Hellvape Dead Rabbit M RTA Review: A Project with Vapers Brazil

The Dead Rabbit M RTA is yet another addition to Hellvape’s long lineup of “Dead Rabbit” tanks. It’s a collaboration with Vapers Brazil and brings a mesh build deck with two clamps that can accommodate either a single mesh or round wire coil. It’s a top airflow RTA, but like the Hellbeast 2 subohm tank that I recently reviewed, it features isolated airflow paths that bring the airflow down to the build deck for better flavor. 

The Dead Rabbit M RTA comes with everything that you need to build on it, including two 0.15Ω SS316L mesh wires, two 0.25Ω KA1 mesh wires, and four pieces of shoelace cotton. It also includes some other goodies in the box like a coiling rod, 4.5ml bubble glass, and spare screws/o-rings.

If you’re a versed vaper, then Hellvape likely needs no introduction. Hellvape is known for their “Dead Rabbit” series of RDAs and RTAs, but they also have their Fat Rabbit series of tanks and their Hellbeast series of tanks. They are a vaping manufacturer that is widely known for producing some of the best and most flavorful tanks on the market. You’ll find out in this review how their latest mesh creation fares.

This tank was sent to me by Hellvape for the purpose of this review.

Box Contents

• 1 x Hellvape Dead Rabbit M RTA
• 2 x 0.15Ω SS316L Meshed Wire
• 2 x 0.25Ω KA1 Meshed Wire
• 4 x Max Shoelace Cotton
• 1 x Coiling Rod
• 1 x 4.5ml Bubble Glass
• 1 x Accessory Bag
• 1 x User Manual

Specifications

• 25mm base diameter
• 810 drip tip
• Quarter-turn top cap
• 2 top airflow slots
• Honeycomb inner airflow
• Postless ceramic deck
• Single mesh or round wire coil deck
• 3/ 4.5ml capacity
• 6 colors available

Design & Build Quality

The Dead Rabbit M RTA has a look to it that instantly tells me that this is a “Dead Rabbit” tank. I don’t know what it is specifically that gives me this vibe, but it looks like it belongs in the Dead Rabbit family. It’s all around a good looking tank and it has a clean design without too much going on. The minimalist design consists of some indentations along the top cap and the base of the tank, as well as some knurling around the airflow control ring.

This is a short and chubby RTA, especially with the bubble glass installed. The Dead Rabbit M RTA is 46.5mm tall and it has a 25mm base diameter. However, just like the Hellbeast 2 tank, the base flares out to 27mm so it won’t sit quite flush on many mods and will overhang by just a touch.

With the straight glass (which comes pre-installed), this tank will hold up to 3ml of ejuice. Installing the included bubble glass ups this capacity to 4.5ml, a decent amount for an RTA. Swapping out the glass is relatively simple and only requires you to unscrew the base of the tank. From there you can pull off the old glass and install the new one.

The drip tip is 810 sized. It isn’t thick, but it has enough thickness to prevent it from getting warm and to also keep it comfortable. The o-rings are not on the o-ring, so you can use any drip tip that also does not have o-rings. I found this drip tip to be fine to use though and so I kept it on the tank.

The top cap comes off with a quarter turn. Underneath it you’ll find two recessed kidney shaped fill ports. There’s no silicone lining here, but the recessed fill ports keep ejuice from leaking out. They also work well to prevent any spillover when filling. As an additional measure to prevent leaking from here, there’s an o-ring on the underside of the top cap. 

During the duration of my use of this tank, I have not had e-juice leak out from around the top cap area so the design seems to be sound. The top cap is also secure when closed and takes a bit of deliberate force to twist it open.

As you may have noticed, this is a top airflow tank. You might be thinking that this instantly makes it “worse” than other bottom airflow tanks on the market and that because it’s top airflow, it will inherently produce worse flavor. Well, if these are your thoughts, I’m sorry to tell you that you’re wrong. How so? It all comes down to the way that the airflow is routed in this tank.

First, airflow enters through the two top airflow slots which are a medium-large size. From here, the airflow travels down two paths which are isolated from the rest of the tank, with one path leading from each airflow slot. When the airflow reaches the build deck, it channels through a dome with honeycomb airflow holes and then hits the full sides of the mesh coil. Finally, the vapor travels up and out of the tank through the drip tip. 

The key difference with the Dead Rabbit M RTA from previous, older top airflow tanks is the isolation of the airflow until it reaches the coil. This essentially directs the airflow as if it was coming from the bottom of the tank so it hits the mesh coil directly for the best airflow setup possible. I’m not going to get into the flavor and performance too much here, but I can say that this tank produces flavor that you would not expect from a top airflow tank.

Looking from the outside of the tank and through the glass, there’s a Vapers Brazil logo and a Dead Rabbit M logo printed on the chimney.

To access the build deck you simply unscrew the base of the tank. The threading is super smooth and screws/unscrews as it should.

Build Deck

The Dead Rabbit M RTA has a build deck that can either accommodate a mesh strip or a single round wire coil. It has two clamps (one on each side of the deck), and a spring-loaded ceramic center block to push up the cotton for full contact with the mesh strip. This deck uses Philipps head screws for securing the clamps.

Overall, it’s a simple and typical mesh build deck. Hellvape and Vapers Brazil have not done anything revolutionary with this build deck and the truth is, they really didn’t have to. This type of mesh build deck is nothing new, but it works perfectly for mesh coils and so if it isn’t broken, why change it?

Included with the Dead Rabbit M RTA is everything that you need to build, except for ejuice (you’ll have to get that yourself!). It comes with two 0.15Ω SS316L mesh wires, two 0.25Ω KA1 mesh wires, and four pieces of shoelace cotton. It also comes with some other useful goodies for building like a coiling rod and spare screws/o-rings.

To install one of the included mesh strips, you’ll want to start by using the included coiling rod. This rod has two knurled sections, one on each end, and a smooth plain section with the Hellvape logo in the middle. You want to take your mesh strip and carefully form it around this smooth middle section until it’s formed into a semi-circle. 

Loosen up the screws for each clamp but only a little. If you loosen the screws too much the clamp will fall off so only loosen it a bit. Insert the ends of your mesh coil into the clamps and tighten the clamps down. Ensure that you push it all of the way down into the clamps.

This next step isn’t strictly necessary but it’s good practice to dry burn your coil to ensure that it’s heating up evenly. Attach the base of the tank to your mod and turn the wattage down to 15W. Do short pulses to heat up the coil and check that it’s heating up uniformly. If it is, great. If not, take a pair of ceramic tweezers and lightly go over the surface of the coil while pulsing it. This should get it glowing evenly. 

Once the coil cools down you can move onto wicking — the trickiest part of any mesh build. Take one of the included pieces of cotton and thread the shoelace end underneath the mesh. Push down on the center ceramic block as you’re doing this. Thread the cotton through until you have an even amount of cotton on each side of the mesh coil. 

Next, fluff and comb out your cotton using your tweezers to ensure optimal wicking. This is done by lightly running your tweezers through the top and bottom ends of your cotton a few times, just like you’re brushing it. 

You will want to cut the cotton so that it will sit nicely in the wicking holes without too much excess. It should be filling up the wicking holes, but not stuffed in. I suggest doing one side at a time. This way, if you cut too much, you can always pull over some more cotton from the other side. Once you get one side done correctly it’s easy to do the other side the same way.

With your wicking complete you can juice up the cotton and install the build deck back into the rest of the tank. Fill up the tank and wait a few minutes, and you are ready to vape.

As an extra tip, you can use the screwdriver shaft of the coiling rod to make 3mm ID regular round wire coils. This is the perfect size for a round wire coil with this build deck so it’s awesome that they designed the coiling rod this way.

Performance

For this review, I tested the Dead Rabbit M RTA in every way that I could think of. I, of course, used the included 0.15Ω SS316L mesh wire and 0.25Ω KA1 mesh wire, but I also used a staggered fused clapton build that I wrapped using the coiling rod as a guide.

I’ll start with my favorite wire that I used and that is the 0.15Ω SS316L mesh. Using this mesh at 50W in wattage mode is good, but it’s even better at 50W, 380°F in TC mode. I can not get enough of this coil with these settings. Flavor and vapor are really good and the overall draw is as good as it gets from a mesh tank. I love that they included a TC capable mesh coil with this tank because it allows you to take really long draws without having to worry about glowing the mesh. 

The 0.25Ω KA1 mesh wire is pretty good too, but in my opinion, it’s not as good as the 0.15Ω SS316L mesh. I used this mesh at 45W and it’s a good vape but the vapor is cool, as mesh usually provides. The flavor is okay, but I don’t get that same satisfaction and “whoa, this is good” as I do with the other mesh strip. Out of the two included strips, the 0.15Ω mesh is the clear winner for me.

Lastly, I used a spool of staggered fused clapton wire and wrapped a 3mm ID coil using the coiling rod as a guide. I did 5 wraps and cut the legs to 6mm. This coil came out to 0.23Ω and I vaped it at 50W. Installation was easy enough, I just had to open the clamps up enough to allow the legs to fit properly. The performance is good enough that I don’t mind using the Dead Rabbit M to vape on this coil instead of another RTA that is meant specifically for regular wire coils. It surprised me how well this RTA managed a regular coil, especially since it’s meant for mesh.

It should go without saying, but I did not have any leaking with this tank. It is a top airflow tank, so leak-proof performance is to be expected and the Dead Rabbit M does not disappoint.

Verdict

Hellvape and Vapers Brazil did well with making the Dead Rabbit M a versatile tank that is not only excellent for mesh coils, but one that is great for regular coils as well. The 0.15Ω SS316L mesh that this tank comes with is as good as it gets with a mesh tank, especially when you pair it with a mod that does temperature control mode well. This tank also includes  0.25Ω mesh strips that are not bad, but the performance is not nearly as good as the 0.15Ω mesh.

If you like to use regular coils, then you can also use those with this tank too. 3mm ID round wire coils function just fine with the Dead Rabbit M and the performance is good enough that I didn’t mind using this tank instead of another non-mesh RTA.

Thanks to the isolated airflow paths and inner domed honeycomb airflow, the Dead Rabbit M RTA delivers flavor that you would not expect from a top airflow tank, but retains the leakproof qualities that top airflow tanks are known for.

In the design and build quality departments, this tank does not have any issues that I could find to complain about. The most major would be the fact that the base flares out from 25mm to 27mm, effectively making this a 27mm tank, but even that isn’t a major problem.

If you’re a fan of mesh tanks and you are looking for a new mesh RTA, the Dead Rabbit M is one of the best new mesh RTAs on the market.

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