Goon RDA Review

Goon RDA Intro

The Goon is 528 Custom Vapes first dripping atomizer and is designed by a legendary builder that goes by blueeyedgoon83 on Instagram.  If you’re not familiar with his work, he is the guy that invented the alien coil, the tsuka coil, the arched clapton and a few other exotic wire builds.  He has teamed up 528 Custom Vapes to create an atomizer that builders have been dreaming of.  With a massive two-terminal clamp-style build deck, there’s no doubt it will handle just about anything you throw at it.  But how does it vape, does it stand up to the blueeyedgoon83 name?

Goon RDA Specs and Features

Notable Remarks

Machining/Fit and Finish

The machining is absolutely fantastic, at $60, the quality of this on par with some atomizers in the $100+ range.  Everything fits together very nicely and the o-ring tolerances are perfect right out of the box.  The top cap o-rings are slightly looser than the deck o-rings which makes it easy to pull it off for dripping without having to take the entire barrel off.  When I drip, I just grab the drip tip and pull; not once has the drip tip come out or the barrel come off accidentally.  The finish is really beautiful, the engravings are extremely well done and it feels very solid.  Overall, I was really impressed with the quality of this atomizer.

Build Deck

The build deck consists of two gold-plated terminals with large clamps to hold the wire in place.  While this isn’t the first atomizer to use a clamp system, or even a two-terminal clamp system, it does have some of the largest terminals on the market.  When opening them as wide as possible, they measured about 3.75mm wide by 3mm tall which should allow you put just about anything you can dream of in there.  As you can see the image below, taken by a fantastic builder by the name of Lepyisms on Instagram, this atomizer can fit 14 strands of 20g wire into a single terminal.  I think that image says enough, thanks Lepy for letting Vaping360 use this image!

Ease of Build

Building the Goon is pretty easy, the leads slip right into place and the connection created by the clamps is fantastic.  I was able to mount my coils, grab the leads with needle-nose pliers and twist the wire around until it broke off; always a testament to a good connection.  One method I found that makes building dual coils easier is to get the first coil mounted and positioned approximately where you want it, then bend the leads upward to keep the coil in place.  This not only makes it easier to mount the second coil, but it also makes it easy remove the excess leads.

Juice Well

The juice well is about 5.25mm deep and holds a fair amount of juice.  The 24mm diameter increases the size of the well and the terminals are cut-out at the bottom to minimize the amount of well space they take up.  This just goes to show how well-thought-out this atomizer really is.  Since this atomizer performs best with powerful builds, the amount of hits you can take with a specific amount of juice really depends on the build.  I will say that even running it at 148 watts, I was able to get through an entire vaping session with only dripping twice.  I would say the well deep enough for the power hungry builds this thing requires because two drips per session is pretty average for me.  Throughout using this, I didn’t get any spitback unless I over-dripped.

Airflow and Controller

The airflow controller is simple, yet effective and versatile.  There are three 3mm air holes on each side that can be closed off by turning the top cap.  On top of that, there is also a single coil option.

The draw is very smooth and allows for quite a wide array of draws.  Wide open, it’s extremely airy but closed down to one hole on each side, it’s a nice, smooth restricted lung hit.  I was very satisfied with this since I prefer a tighter lung hit than a super airy draw with little to no restriction.  Fortunately, there is a draw here for just about everyone.

One thing to note is that a mouth-to-lung hit isn’t really possible because as you close off the last open air hole, the one furthest from it will start to open up.  This occurs in both the dual coil and the single coil configuration.

Aesthetics

This atomizer is very pleasing on the eyes and I don’t believe the pictures do the finish justice.  I’m not one for logos, but much like the NoPity, it’s done extremely well.  I love how they combined blueeyedgoon83’s logo with some 528 Custom Vapes branding.  The fillets on the exposed edge of the top cap look great and the height ratio between the supplied drip tip and the atomizer is perfect.  This is a nice looking atomizer in pictures, but it’s a beautiful one in person.

Performance

The main thing I noticed about the performance is it’s extremely build dependent.  I wouldn’t advise using bare wire thinner than 24g and if you do decide to use 26g, stick with a parallel build; this atomizer really likes the heat.  A plain 26g wire build would be too cool due to the chamber size, even though the airflow can be closed down quite a bit.

Where this atomizer truly shines is with some sort of exotic wire build, even if it is just a straightforward fused clapton.  With a 26g fused clapton, you will get a vape with good flavor and insane vapor production with the heat easily controlled by adjusting the airflow.  I put in my go-to build for atomizers like this: 36g Nichrome-80/2x26g Nichrome-80 paralleled with 3 strands of twisted 28g Nichrome-80.  I did 5.5 wraps of the fused clapton and 4.5 wraps of the twisted 28g to create a stage-heated build.  I will say that as an avid flavor chaser without much interest in clouds, the flavor is good, but nothing outstanding.  I got better flavor from the Tsunami and the Aeolus Lite with simpler builds.  I found that even when chain vaping, the drip tip stayed cool, but don’t let your lips touch the top cap because it can get pretty hot.  This isn’t a big deal because the drip tip is long enough to keep your lips off the metal.

Likes

Dislikes

Verdict

Overall, I think this is a fantastic atomizer.  The build quality far exceeds the price and the innovative build deck is a pleasure to build on.  Does this atomizer do justice to the blueeyedgoon83 name?  Absolutely!  However, if you’re into low power vaping and/or flavor chasing, then you may want to pass on this one.  If you like chasing clouds, you really need to check this out.  If you’re someone who likes doing crazy builds, this is something you definitely need in your collection.

Goon RDA

3.5

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