Innokin’s been busy lately. They’ve dropped a ton of products on the market, and you can expect several reviews of their new products in the coming weeks. Up first is the company’s second mechanical mod and RDA, the Arachnid mechanical mod and the Exthermal rebuildable dripping atomizer. Let’s take a closer look at these products in this special combo review.
Disclosure: I received this product for review courtesy of Innokin. This article contains affiliate links. If you would like to submit a product for review, please visit the contact form.
Find this product at Aqua Vapor Cig
Innokin iTaste Arachnid Mechanical Mod Design Review
I know this is supposed to be a combo review, but I think it might help to talk about each individual part first.
The Arachnid is Innokin’s second crack at a mechanical mod. The first was a very beautiful, if not complicated, device based on the 134 design called the MX-Z. The Arachnid is quite possibly the polar opposite.
To put it succinctly, the Arachnid is fairly small and very simple. The design is compact and the body is built of light-weight aluminum.
An aluminum body means it’s very light as compared to devices made of stainless steel or brass. Like most mechanical devices, this one boasts a telescopic body and a bottom-mounted firing button. It can take the typical range of 18 series batteries from 18350 through 18650.
There’s no complex lock settings here. Rather, it’s they typical counter-threaded ring around the button that is more typical in this type of device. It’s a fairly wide ring, and Innokin put in the extra touch of a little diagram etched into the side showing which way to turn the ring to lock or unlock the spring-loaded firing button.
So far, the design is very simple. Of course that’s not Innokin’s style. This mod is named the Arachnid after the design on the body. The flat 510 connector top cap as well as the natural aluminum telescoping section are etched with a spider web pattern.
The enamel painted body, which is available in several colors, continues the web theme with silver webbing and a silver iTaste Arachnid logo on the side. If I were more of a hack, I’d say something about this being the perfect mod for Spider Man.
Innokin Exthermal Design Review
Where the Arachnid is an opposite design from the MX-Z, the Exthermal too is very different from its predecessor.
Innokin’s iTaste VF (Vapor Forge) is a fairly plain and compact RDA. The Exthermal swings the opposite direction featuring a radical design and a three post setup for coil building.
Speaking of building coils, here’s the voice of experience speaking: the atomizer pulls apart for assembly, it doesn’t unscrew. I’m not sure how much time I spent trying to unscrew the base to get to the posts before I figured that out. In my defense, it doesn’t pull out easily. I had to mount it on a mod and then twist and pull to get the ring surrounding the deck to come off.
Because I started with the bottom of the Exthermal, let’s just start there and work our way up. As I mentioned earlier, the deck has a 3-post setup to make building dual coils a snap. The posts feature multiple holes for mounting coil wire. In addition, the center post is slightly higher than the two outside posts.
The screws are pretty flexible having large heads with knurls for hand tightening as well as a cross pattern so you can use either a tiny standard or phillips head screwdriver.
Immediately outside the deck area are two substantial gaskets. These will help keep everything in place, but they are also responsible for the thing being so difficult to pull apart.
The deck surround is the next part and the one that slides over these gaskets. There’s some slots along the side for the airflow control ring and a etched pattern on the outside bottom of the surround.
Naturally, the airflow control ring slides over the surround. It features several slots on the perimeter to match up or cover the airflow holes around the deck allowing or restricting airflow as desired. There’s some slight knurling to this part as well to help you get a grip on the ring to adjust airflow.
Adjusting the airflow is smooth and the slots stayed where positioned. Another gasket on the deck surround, a much thinner one, is the reason. This O-ring seems to do a better job of staying on since it’s not located in the airflow ring like some of Innokin’s other products.
More gaskets in the base hold the top part of the RDA in place. This is a large cone shaped affair that looks like a beehive or some kind of alien pod. There are deep grooves all along the radius of the cone.
Essentially, the grooves act as a heat sink for the atomizer. While it looks funny, it’s a nice touch considering how hot some of the smaller RBAs get when pumping out some serious vapor.
Crowing the top of the Exthermal is a simple drip tip. This is a standard 510 tip, so feel free to substitute your favorite exhaust port here.
Put Them Both Together
Ok, here’s where the combo review fits together.
Mostly, I mushed two reviews into one because the Arachnid and Exthermal fit so beautifully together. Even though the Exthermal predates the Arachnid, they really do look like they’re part of a matched set.
The base of the Exthermal is exactly the same diameter as the top cap of the Arachnid. This gives the setup a nearly hybrid appearance.
Now we come to the part of the review where I kind of don’t have a lot to say. This is one problem with mechanical mods and RBAs. The performance is going to depend a lot on the user. There’s no included pre-built coils for the Exthermal. Therefore how well or poorly it works would depend on the skill of the coil builder.
I’m not exactly a great coil builder. I built a simple dual coil setup that dialed in at .5 ohm. From my standpoint it worked great. I can’t say it’s the most vapor I’ve experienced, but the thing kicks like a mule.
I also have to admit, I kind of prefer RDAs (those are the ones with tanks) over dripping atomizers. I simply like to fill and forget about it for a while. Dripping is just too much work for me, plus I always end up letting it run dry.
As for the Arachnid itself, there’s not a whole lot to a mechanical tube mod when it comes to performance. Sure, I could get fancy and talk about voltage drop, but I prefer to leave that to those geekier than me. That leaves more or less the soft items
I tend to hit on ease of use, and how much of a pain in the ass the button lock is. Fortunately, this is one of the better lock rings. I don’t think I’ve ever managed to pull apart the firing button while I was trying to loosen the button on this one, so that’s a good sign.
While not magnetic (my favorite kind of button) the Arachnid’s spring loaded button works pretty well. It’s stiff enough where the mod hasn’t accidentally fired when I placed it upright without securing the ring. The action is smooth, so no complaints there.
As is almost always the case with Innokin products I’ve tried, the build quality is first-rate. Sure, it’s not flashy and handmade with a price tag to match (the Arachnid is about 50 bucks), but it works well and it’s an original design.
I think if you are looking for a mechanical mod that’s neither exceedingly flashy or very boring, it’s worth looking closer at the Arachnid. The Exthermal just looks so damn good on it, I daresay you might want to consider both. Check out Aqua Vapor Cigs for availability and street price.
