Today we are looking at the Yi Loong Gorilla Mech Kit. It is a single 18650, unregulated squonking device that comes with a dual post RDA that has a clear glass cap!
Yi Loong is a company based in China and have been manufacturing e-cigarette products since 2006 and the Gorilla we are reviewing today was their first ever 3D Printed Box Mod.
But how did I get on with this particular kit? Find out in my written and video review!
As always my opinions are honest and my own.
What’s In The Box
- Gorilla 3D Printed Squonk Mod
- 2-Post BF RDA
- Squonk Bottle
- 2 Post Dripper
- Organic Cotton
- 2 x Coils
- Spare O-Rings
Features:
- 80 x 45 x 25mm
- 3D Printed Technology
- Nylon Material
- Sandblasted Finish
- Side Firing Button
- Copper 510 Contact
- 13ml Capacity Bottle
- Single 18650 (Sold Separately)
Build Quality & Design
The RDA:
We’ll start from the top and make our way down the RDA…
The Top Cap:
The top cap is made from glass (not sure what type) and it has two small airflow cut outs in the side which offers a restricted direct lung hit.
There is nothing really positive or negative to say about this top cap. It’s a piece of glass with a couple of holes in it, and that’s it.
The Build Deck & Base:
The deck is a standard two post design that must be from about 5 years ago. Two Phillips head screws to clamp your coils in, a pretty deep juice well as well as a nicely sized hollow centre pin for the e-liquid to come through.
One issue straight from the box. Metal filings inside one of the post holes… When I receive an RDA, be it genuine or clone, I expect ALL metal filings to be removed, otherwise this is something that can cause a battery short or even enter your lungs. Not good Yi Loong. Not good at all.
The dual purple o-rings are slightly baggy and tend to get pushed to the base when putting the top cap back on.
Overall, quality wise, the RDA is extremely poor. The best thing about it would be the deepness of the juice well and the size of the squonk hole in the centre.
The Gorilla 3D Printed Squonk Mod:
At the top we have the 510 connector which has a stainless steel surround and gold hollow positive pin. Surrounding the centre pin is an o-ring. I presume that this is there to prevent any leakage from the 510 pin to the outside of the device. If that is its purpose, I can confirm that it works.
There is a little bit of atty gap though…
The box is 3D printed in Nylon with a sandblasted finish which gives the device a nice grippy feel. On the battery door, we have a gorilla standing in an aggressive stance as well as the cut out for the squonk bottle. The door is held onto the device with 2 strong magnets.
On the left, we have the firing button which is made from the same material and has quite a large throw. So some users may choose to put a small spacer in between the switch and the copper contact strip.
On the right of the device we have “Gorilla” embossed into it. I think it’s a nice little touch!
Now lets get into the internals…
Inside we have a 13ml capacity plastic bottle with a metal lid. It just feels cheap and tacky and would recommend replacing with a better quality silicone bottle. It’s also not 100% airtight, so the squonking action isn’t all that. Possibly expect some leakage, too!
We’ve also got the copper contact strip that goes from the 510 to one of the contacts of the battery. As it passes the squonk bottle, it is wrapped in black heat shrink which is nice from a safety perspective, just so that the copper doesn’t slice your bottle.
But this is where things start to get a bit iffy. Where the contacts meet the top and the bottom of the battery, they are too short and too sharp. I can confirm that the contact has ripped the wraps on quite a few batteries which shouldn’t happen at all.
How Does the RDA Perform?
On the RDA, I am using a pair of the included coils, which come out to about 0.31Ω on the Coil Master 521 Mini Tab.
Ease Of Build On The RDA
Firstly, I’ll talk about the quality of the included coils. A pair of spaced Claptons on some NR/R/NR wire, so the legs are non-resistant. They just feel and look cheap. I think the legs are made from stainless steel from the way they are bending with ease.
The legs are bent in the incorrect way and are miles too long. You’ll end up cutting a good amount off to get them in the RDA nicely. I would personally highly recommend wacking your own coils in there.
Simply unscrew the post screws…
Pop your first coil in
Cut the coil legs off
Insert the second coil and tighten down both post screws
Cut the remaining legs off and straighten out the coils
Time to get pulsing to make sure the coils are heating evenly
Pop the wick through and cut off to the required length
Juice them wicks up, and you’re ready to vape!
SQUONK TIME!
Flavour, Clouds & Airflow
Now, I’ll put it bluntly. Using the coils provided, the flavour is nothing to write home about. It is severely muted. For clouds it is pretty standard as well. And the airflow is a little too tight. I would have preferred if it was slightly looser.
How Does the Gorilla Mod Perform?
I must state that I’m not the most seasoned mech user, but I feel that with the 0.31 ohm build, it hits quite nicely. More or less instant power to the atomiser with the push of a button. So in my opinion, it performs pretty well. But I’m sure it would hit a lot better with a decent copper strip in there.
Cons
- Cheap & Tacky RDA
- Poor coils
- Poor squonk bottle
- Copper contact strip is dodgy
Pros
- The device looks good
- Grippy texture
- Strong magnets
- Nice squonking action on the RDA
Final Review Verdict
This is a bit of a difficult one for me… I think the Yiloong Vape 3D Gorilla kit could have been so much better if there was a little more time and money put into it. The box shell is great, but the internals need ripping out and rehashing. The squonk bottle might as well go straight in the bin and replaced and the copper strip needs replacing.
The RDA is just cheap and tacky. It lacks in both airflow and flavour, it just needs to be binned. The only good bits about the RDA in my opinion is its squonking action, the ease of build and the depth of the juice wells. Other than that, it sucks.
If I were to put it in black and white, the RDA would go in the bin and so would all the internals of the box. They just feel and look cheap, sometimes dangerous as well, which is not good with mechanical devices.
