Gaia
Designed by Brian N (CA, USA) and made by Cthulhu Mods, the Gaia is a RDTA (Rebuildable Dripper Tank Atomiser) giving us another flavourful option with squonking capability. The design process included the making of 5 different top caps before finally deciding on the final product which produced the best flavour.
Specs
- 2ml tank capacity
- Easy top refill
- Adjustable bottom and side airflow
- 304 grade steel construction
- Glass tank section
- Peek insulators
- Velocity style deck
- Conical design top cap for improved flavour
- Available in Black or Stainless Steel
Dimensions
- Diameter: 24mm
- Height including drip tip: 40mm
- Height excluding drip tip:
- Weight: 40g
What’s in the box?
- Gaia RDTA
- Ultem Drip Tip
- Bottom feeder 510 pin
- 510 drip tip adaptor
- Spare O-rings, grub screws, glass tank
Who is it for?
So you’ve found love for the use of RDAs although conditional due to its inability to store more juice than enough for one vape break and therefore torn between a RDA and a RTA. What do you do? The answer may lie with the lovechild of the two; a RDTA.
So why specifically the Gaia?
Priced at £27 – £28, the Gaia is a low – mid price range atty which performs. Delivering a fine balance between cloud and flavour production, I would go as far to say that it performs on par with many RDAs out there on flavour. Yet at the same time it holds up to 2ml of juice within it’s tank section.
Quality & Design
So I ordered mine directly from Cthulhu Mods on their pre-order promotion. Upon receiving my vape mail I quickly washed it down and grabbed some spare fused clapton 28ga Kanthal A1 / 40ga ni80 I had extra from my last building session and popped it in the Gaia. As with any velocity style deck, building is a breeze.
I always have a preference of wrapping my coils around a 3mm ID and the Gaia was no different – it certainly has the space to do so. When wicking a coil with a 3mm ID however, you should ensure that you do not choke your cotton in the wicking channels. I tend to make it habit to always fluff my cotton by combing it out and removing any excess cotton strands that come loose. By doing so you will find that the cotton isn’t choked yet at the same time there is a sufficient amount to prevent juice from easily pouring out or the cotton pulling loose from the channels altogether. I cut my cotton lengths so that the ends literally just about pass the bottom of the deck (not the bottom of the tank).
I had a bit of a scare when first running the Gaia. Ohm readings on my regulated mods were jumping all over the place and was very unstable. Switching the tank onto other mods produced the same results and I came to the conclusion it was certainly a problem with the Gaia itself after testing other atties on the same mods with no issues at all. Sacrificing the circa 2ml of juice I had put in, I dismantled the whole thing including the 510 pin, gave it another good clean and put it all back together again. Hey presto! Problem solved!
Now folks, I’m not saying this is common fault nor am i saying this is what you should expect when/if purchasing one of these. But i did want to share my experience in case you did come across the same problem.
Performance
Having ran the Gaia a few weeks now and as a daily for the past week or so, I can quite honestly say that I’m quite impressed. Flavour production is on point and the clouds are there too if you so choose. The adjustable bottom AND side airflow really open up the options for you to choose your vape style. Completely open is a really loose/airy vape – not my cup of tea whatsoever. I’ve played around with different combinations and have so far found my sweet spot being the bottom airflow ¾ closed with the side airflow 2 turns open (bottom airflow being twist operation, side airflow being screw operation via the top cap). This produces a flavourful restrictive lung hit.
Keeping on topic regarding the airflow, despite appreciating the variations the Gaia has to offer, I was left disappointed when inspecting the bottom airflow. You typically expect to see an airflow hole on either side of an atty and when you close one side, the exact same thing is done on the other. However, as I like to close mine off to ¾ closed, it is noticeable that one side does not replicate the other. This would technically mean that one coil is getting more airflow than the other. Not only that, it means I am unable to utilise my airflow options fully as there is a limit to how much I can close one side off until the other side is completely shut off. Things like this annoy me, and had it not been for the flavour production and cost I would probably score this a lot lower than I have.
Summary
Overall, the Gaia is an impressive little RDTA. I like it’s smallish (for an RDTA) form factor. Being small however, it does mean it’s tank capacity isn’t the largest available. This comes down to preference and compromise once again. I personally am not a fan of the big, chunky, tall atties on an aesthetics point of view and as such will normally take a liking to the 2-3ml capacity tanks. Being a fan of RDAs, a 2-3ml tank capacity is 2-3ml more juice than i would normally get and so I wouldn’t complain about an atty being able to ONLY hold 2-3ml.
Back to the Gaia, yes it only holds 2ml of juice, and that depends on how you choose to wick it – wicking with the cotton ends touching the bottom of your tank will reduce your juice capacity significantly. A con? Not in my eyes, but it could possibly be a con for you and so it is definitely worth mentioning.
The wide range of airflow control allows you to fine tune a balance of clouds and flavour depending your own preference, and at a price point of £27 – £28 the Gaia gets a thumbs up for value for money – but not top points due to quality control of the bottom airflow alignment (in the case of the atty I had paid for and received).
Cthulhu Mods Gaia
£27
Pros
- Top fill design
- Good value for performance
- Large variation of airflow control
- Squonking pin provided
Cons
- Chamber can get very hot after a chain vape
- Bottom airflow holes do not match up when closing down
- 2ml juice capacity (subjective)
- Top cap to chamber fitting can grind
