Table of Contents
Last Updated on April 16, 2024 by Team Spinfuel
GeekVape Eagle RTA/Sub-Ohm Tank Review
Top Airflow Model
The GeekVape Eagle is the tank for vapers that love deep, rich flavor and enormous vapor from the RDA/RTA’s but for one reason or another, just don’t want to hassle with building coils. If you are such a vaper, read on, because this is the tank you’ve been waiting for. The Eagle has Landed (groan!)
I cannot begin to tell you how often Jason and I have sat down to the task of building coils for the rest of the team. It’s not that they can’t do it themselves, they can, but if you can get someone else to do it for you, why wouldn’t you? Now that the team has experienced what it’s like to vape with the GeekVape Eagle, Jason and I’s job got a lot easier.
The GeekVape Eagle vapes like a fine RTA equipped with coils that are every bit as good as I can make, and I’ve been wrapping coils for 4 years. The Eagle offers great flavor, the kind you get with your favorite RDA/RTA, simply by dropping in one of GeekVape’s prebuilt, home-built, coil heads.
The GeekVape Eagle can use any of twelve different Hand-Built Coils (HBC) professionally made by GeekVape, including Clapton, Tiger, Transformer, and Staple. Single and Dual coils. I have inspected the coils I received for this review and, my hand to god, I couldn’t build better ones if I was paid to.
GeekVape creates these Hand-Built coil heads using fine organic cotton and high-quality wire, both Kanthal and Stainless Steel. They are assembled on the deck, and become a single unit, a real coil head, and Vapers use these coil heads just as they would use any coil head from any of the sub-ohm tank manufacturers. Take a look at the photos that accompany this review and you can see that rather than looking like standard coil heads, they look, and perform, like hand-made coils.
Once you use them up you toss them, and use another. However, it’s easy to rewick these marvelous coils, so I suggest you pick up a pack of your favorite organic cotton so that you can get more life from the coils. The coil units run about $3.0-$3.50 apiece, depending on the complexity of the coil build, and last longer than most standard coil heads, especially when you rewick them. In the long run, you’re not spending any more on coils, and the quality of the flavor and vapor surpass just about anything else you can buy. Coils are sold 2 to a pack.
The GeekVape Eagle is made of high grade stainless steel and glass. The Eagle has a large 6.2mL e-Liquid capacity which if filled easily from the top. Simply unscrew the top cap to reveal two large crescent shaped fill slots and drop the ejuice in. The way its constructed you can fill the tank to the brim, getting probably another half-mL of ejuice in the tank.
Normally, in order to prevent any type of gurgling or spit back I have adopted the same “no juice in the coil head” method. However, since these HBC coil ‘heads’ are actually hand built coils with cotton, on the deck, you’ll want to saturate the cotton before filling the tank, just as you would with any RDA/RTA.
The GeekVape Eagle Top Air is designed to maximize the airflow by forcing the air to travel through the coil, helping to produce maximum flavor and vapor while keeping the temperature down. The Eagle also features an extra top airflow just beneath the drip tip, as well as bottom airflow slots on the base of the tank. (GeekVape makes a standard tank without the top airflow) Having both top and bottom airflow slots provides more air than I want, so I keep the top airflow closed. (with the top open it also whistled a bit) With both wide open the vapor is at its maximum potential, but such an airy draws tends to mute the flavor, for my taste anyway.
The GeekVape Eagle is 25mm in width, and uses a 510 gold-plated contact pin. The Eagle is offered in Stainless Steel and Black. To see how it would look on various box mods, I vaped with the new Joyetech eVic Dual, the Lost Vape Therion and Triade, as well as the Sigelei SnowWolf and WISMEC Reuleaux RX200S. It looked best on the larger mods, hung over considerably on the eVic Dual, but sitting atop my Red and Black Reuleaux, my black Eagle looked superb.
The GeekVape Eagle Top Airflow Tank will run $24.99 (SS) or $28.99 (Black) at Origin Vape, and comes with 2x HBC (hand-built coils), the 0.2Ω HBC-S303-SS316 Staggered Fused Clapton (40-70W), and the 0.2Ω Kanthal HBC-D04-KA1-Fused Clapton Dual Coil (40-70W), and an extra glass tube, plus O-Rings.
The Real World Report
As someone that has built coils for years I’ve grown tired of it as my schedule becomes more and more hectic. While Jason and I will still make time to build coils for the team, when they need them, but with the recent high performance sub-ohm tanks being reviewed, we’ve had to do it less and less. That said, there are times when I simply have to have the type of vape experience that can only come from an RDA or RTA. With the GeekVape Eagle I can do that, without having to build out my own. The Eagle is the best thing to come along for vapers wanting the an RTA vape experience, without having to build out their own coils.
Note* Because these superb coil heads are hand-built there is some variance in the actual ohm level. On each of the mods I chose to use, both coils ranged from 0.21Ω to 0.14Ω. After experimenting with the various mods I decided to use the Lost Vape Triade DNA200, and it read the SS coil at 0.19Ω and the Kanthal at 0.14Ω.
Leaking – The GeekVape Eagle will leak if not filled properly. I know this from experience. Often times I do not take the precaution to close off the eliquid ports and the airflow when filling tanks. The reason is pure laziness, nothing more. The first time I set up the tank, with the dual Kanthal coil, I didn’t bother doing this, and it leaked terribly. I dumped the juice, cleaned the tank and mod up, and started over. This time, by closing the eliquid ports and the airflow, then opening them once the tank was filled, it no longer leaked. As good as the Eagle is, it is not constructed as a “leak-proof” tank. Interestingly, the GeekVape Eagle’s top airflow can cause a bit of gurgling and minor spit-back, another reason to not use it.
Break-In Period – The GeekVape Eagle, like any other tank or RTA, requires some break in period. Saturating the coil/cotton is not enough. Even setting a freshly prepared tank to the side for 10 or 15 minutes, the Eagle will still require some break in. For my tastes, it took about 30 minutes of use before the cotton began producing the maximum flavor it is capable of.
That 70 Watts – Both coil heads, or HBC’s, are rated for 40-70 watts. I found the dual coil Kanthal could take up to 80W, and 40W was just too little to produce the kind of vapor and flavor the coil head can deliver. The Stainless Steel HBC did fine anywhere between 60-70W. I don’t use temperature control, so I will be stocking up on the Kanthal HBC’s.
Comparison Performance
For everyday vaping I have a few eliquid flavors working in 2x SMOK TFV8’s, 1x TFV8 Baby Beast, and 2x Freemax Starre PURE’s. I have since added the GeekVape Eagle to my daily use tanks. After a few days with the Eagle I can confidently compare the performance in flavor and vapor production of my daily use tanks.
Ratings
I rate these tanks as follows; Best vapor production on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best, or most voluminous vapor, it was a virtual tie between the TFV8 Cloud Beast and the GeekVape Eagle. Both I would rate as a solid 9. (I’ve yet to vape at 10). The Freemax Starre Pure rated a close 8.5.
Flavor, using the same scoring method as above, put the Freemax Starre Pure and the GeekVape Eagle at a score of 9, with the TFV8 close behind as a solid 8.5. All 3 tanks are remarkable, and worthy of my hard earned money, but ultimately, the GeekVape Eagle is the only one to score a 9 on both flavor and vapor. Having said that, unless you are vaping with an eliquid that is of the utmost quality, with at least 70% VG, and a distinct flavor profile, the differences between the performance of the 3 tanks is nearly identical.
eJuice Consumption
Without a doubt, the GeekVape Eagle, when used with a dual coil, will consume eliquid faster than the TFV8 and Starre Pure with similar coils. All three are hungry beasts, but the Eagle can go through its 6.2mL in less than an hour of steady vaping at 70W. To minimize eliquid consumption go with a single coil setup, like the 0.4Ω Kanthal HBC-S02 Staggered Fused Clapton, or the 0.25Ω SS HBC-S12 / SSTC Notch, or the 0.5Ω Kanthal HBC-D01 Standard If, however, eliquid consumption is not a priority I recommend the dual coil setups for maximum flavor and vapor production.
For consistency purposes, in all tests the top airflow on the Eagle was closed. When used with the top airflow open, the flavor decreased noticeably, while vapor production was, maybe, a bit more, but noticeably cooler.
As long as I remember to properly fill the GeekVape Eagle it will remain in my daily use along with the TFV8 and Freemax Starre Pure. Admittedly, the TFV8 and PURE did not present me with any leaking at any time. But again, the leaking was user error, not a characteristic of the tank itself.
GeekVape Eagle Value
The GeekVape Eagle in Black is $28.95, and it is the only color I would opt for. The Freemax Starre PURE is about $25 (we purchased several at retail for $23.95) and the SMOK TFV8 is the same price as the Eagle, $28.95 (in both SS and Black). Each tank is sold with the same accessories and 2x coil heads.
The GeekVape Eagle offers any level Vaper coil heads that can be easily rewicked. In fact, I recommend a setup like this for Vapers looking to build their own coils but are afraid to. Having these hand built coils in hand, and some high quality organic cotton for rewicking purposes, would allow the Vaper to study the way the cotton is placed in the coils, and then practice wicking them. Once the Vaper is used to handling coils like this the next step is begin wrapping their own. That said, I know that there will be Vapers, like my girlfriend, who won’t touch the Eagle because the coils look “scary”. Seriously.
If rebuilding or rewicking is out of the question, then with these Coils packs being sold as two coil heads per pack, it’s a simple matter of replacing them as easily as they would any sub-ohm tank.
Available Now at Element Vape
Grade: A
“The GeekVape Eagle is a rare tank today. It combines the vape experience of a real RDA/RTA with the ease of a sub-ohm tank with replaceable coil heads. The flavor and vapor production are superb, and the build quality of the tank is sublime. The tank will leak if not filled correctly, and the characteristic of home built coils will produce varied ohms’ levels in various mods. The awesomeness of an excellent RTA without the muss or fuss of building and wicking.”
The GeekVape Eagle:
In The Box:
- GeekVape Eagle Tank (SS or Black)
- (1) HBC-S03 Single Staggered Fused Clapton SS316L 0.2ohm Coil for Variable Wattage or SS316L Temperature Control
- (1) HBC-D04 Dual Fused Kanthal Clapton 0.2ohm Coil for Variable Wattage
- O-Rings
Features and Specs:
- Dimensions: 2-3/4″ x 1″
- 25mm Diameter
- 510 Threaded
- Gold Plated Contact Pin
- 0ml Tank Capacity
- Top Airflow Version
- Airflow Travels Through the Coil
- Top Fill Design
- Utilizes Unique Hand Built Coils (HBC)
- Supports Single and Dual Hand Built Coils
- Rewickable and Cleanable Coils
- Delrin Drip Tip
- Glass Tank
- Top and Bottom Adjustable Airflow Valve
- 510 Drip Tip Adapter Included
