The quality and reliable performance of Flawless Tugboat are widely recognized. The mods and atomizers created by Flawless have earned the trust of many vapers and their latest atomizer, the Tugboat v3 offers innovative features that allow it to stand out from other options available in the market. The atomizer is fully manufactured in the United States and the kit includes the Tugboat RDA, an Allen wrench, Friction fit drip tip, one additional grub screw and one extra deck o-ring. In this review, we’ll find out more about the Flawless Tugboat V3 RDA.
Design
The Tugboat V3 has a 3-piece design and it features a drip tip with a 9.5mm wire bore, adjustable 510, peek insulators and 2 post system with Hex screws. The atomizer is available for around $90 and the quality of the machining really justifies the price. It has a solid build and all the pieces fit together seamlessly. Although the deck o-ring is very tight when it is dry, once you apply some liquid, the top cap can be removed without too much hassle. The airflow controller o-ring at the top is slightly loose, but it remains in place. The length of the positive pin is enough to establish a safe connection on a hybrid mechanical mod. While it can be adjusted, you may notice a small gap at the tightest settings on some mods that don’t have a spring-loaded or adjustable 510 pin.
There is a two-post deck with one small hole in each post and while these holes may not suit large builds, they will be enough for a 32g/3x28g alien or a similar build. The juice well is not very deep and it has airflow cutouts on the side. It can hold 10 drops of max VG e-liquid approximately, but you can add more when using a 50/50 blend. One of the main downsides is that the walls are so high that they can make the coil positioning inconvenient. The Tugboat has side airflow, as well as top airflow but it is not possible to run the top airflow on its own.
The top airflow holes depend on the position of the side airflow slots and if you want to close off the side airflow slightly, the top airflow holes are moved and won’t be aligned with the coil. This can limit your options and it makes things more complicated when you need to put the cap back on after dripping. You will need to take your time to be very precise. In terms of appearance, the Tugboat V3 looks very similar to the original model. The main difference is that the new version has airflow slots instead of holes. The device has the Tugboat logo on one side and the US flag on the other one. The Tugboat logo also appears on the drip tip. The atomizer has an elegant finish.
Since the walls of the juice well are to high, positioning the coils can be a bit of a hassle. The cutouts on each side of the wall line up with the side airflow slots in the top cap, so you would need the coil to be placed down there. However, the cutout is around 1.5mm tall so you need to install the coil at an angle so that you can get it level and in front of the side airflow slot. You also need to use a small scrivener to press down on the lead of the higher side. Unfortunately, the height of the walls affects the experience with the Tugboat since it complicates things unnecessarily.
Performance
The Tugboat V3 can deliver a strong throat hit that can be too much for some vapers, particularly when using the standard 3mm 33g kanthal build. Thinsg don’t change much with other builds and this is due to the fact that the side airflow slots are too low on the top cap. This means that when you place the coils directly in front of the side airflow slots, they are too far from the top airflow slots. This results in a throat hit that is so intense that it overpowers the flavor. The vaping experience is improved when you stick to the side airflow only, but this would mean not taking advantage of the top and side airflow system that the atomizer offers. You may as well get a cheaper RDA in that case.
Although the performance of this RDA is disappointing, considering the high expectation that the Tugboat name generates and the quality that Flawless has us used to, there are still ways in which you can get the bets out of the Tugboat V3. You may need to play around with the builds and try different options to get one that works really well. To reduce the throat hit and enjoy richer flavor, you can place the top coil as close as possible to the top airflow hole and place the bottom coil in front of the side airflow slot. This will also increase the vapor production and provide an overall better vaping experience.
Conclusion
The Tugboat V3’s machining is pretty good and the device has great looks. However, the intense throat hit that you get when using a dual coil build can be unbearable and the design of the juice well walls make things difficult when positioning the coils. This can be frustrating since using quad coils seems to be the bets way to use this RDA, but due to the height of the juice well walls, placing them can be a pain. We hope that the design issues of the Tugboat V3 are addressed in future versions to truly make this atomizer an option that is worth considering.