Makers of rebuildable dripping atomizers (RDAs) here’s a public service announcement – slow down. Then stop and think about your next creation, before just spitting it out to the world. Why? Because the vaping world doesn’t need another blatantly average dripper like the Digiflavor x TVC Drop SOLO RDA. As harsh as that sounds, there are some very good reasons for saying it. Let’s read on…

Here’s your “tl;dr” spoiler. Is the Drop SOLO a BAD atomizer? Not really. But it also doesn’t bring anything special, or new, to the table. The flavor is adequate. The airflow is adequate. The cloud production is adequate. And in 2018, “adequate” doesn’t really get my blood flowing, when there’s so many quality atomizers on the market.

The 22mm diameter Drop SOLO is the smaller, single-coil sibling to the original Digiflavor Drop –a 24mm dripper with slightly larger aspirations. But, in contrast, the Drop SOLO is intended for lower-wattage devices, and even some smaller squonk mods, thanks to the elevated BF pin for effortless adaptation to squonk mod use.

On the surface, the DROP SOLO looks exactly like what you’d expect from Digiflavor, a smaller version of the original Drop RDA.  The machining, build quality and design all seem like appropriately scaled-down renditions of its predecessor. That is, until you swap out the standard metal cap/body for the included PMMA translucent cap, which not only changes the performance, but the entire design.

(Notice we didn’t say “…for the better” though. The PMMA cap is far too snug and restrictive to suit power vapers’ needs.)

On the side of the Drop SOLO is a 10-hole airflow port, adjustable by spinning the cap until you reach your desired airy-ness. For such a small, flavor-centric RDA, the SOLO has almost too much airflow for its own good, so I highly recommend blocking off more than a few of the 10 available slots, to make sure you’re getting the flavor you want.

That said, the AFC doesn’t spin particularly easily, so if you find a spot you like, I recommend leaving it there. Even after some “breaking in” and lubing with some e-liquid, the installed O-rings were far too snug here, and adjusting things was more of a nuisance than a convenience.

When you first see the SOLO’s build deck, you’ll think you have a virtual playground in which to build spacious coils in an array of configurations. In fact, even though the SOLO is intended to be a single-coil dripper, creative types could easily find a way to position two coils in the spacious area. But I decided to keep things simple and stuck with the single-coil arrangement, so there was no confusion about performance and flavor.

But the way in which Digiflavor has you install the coils eliminates any goodwill that came from the spacious deck. Using these tall posts as a leveraging tool, you install each coil upright, then bend them downwards against the tension until you find a position that works for you (and doesn’t touch the sides).

Is it difficult? Not at all. But if you get overzealous and make your bend too close to the actual coil, you run the risk of ruining the wire while trying to adjust. And there’s only so many times you can bend a coil back and forth before the wire is compromised beyond safe use.

I appreciate Digiflavor’s intentions here, but this is an unnecessary design choice that might cause more frustration than needed for newcomers to RDA vaping.

Once coils are installed wicking and positioning the setup is a breeze, so no worries there. And the installed grub screws are appropriately snug and firm. Still, you might find yourself readjusting the coil position several times before getting to the “vaping part” of the equation, since the diminutive size of the SOLO means you’ll need to find that “sweet spot” between the deck and the mouthpiece that allows for the right balance of airflow and concentrated flavor. It’s a delicate balance, but once you find it, building new coils becomes easier.

Know that finding that “sweet spot” is key, folks. Because it took me a while to find that elusive balance. Not that my original builds were bad – they worked as intended. But rather than offering unmistakable amounts of rich flavor and thick vapor, I had limp, lame experiences with every draw. The vapor was fine, but the airflow was far too intense for the small deck, drowning out flavor in a foggy mess of gurgling and spitback.

The trick was the coil height, which was too close to the mouthpiece. Instead, I had to move the coil another few millimeters lower toward the deck. Once I rectified this, the SOLO was adequate in all areas (though the airflow needed to be plugged a bit even in “optimal” setups). At its best, the Drop SOLO gave me solid flavor and vapor, with minimal fuss.

But there’s that word again – adequate. I feel like I had to do an awful lot of work to get “adequate” flavor performance from a 22mm dripper. And I can’t really justify doing that when I have plenty of other RDA options to choose from online and at my local shops.

One final note – when modifying the deck to install the included BF squonk pin, I found the performance to be SLIGHTLY better, though not remarkable in any way. The 5mm juice well allows for a decent amount of juice to make it to the coil before refilling, and it stays pleasingly leak-free, even with heavy oversquonking. But there’s nothing here that would make me choose the Drop SOLO over any number of other bottom-feeding RDAs on the market.

The Digiflavor Drop SOLO is a strange RDA. It’s not as simple as it seems to think it is. It’s not as flavor-focused as the size and coil positioning would imply. And it’s not nearly as high-performing as Digiflavor’s other offerings.

Instead, the Drop SOLO is the latest in a line of unremarkable dripping atomizers that do nothing but reinvent a tired mousetrap. If you’re a brand loyalist, or simply like the format, I’m sure the Drop SOLO will serve you fine. But if you’re looking for better flavor and performance without unnecessary design choices, please peruse Spinfuel VAPE for countless other, BETTER options.

Score: C