The Goon 22
You often see companies release variations of whatever is their most popular product. Seemingly this is the case here, following the success of the Goon 24mm RDA designed by Instagrammer @BlueEyedGoon83 (hence the name), 528 Customs release their 22mm RDA variation. Does it live up to the 24 and stand on it’s own or does it fall over on it’s face?
Good news 22mm fans, it’s a cracker. Now I should say, I do not own the 24mm, I’ve compared against my friend’s Goon 24. Anyway I’m proud to say I’m glad I own the 22mm variation instead of the 24mm. Why? It’s smaller, more convenient to carry, still takes big builds, and produces great flavour. Begs the question, why get the 24mm?
Specs
- 22mm diameter
- Available in Stainless Steel / Cooper / Black / Brass finishes
- Half inch drip tip
- Standard 510 connection
- Copper 510 connection pin (for better conductivity)
- Gold plated bridge post
- Gold plated steel clamps
- Hybrid safe
- PEEK insulators
- Positive and Negative bridges are easily replaceable
- Spare o-rings, post screws and wide bore chuff cap all included in the famous 528 Customs baggy.
- There is no box in case you think you’ve spent £50 on a product for it to not even come in a box!
I like this little atty very much, let’s dive down a little deeper and I’ll tell you my view on the good and… actually just not so good.
Who is it for?
Not a novice RDA. Screwing 4 screws to clamp your coils can seem fiddly if you’re unsure how best to clamp down your build (suggest screwing down equally a little bit at a time until you hit the coil then tightening the centre 2 screws first) so the RDA can seem daunting.
For your intermediates to experience builders this is a fun and versatile RDA. Gives you plenty of scope to try different builds and find what’s right for you.
The Deck
This is my favourite deck. Hands down I love building on this deck. It’s simple clamp system is one of the easiest to build on.
Largest coils I’ve tried in there were @juice_junkie_uk’s framed staple clapton’s made up of 6x .4 ribbon KA1 with 2x 28g KA1 frame and all fused together with 40g ni80 wrapped 6 times with a 3mm ID (inner diameter), resistance is reading .12 Ω for dual coils. No problems at all fitting in there and to be honest, is there a need to go bigger?
There is a slight annoyance having to position the coil leads alternatively up and under on the positive and negative post to ensure you have a even connection but it’s not the biggest issue.
I’ve seen the clamp plates “bending” when tightened too much on the 24mm however I haven’t seen this problem on the 22mm. Probably because the plates are smaller in length.
Quality and Performance
The machining of the entire RDA is really high quality. Everything fits nicely and (comes assembled in the bag) though I would say, once juiced up, the o-ring for the top cap spins quite easily which can adjust your airflow without you knowing. It’s not spinning around with a flick of your finger but I would have liked to see slightly larger o-ring to increase the restrictiveness. This also means the more it spins the more juice is being moved around from the wick to the opening of the airflows, just a little messy. It’s by no means a non-leak RDA. It’s an upright only RDA, no fancy business going on to minimise or reduce any leakage but that’s not what it is designed for.
Airflow is great and plenty of it. There is an option for you to run a single coil build and only have the airflow open for that coil however it’s not great. Flavour is dramatically reduced and as there’s not block to add into the deck to take up the space. Single coil feels too airy even if you close off the airflow to it’s minimal state. I’d strongly recommend you build your coils so they align slightly higher than the airflow holes. This means the air hits the base of the coil and feeds the flavour straight up to the mouth piece giving you a better taste all round.
On my DotMod Lite (mechanical mod), it’s ok. A smooth ramp with little to no spit though no real kick. On my Laisimo Snowwolf Plus (235W regulated mod) it packs a nice punch however that’s ramping at 110W so you would expect that. I think it performs better on a regulated mod than a mechanical mod.
The flavour is great for me on this RDA, some builds are better than others, fused claptons seem to be a good sweet spot. The Goon comes with 2 drip tips, the half inch tip and also a wide bore chuff cap. Both are comfortable though I’d say the half inch is probably my favourite for flavour. It’s a standard 510 connector so you can add whatever your favourite tip is on there.
Summary
Fancy builds with great flavour and clouds in a 22mm package. It’s not a novice RDA and with all RDA’s, you need to be safe and build correctly (don’t build under 0.1, you’re asking for trouble). If you hunt around, you can get this for around £40-50. Good value for a quality product in my eyes.
528 Custom Goon 22
£49.98
Pros
- Great 22mm all round package.
- Clamp style deck is a treat to build on.
- Comes with 2 drip tips to suit your style.
- Great airflow options.
- Hybrid safe for mechanical mods.
Cons
- Can get a little messy when pulling the top cap off to juice up.
- Single coil isn’t great and not recommended.
