Good day, eh! Welcome to a Canadian review of a Canadian-designed device, the KALi RDA by qp Design.
The KALi, qp Design’s newest RDA, is a 25mm dual-coil dripper that I have been testing in its RSA (squonk) mode. And while it is a more than capable atomizer, it also has its flaws.
Let’s go over the good stuff first. The KALi comes with three separate barrels, and three separate chuff caps that are interchangeable with each barrel: an Ultem, stainless steel (black or natural with a Delrin top cap) and a clear PMMA. This allows for some customization for the user. The vapour from the atomizer is very good. The airflow has three large holes, allowing large builds to get the air they need without burning your cotton and juice. And the juice well is ample. The side postless-style deck is very easy to build on, and can accomodate some of the largest builds you could imagine.
The deck is machined extremely well. The grub screws glide in and out perfectly, and the well has no flaws or imperfections. Admittedly, it is a very basic style of dripper, so there is not much to go wrong. But it’s nice to see the quality assurance crew over at qp Design is hard at work. They include a set of black o-rings, as well as clear o-rings, so you’re not stuck with ugly black rings under your beauty caps. And the vape quality off of the KALi with my SaddelhorseBlues alien coils is superb.
Now, the KALi does have a few issues. Upon opening my box, I noticed the Ultem chuff cap and barrel were both polished. However, the quality of Ultem appears to be different between the two, so they actually look mismatched when paired together. The chuff cap on top of the Ultem looks silly to me with the different grades of Ultem used. But that’s okay because they gave us two other barrels and caps! Yay! I chose the natural stainless steel barrel with the Delrin cap. But have also been using the PMMA clear barrel and cap, which looks substantially better than the Ultem in my personal opinion. The stainless with black cap look is fine, but not something I would really say stands out.
The KALi’s design lends itself to be very similar to your Goons, Bonzas, or other large attys with big airflow. You generally want to position the coils directly in front of the holes and as close as possible to get that airflow to encompass the entire coil before going up to the tip. However, because of the materials used (namely the Delrin, PMMA and Ultem for the top caps), positioning your coils too close to the airflow will risk melting your airflow holes and chuff cap at the same time. This made me want to be conscious of building safer and farther away from the airflow, ultimately losing some flavour and density of vapour. This could have been alleviated with a metal top cap with fit for 810 style tips on the stainless barrel. That option was not included, I’m afraid, which is something I personally feel should be necessary at the KALi’s price point.
Overall, the KALi is a beautiful coil-porn RDA, great for Instagramming coil builders wanting to show off their crazy builds and wanting all that deck space to go towards their work. Functionally, the RDA is missing a few key components, which, in my opinion, doesn’t necessarily make it worth its $70 price tag (namely a metal top cap with 810 tip provision, and the second color option in box [both black and SS]).
NOW TAKE OFF, EH!
