Product intro and specs
The Topside is a single-battery squonk mod by Dovpo. It is designed in collaboration with TVC (The Vapor Chronicles), the reviewer behind the widely popular Drop series of RDAs. This is Dovpo’s second squonk mod, after the dual-battery Basium that got released back in July.
The Topside is a 2×700 mod, which means that it can be used with 20700s, 21700s or 18650s (with the included adapter). It is made to compete with the line of popular 2×700 squonk mods like the Vandy Vape Pulse X and HCigar Aurora.It is rated at 90 watts and, true to its name, it is designed to be filled via the top without removing the bottle. Keep reading to find out how it performed in my in-depth testing.
This mod was sent to me free of charge by MyVpro, where it’s currently available at a discounted price.
Colors: Black, silver, red, gunmetal, purple, blue
First impressions
Build quality and design
The Topside is available in six colors, all with black on the top and bottom. I got the blue one, and the coloring is excellent. It’s like a royal blue, almost teal-ish color, and has an anodized look to it. I’ve been using it a lot and it has shown no signs of wearing or chipping. The fill cap has a nice knurling texture to it. It matches my black Mjölnir RDA perfectly, which has been my favorite RDA to use with the Topside.
There is no button rattle at all on this mod, the 510 pin is great and gave me no issues with any atomizer. The 510 platform itself can fit a 25 mm atomizer, and this type of mod isn’t really for anything bigger, so overhang won’t be an issue. One slight thing that bothered me though is that the 510 platform is placed asymmetrically on the bulged-out part of the mod. Not a big deal, but it would have been nice to see it centered, since it’s only off by a few millimeters.
The USB port is on the side of the mod, and the fire button is large and clicky. The battery tray is a standard latch bottom system and while I had no issues getting batteries in and out, and it doesn't damage wraps, it is very hard to open and shut due to the bottle system getting in the way. All in all, the Topside is a nicely designed mod with only some nitpicky details being a little bit off.
Features and functions
There is a firmware update available which is supposed to add temperature control capability, but mine would not update. It’s the first time I had an issue updating a mod, and I’ve probably updated like 30-40 of them in my lifetime, so that was disappointing. They really should have waited to ship them until they had the final firmware done. Leaving off half the functionality of a mod and adding it right after release just seems rushed and shouldn’t have happened. Also, there is no pre-heat options, watt curves or anything, so the mod just really lacks features.
Using the Dovpo Topside
- Five clicks of the fire button to turn on and off
- Fire + down to cycle modes
- Up + down to lock adjustment buttons (mod can still fire)
Removing the bottle is easy enough, but as mentioned earlier, the battery door is very hard to open and close. Outside of that though the bottle is housed in a bracket, so you pull the whole bracket out then remove the bottle to clean it. We’ve seen similar bracketed bottles in mods like the Aspire Feedlink, and it works well. The squonking itself works great with no issues or leaks for me either, and the bottle is a large 10 ml bottle, which is larger than most. My only complaint is that they didn’t include a spare bottle and spare bracket which they should have, especially with this price tag.
Power mode performance
The amp limit I got was 27, which is inside the average range for single battery mods these days (25-30). However, that was with a 0.12-ohm build and 89 watts so it’s possible the amp limit is even a little higher than that as I was capped off by the watt limit. The volt limit I got with a 0.59-ohm coil was 7.889 which shows there is a boost circuit like there should be in this style of mod and I was once again limited by the watts, so it could be higher. I consider it accurately rated.
During my testing, the mod did a great job of not getting hot. Even when pushed to its limits, it never got hot, which is very impressive. It also proved to be a pretty accurate mod; it does, however, hit a little on the high side so I’d suggest starting around 10 watts lower than you normally would with a different mod to compensate for that. It didn’t struggle at all with the 0.12 ohm build either, which is impressive. Overall, a great performer in power mode.
Temperature control mode performance
Pros / Cons
Pros
- Build quality
- Color options (6 total)
- Nice paint job
- Unique design
- Excellent squonk fill system
- Battery compatibility (21700 / 20700 / 18650)
- No button rattle
- Power mode performance
- Large and clicky fire button
- Accurately rated for watts and volts
- Solid amp limit
- Boost circuit
Cons
- No preheat options or watt curve mode
- Temp control mode requires a firmware update to add
- Firmware wouldn’t update for me
- Lack of a true menu system
- No spare bottle
- The battery door is hard to open and close
Verdict
What do you think of the Dovpo Topside squonk mod? Let me know in the comment section.
Anthony Victor
Vaping for: 14 years
Favorite products:
Favorite flavors: Fruits, desserts, custards
Expertise in: RTAs, RDAs, mods, flavor chasing
Anthony Victor
I started doing reviews at the end of 2016 bringing a unique amount of data and fair points that has made them grow in popularity. I’m an avid temp control vaper but will vape pretty much any style of vaping. My goal is to bring as much good, fair, and unbiased information to the forefront as I can to aid vapers in making informed decisions to get the best vape for their style. I enjoy helping people really get the most out of their vape and finding their “aha” moment when it all clicks into place.
