Hellvape Seri RDA Review

I’ll be honest, when this arrived on my desk, I was a little taken back. This is so far out of my comfort zone as far as my regular vaping hardware it immediately put me in on guard. Coiling it up, and firing it the first time, even more so!

Hellvape’s newest RDA is here, it’s called the Seri RDA, and as the name might suggest, it is a series RDA. What this means, is that the coils that you install, do not run in parallel, like many other RDA’s, they actually form a continuous electrical pathway through all 3 coils, ie.. in series.

My reason for being on guard? These types of RDA’s require a lot of power. A lot, and you’d better make sure you build it carefully, or you can very quickly end up with fizzled coils, very hot batteries, with the real risk of pushing them too far. My advice right off the bat, set it up on a lower powered device, that has working protections, such as overheat protection, as well as limiting the voltage or amperage you can push through it. Actually, you should make sure to use a regulated device for this full stop. Mechanicals are not recommended, and should be avoided, unless you really, really know what you are doing.

Let’s check out Hellvape’s Tri-Coil Series “Seri” RDA!

Big thanks goes to Vaporstate, who sent this out for the purposes of review!

Photos

General Info

The Seri RDA is quite a nice looking bit of hardware. With minimal markings, and a stylish bold shape, it’s going to look great on pretty much any device you put it on. This beast is 26mm in diameter and 40mm tall, made from stainless steel, and mine is the matte black with a thin layer of cerakote or powder coating that is quite scratch resistant.

From the outside, it’s a pretty simple looking RDA, with an 810 drip tip, a barrel like body and 510 connector underneath, (a squonk pin is included if you want to use it for that purpose), it’s when you open it up to see the deck and the inside of the top cap that you realise this is something that has been designed from the ground up.

The Base/Deck

Let’s jump straight in. This is what you’re here for. The Seri’s 6 post design of the deck, is reminisce of other RDA’s such as the Dead Rabbit in that your coils sit on top of the post with your wicking legs falling down into the 6mm drip well.
This time around however, Hellvape have joined a few of the posts to make the electrical current run in series. 6 posts in total, allowing up to 3 coils running in series.

Hellvape haven’t stopped there however, they’ve also provided a short circuit blade that you can insert into the upmost coil posts in order to bridge the two coils on either side, allowing you to run this with only 2 coils also. Just in case you’re not a machine and want a little bit of a more standard 2 coil vape.

It’s actually a pretty straight forward design, that simply works. I’m sure there was a lot more design involved in it than I’m giving credit for of course, but Hellvape have done an excellent job making sure everything seems super simple and straight forward.

Top Cap

The Seri runs an inner and an outer top cap type of design, combined, they provide an excellent bit of airflow, centred on your coils, with a slight disruption of the airflow to ensure you get a quiet, and flavoursome vape.
Both the inner and outer caps, push together and hold with a bayonet style connection ensuring they come together cleanly, which is also present when putting the assembled top cap onto the deck. A really nice addition, and certainly welcomed. It works so well.

Airflow

As mentioned earlier, this RDA has an inner and outer cap combining to create one super cap. The inner sleeve, has 13 smaller holes on either side of the RDA, with the outer having 5 angled slots on each side, adjustable by rotating the outer cap around to line things up. The combination of holes vs slots is actually quite a good idea, as it seems to break up the airflow a little, ensuring the smallest amount of turbulence with massive flavour, and avoiding any whistles.

You’ll be able to find an airflow that is right for you with this one easily, from a restricted DTL right up to a completely open DTL airflow.

Building

Building on the Seri, while a little intimidating is quite easy. Hellvape have made sure that it’s spacious enough to get your tools in there, with the flat head screws accessible from the sides of the posts, and the orientation of all 3 coils/coil blocks lining up in the same direction.

I installed both of the side coils first, then the top one just to make sure I had a good height adjustment, snipping legs is super easy too, since Hellvape provide you with a coil leg tool in the box also.

Having your coils in series like this does require a lot of power, and initial tweaking of these coils to get them to glow correctly took a bit of effort on my part. There are 3 after all, and being in series, you’ll find one coil light up first while the others take a little bit of work, if you’re building on a lower powered device.

Once you’ve got them going without hotspots though, it’s time to shift the RDA to a bigger capacity mod, and wick them the same way you would most RDAs. Yes, I used a tonne of cotton in my build, but wanted to make sure I didn’t hit dry hits too quickly, with this running so hot.

Coils

I need to give a special mention on the coils for this one. The Seri comes with 3 coils in the box, that will not get you to 200 Watts due to their resistance. I do believe though that Hellvape are working on some special coils for this that will allow you to get to the magic number, so keep your eyes out for those. Just quietly though, I haven’t seen much of a need to run this so high, but then again I am a lower wattage vaper!

Pros:

• Plenty of room to build
• Nicely machined with excellent tolerances
• Can take triple or dual coils in series
• Nice smooth dual airflow
• Great looking RDA with minimal markings
• Large drip well
• Squonk pin included
• Coil leg tool included
  

Cons:

• Can get a little hot (which is expected)
  

Where to Buy:

As always with Hellvape’s stuff, you can pick the Seri RDA up through their Australian partner, Vaporstate.
Vaporstate have the Seri RDA up for pre-order on their site, for $55 AU, which is a pretty good price for what you get. Go check them out now.

Conclusion

While this type of setup isn’t my normal day to day style, I’ve had a lot of fun with this RDA. Hellvape have done a wonderful job on it’s design, with the intuitive airflow system, and the straight forward coil blocks.
I really appreciate that they included a short circuit blade, in order to allow users who prefer dual coils, to do just that, instead of forcing the tri-coil setup.

The quality and build of the Seri are nothing short of the usual excellence that Hellvape produce, from the heavy sleeved top cap, helping to keep things as cool as possible, all the while every fitment on every section just clicks or slots into place wonderfully.

I’m going to continue using this for a while in dual coil mode, as it is just as good an RDA with dual coils than three, and is more my style of vaping, but looking forward to pulling out a third coil every so often whenever I feel the need to be adventurous and smash my house with nice dense clouds!

Great work Hellvape!

Shane Presser

Shane Presser has been vaping since 2013, and has extensive experience with advanced equipment, coil builds and DIY mixing. He is the man behind VapersGarage, and also more recently Aussie Vape Stores, a resource to help vapers find their nearest Vape Shops, and eLiquid Vendors.