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UD Simba Sub-Ohm Ceramic Tank Review
I was so excited about the new UD Simba I couldn’t wait to try it. It seems that any tank by Youde UD is superb in flavor and vapor, and something new could only mean the guys in R&D department had found a better way to deliver even more flavor and vapor than ever before. In some ways the UD Simba is better than many tanks, and in some ways, well, it’s not. It doesn’t stand up to advanced vapers using the Rafale or Crown, but we’ll get to all that soon enough.
The Details
The UD Simba holds 4.5mL of e-liquid. The size of tank, minus the 510-threading and drip tip is 1.9-inches by 22mm (standard width). It’s top-fill tank, offers two airflow control systems, and e-liquid flow control.
The UD Simba comes preinstalled with a 0.5-ohm SS316 solid state ceramic coil. Although the one I received for testing had the ROCC Kanthal coil preinstalled. More on these coil head configurations below.
UD Simba Coil Heads
The UD Simba RTA Tank offers a few different coil heads. Before we get into the body, design, and functions of the UD Simba, let’s take a closer look at the new coil heads.
SCC Head – Solid Ceramic Coil, without cotton, available in Kanthal A1, Ni200, or Stainless Steel wire. 0.5-ohms. The official specs call the ‘cover’ on this tank “stainless steel mesh”, but in the one I have the cover is not mesh, it’s a solid piece of steel with a single hole in the middle.
ROCC Head – Full Ceramic Coil with Dual Coils and Organic Cotton, available with Kanthal A1, Ni200, or Stainless Steel wire. 0.5-ohms
RBA – A full rebuildable deck capable of single coil builds.
Included in this ‘preview release tank’ we received the following coil heads; The ROCC head with dual coil stainless steel wire, a SCC head without cotton, with Kanthal A1 wire, and the RBA with a half-moon ceramic coil adapter that I can’t find much information on.
Feature Highlights
Drip Tip Airflow – First, the most important “innovation” in the UD Simba tank is the airflow system in the Drip Tip. Looking down into the Drip Tip you’ll see that the Drip Tip is closed off with a permanent piece of stainless steel. To get as much airflow as possible you twist the Drip Tip to open up HALF the stainless steel ‘cover’. Not a bad idea really, but man, if you don’t know to do this from the get-go you’ll think this mighty tank has a very tight draw.
The bottom airflow Cyclops slots work fine, but of course without the Drip Tip open you won’t get enough airflow for
much of a lung hit. NOTE* The Drip Tip does not feature any sort of clickable system to keep the airflow open. As this is a preview release I hope the final release will include a way to keep the airflow open. The Drip Tip spins easily, so you’ll want to pay attention to make sure maximum airflow is maintained.
Condensation – The UD Simba includes double protection for preventing condensation in the tank. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this as a problem before, but I have recently. I don’t know, it sounds to me like UD and a couple of others are inventing a problem and a solution.
E-Liquid Ports – The UD Simba has an unbelievable e-juice flow control ring inside the tank. It is opened and closed by way of turning the top cap and glass tank. Turn it all the way counter clockwise and you’ll see a sizable slot for eliquid. Without the official stats I would guess that the slot is about 5mmx2mm. Since using the day I have not had a single instance of dry hitting it, so there is ample juice hitting the coils.
Top-Fill – This is the first UD tank I owned with a simple top-fill idea. I say simple because unlike others, the top cap is slightly notched for an easy grip and wider (taller?) for an easy grip for those with fat fingers, like me. Once removed there are two half-moon slots for filling. Always choose one over the other, don’t fill through both slots at one session for fear of slowing down the displacement of air in the tank. Note* Make sure the e-liquid port inside the tank is closed off before filling. Removing the top cap to fill you cannot be sure the port is closed, so take a peek and BE sure.
The threading is smooth as silk, and the inside of the upper cap has a wide, flat O-Ring for a secure seal. With the easy on/off top cap and smooth threading, refilling is fast and easy.
More on UD Simba Coils
The coil heads are nearly as large as the Zephyrus v2 and Goliath v2 (review coming soon) coil heads. The preinstalled coil head is a dual coil SS316 (surgical stainless steel) with a ton of organic cotton threaded through both, and surrounded by a ceramic cylinder. UD coils are larger than most others, and you just know that when firing up the coil it is going to produce tons of vapor. Flavor on the other hand, is hit and miss with large coils, but the UD Simba? Amazing. (though not the massive vapor producer I expected)
The 0.5-ohm Kanthal Ceramic Coil (SCC) without cotton produces the best flavor, but the dual coil half-ohm ceramic/cotton coil head is no slouch. Using an e-liquid I know intimately, the UD Simba did a fantastic job of vaporizing every molecule of flavor.
I took a few minutes to build a 0.3-ohm coil, flush with Japanese Organic Cotton so I could enjoy the RBA piece.
Nothing much to report other than to say that it was a simple setup anyone could work with. I am surprised with that ceramic coil adapter on the RBA and intrigued by it as well. It will be interesting to see if this RBA makes it in the final release. As is, RBA vapers looking to work with DIY coils with fancy single coil builds this RBA seems to do the job, with the added bonus of the ceramic coil adapter.
Real World Usage
So, indeed the UD Simba brings out true, authentic flavor while not neglecting thick, aromatic clouds of vapor when the airflow is fully open. After 3 full days of using the UD Simba almost exclusively I can tell you the following, with confidence:
- This is a flavor tank.
- This cannot be the final release. Too many minor quirks give it an unfinished feel.
- Expect to pay between $25-$30 for it.
- Vapor production is not the main feature of this tank. Both the Crown and the Rafale produce at least twice the vapor.
- The Overall size of the UD Simba is average; this is not an oversized tank. About the size of Kanger Subtank Mini. (only better)
- So far I have not experienced a single issue of spitback or leaking of any kind.
- Both the SCC and ROCC consume e-liquid fairly fast. I can vape 4.5mL of juice (Max VG) in less than an hour.
- The Drip Tip can, and does, get hot when vaped quickly. After 5 or 6 lung hits the drip tip is HOT. UD should ship this with drip tip condom like the Rafale.
- Wattage range for both the SCC and ROCC is 25-35 watts. The higher the wattage the faster the drip tip heats up.
- The Ceramic Coil adapter isn’t something that adds some magical performance enhancement. I’m not sure what the thinking was behind it.
The UD Simba is available in Stainless and Black, and while the one I received is stainless, I’ll be ordering a couple of the black tanks when released. However, I do not expect the UD Simba to become my go-to tank. Flavor Chasers will love the tank, and its affordable, so I expect it to sell well. But for me, I want as much vapor as possible, with excellent flavor too. (call me greedy) There are better tanks on the market, but I do understand that UD needs to stake some ground in the Flavor Chaser category.
UD Simba comes with
- 1 x UD Simba Tank – 4.5ml (pre-installed 0.5ohm SS316L solid ceramic coil)
- 1 x 0.5ohm Kanthal A1 Ceramic cotton coil (CCC)
- 1 x RBA head
- 1 x Pyrex Glass tank
- 1 x Manual
A big Thank You to Ave40 and Jack Lia in particular for snagging this prerelease tank for us. From what I have been able to discern, the UD Simba will ship around the end of April. But, I think it will be before that, probably around the 20th of April. Most vendors will probably sell the tank for $25, give or take.
Grade: B+ On the proviso that I can update this review once we receive the final product.
Tom McBride
