Buildquality

Servicequality
Shenray Haku Riviera RDTAI was sent this atty for the purpose of review. The version I was sent is the polished stainless steel 22mm. To my understanding the authentic is only offered in a matte/bead blasted stainless steel finish. I’ll break this review down by the main categories that apply to this atty and why I’ve scored each category X out of 5. Machining 3.5/5: This is really the only category that gets a significant ding for points. The reason being was machine oil residue as well as burrs/shards left over on the airflow holes and scratched/rough appearing to the machining inside the top cap. The outside finish overall was pretty decent though. The bottom of the deck even had the details that the authentic has with branding and serial number which shows an attention to detail to the original but since this is not an original or authentic item I would prefer that those details were omitted. All of the threads were smooth and the o-ring tolerances were great. As with all attys though you’ll want to thoroughly clean them before use and if you find burs or shards you’ll want to remove them and clean again before use. Airflow 4/5: The airflow has near infinite adjustability. You can decrease how much airflow you get by turning the cap and by adjusting the airflow screws inside you can also adjust the angle the airflow hits the coil at and how much airflow can hit the coil. The reason for the point deduction is that with the airflow open any more than half way there is a whistle to the airflow. From other reviews I’ve seen for the authentic there did not seem to be whistling but I’ve not ruled out that it could also be related to coil position and size. I built mine using a simple round wire build of 22g stainless steel 3mm inner diameter spaced 7 wrap coil coming out to .2ohm resistance. I also used the coil rod cutouts for my coil placement so by all rights it was built as intended. Building 4.5/5: Only a slight point deduction here as there is not a ledge on the open coil lead side to keep the lead from wanting to kick out while securing it. In fact there is enough of a gap on either side of the clamp that when using simple round wire builds it’s possible that you could miss clamping the coil down either from it kicking out to either the inside or outside of the post. It is easy to get a coil in, make no mistake, and the closed post side you don’t have to worry about the lead getting kicked out either side when securing that lead. Wicking 5/5: Full marks for wicking here. The reason I felt this should be separate from the build category is that there is multiple ways to wick this correctly. Per the original creator recommendation you can wick it just like you do any of the other Haku RDAs and just fill out the deck making sure you have cotton covering but not stuffed into the holes on the deck. You can also wick it having your wick tails loosely and very slightly going into the juice channel holes. Some have also had success using the stainless steel wick plug method where you use rolled stainless steel mesh that has been oxidized to remove conductivity and cut to be just long enough to poke above the juice holes and then have the cotton wick through the coil just rest on top of the stainless steel mesh wicks. I won’t go over that wicking method as I feel the effort required to results achieved aren’t worth it. Filling 4/5: If you use a squonk mod you can fill the tank just by squeezing your squonk bottle. There is also a fill hole on the top of the deck which is good and bad. It’s good that it’s large enough to use glass dropper bottles to fill with but bad that it’s deep enough down that you can’t easily fit a normal chubby gorilla bottle into it to fill especially if you’ve used the recommended wicking method where you would cover the fill hole. Not covering the fill hole with cotton can cause the atty to leak if it’s put in its side or upside down but most rda/rdta users know better than to put a filled or freshly juiced atty on its side or upside down. Flavor 4.5/5: The flavor is excellent and the only reason for docking half a point was due to the airflow whistling noise when it’s over half way opened is enough to distract focus from flavor. Overall 4/5: It’s difficult not to give the overall score lower marks due to the machining issues and whistling airflow. However I had to take the whole atty into perspective considering all it’s working parts and the quality of vape I get and the overall quality this doesn’t deserve lower than a 4 out of 5.