been founded in 2019, so far we’ve only reviewed their Meshlock RDA, which although it didn’t blow me away, was definitely a decent little RDA.
Like with the Meshlock, Yachtvape is trying something a little different with how you go about holding your wire in place. Thankfully it’s not springs this time, but you do need to approach the deck from a different direction to normal! All to be revealed later…
This was sent over to me for review from online vape store VapeSourcing (thank you) as usual this will in no way affect my scores, and I shall report back honestly with what I find.
On to the review!
Inside the Box
- Eclipse RTA
- Coil and Cotton (Ni80 3mm ID, 0.3Ω)
- Bubble Glass
- Spare Drip Tip
- 510 Drip Tip Adapter
- Spares bag including spare grub screws, o-rings and Allen key
- Coil leg tool
- Manual
YachtVape Eclipse RTA Specs
- Dimensions – 24mm x 30mm (excluding 510 and drip tip)
- Coil – Single Coil (either clockwise or anticlockwise wrapped)
- Airflow – Honeycomb side airflow
- Capacity – 2ml (straight glass), 3.5ml (bubble glass)
- Material – Stainless Steel
Design and Build Quality
The Eclipse comes in one of 6 different colours: Stainless Steel, Gunmetal, Matte Black, Matte Stainless, Gold, and Rainbow (which I received).
So, 5 nice colours basically!
It’s a slightly funny, stumpy looking tank!
It looks nicely matched on a side-by-side, but as I’ll cover in how it is to use, I didn’t leave it on one for long.
YachtVape Eclipse RTA Drip Tip
I’m always happy when a tank gives you an option of a couple of different drip tips, one is a little taller, and the other is very stumpy.
Apparently it’s designed to be pretty identical to the Recurve Dual. Never been a fan of the second type, but props for options. Plus they also throw in a 510 adapter if you want to use one of those.
Glass Options
You also get two options with the glass.
It comes with the straight glass preinstalled which gives you a capacity of 2ml (maybe a tiny bit more actually). And you can switch it out to the bubble glass which is 3.5ml.
YachtVape Eclipse RTA Top Cap
It’s a simple quarter turn to open the top cap and expose your three large fill holes.
There’s also a HUGE silicone seal inside the top.
The metal feels a little thin when you take it off, slightly cheap feeling, which is a shame, as you’ll be taking the top cap off to refill it pretty frequently!
YachtVape Eclipse RTA Deck
It’s a postless deck that allows your coil to be mounted regardless of whether it’s wrapped clockwise or counterclockwise, by virtue of the four post holes.
Unusually, to keep the height of the tank down, the grub screws are accessed by going in through the airflow holes. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this design before, but it works OK.
However this does mean that you’ll want to be careful when unscrewing them, unscrew them too far, and they end up rattling around inside the base of the tank.
Obviously I needed to test this to see what happens, and whilst I’m sure it is possible to get them out without totally stripping the tank, I haven’t managed it (so my tank has a bonus rattle to it now!).
The airflow control ring has stoppers at either end, and is a standard dual sided cyclops design.
Airflow on the deck is from two honeycomb sections that rise up either side of your coil. With 13 holes each.
YachtVape Eclipse RTA Base
It’s going to be hard to see on my rainbow coloured Eclipse, but it does in fact say “Eclipse” at the top, with Mike Vapes signature, your regulatory marks, serial number, and “Manufactured by YachtVape”.
The gold plated 510 is also protruding enough that I’d be quite comfortable using this on a hybrid mechanical mod.
How To Build the YachtVape Eclipse RTA
- Trim your coil legs, YachtVape recommend 6.5-7mm leg length, but I found this was a little long, so 6mm seemed to get better coverage. It comes with it’s own coil trimming tool, but I’m using the original Coily tool here
- Put your Allen key through the airflow holes to unscrew the two grub screws
- Place your coil legs in the post holes and place a finger on top (not shown in the picture) to hold your coil as you tighten them up
- Straighten you coil and get it centred using a coiling jig/screwdriver, the deck has little divots to rest your coiling jig in, something I always like to see so I know it’s centred
- Glow your coil and strum with ceramic tweezers to remove any hot spots
- Once it’s cooled, push your wick through the coil
- Trim your wick, you don’t need much length at all here as the wick ports are very shallow. I’d also recommend raking it out quite a lot, especially if you’re using a 3mm ID coil
- Once you’ve raked it out, trim off any excess and place, don’t force, it into the wick ports
- Prime your coil with plenty of e-liquid
- Reattach the top section and fill up
- Pop on your top cap, and you’re good to go!
How Does the YachtVape Eclipse RTA Perform?
So I’ve been using this on and off for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve got to admit that I’ve never really gotten on with it.
My first complaint is the size and capacity of the tank.
I get that this was designed to sit nicely on a side by side mod, and it does look great on there! (aside from the colour)
But unfortunately with most SBS’s, you’re going to be limited to using the 2ml straight glass.
Honestly I got fed up of having to refill it, so I put it on a normal box mod for most of my testing so I could use the bubble glass, which takes the diameter out to about 27mm.
YachtVape Eclipse RTA Airflow and Cloud Production
The airflow on this tank has just the slightest of restrictions on it. On a 1 to 10 scale where 1 is impossibly tight, and 10 is fully open, it’s an 8.5.
It is however a very noisy airflow! I think some of this comes down to the relatively lightweight design of the tank itself, there seems to be a lot of open space where the air is whooshing through it.
Closing it down does limit this to a degree, but it’s still pretty noticeable. It doesn’t seem overly turbulent, just has a large amount of “whoosh” to it!
Cloud production is more than adequate for a single coil, and despite the feeling of it being a bit on the hollow side, the airflow isn’t turbulent at all.
YachtVape Eclipse RTA Flavour
Flavour is pretty decent from it. Because it’s such a short tank, your mouth is really quite close to the coil, and that results in a lot of flavour hitting you.
I’ve been using a few different Jack Rabbit flavours in this, and it’s giving a full bodied flavour. What’s more impressive is how well it manages to separate out the flavours, as that’s something that I’m more used to getting with a Mesh RDA.
Definite thumbs up on the flavour front!
Pros
- Looks great on a SBS
- Easy to build
- Good flavour
Cons
- Low capacity (there is an extension apparently, that takes it up but not out!)
- Weird “hollow” feeling airflow
Final Review Verdict
It’s a solid little RTA, it’s not going to change anyone’s mind who isn’t already in the market for a single coil RTA, but what it does, it does pretty well.
Flavour is good from it, wicking is nice and easy, and building is a doddle (provided you don’t lose a grub screw inside it!).
However, I keep going back to that hollow feeling “whoosh” that it gives me, and I genuinely don’t know how else to describe it.
It feels like the whole thing is built out of really lightweight tin and the air is just screaming through it in a hundred different directions.
But I know that’s not the case because there’s no turbulence!
So if you can get past that, it’s a flavourful little banger. And with the straight glass on, it looks great on a SBS (though less so in the rainbow!).
Speaking of which, this is the second Yachtvape product I’ve reviewed, and I’ve ended up with the rainbow (aka, the worst of the colours!) both times!
So is this an RTA you’re using or thinking of buying?
Please let me know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below…
