Kylin V3 Clone

"A brilliant noob-friendly option, but sadly has a potentially serious snag up its sleeve"

Intro

Purchased from DSXVape on Aliexpress, at first sight the Kylin V3 appears to be simply a dual coil version of the Mini V2. It has a large build deck (9.5mm inter-terminals), the same deck rotating feature, and the manner in which the juice feeds the wick is identical i.e. from the lower side rather than from below - the design means a little but not much base-resident "hidden" juice. OK so far so good.

Note the lower side juice transfer port below the "Kylin" logo.The upper hole is a juice entry point from the fill ports

510 connectors don't get much better than this IME, I've seen genuine tanks with inferior finishes

The V3's build deck

This is the most spacious deck I've ever encountered and may hold several advantages especially for newbies...

As used with single-coil (usual for Dimitri juice), the deck handles clockwise or anticlockwise coils equally well (having 4 widely -spaced terminals)
The terminal grub screws are the larger (and IMO superior) M3.0, instead of the usual M2.5 for dual coil RTAs
The space 9.5mm between the terminals naturally encourages the winding of larger coils/more windings and surface area which tends to produce the type of vapour to which newbies likely find easier to acclimatise
The large deck space allows easier accommodation of wider spacing tolerances helping to avoid inter-winding contact (causes of hot spots)

An extremely roomy build deck will be especially appreciated by newbies.

More than enough space for 6 turns (actually 5.5 turns pictured here) or more turns of 26x2+36 clapton with bags of room in between windings

Swarf

This initially appeared a top quality clone, but closer inspection revealed much swarf in the side and bottom honeycomb airflow holes. Obviously however unlikely, nobody wants to risk this entering the body/lungs so it was cleaned out with a piece of stiff wire and the entire tank washed very thoroughly with isopropyl. Hopefully, that did it, but no easy way of being 100% sure.

Left: Not great - loose swarf in several side holes. Centre: the same or worse in the bottom air holes. Right: Highly magnified is one piece of swarf from the lower air holes stuck on the tip of a cotton bud. Very difficult to feel confident that it's all safely out of harm's way.

The 'Quick Release' Base Problem

The Kylin V3's base has a quarter turn 'quick release' screw which is IMO an extremely undesireable feature. It means that when removing from a mod, the base can easily become detached from the main tank body, dumping remaining juice contents all over the mod. Of course, if unscrewing only by the base knurlings this can be avoided, but can you guarantee never to forget to do it this way?

When my Kylin V3 was brand new, the base was stiff enough for this not to be a concern, but once wet with djuice and O-rings bedded in, the base freed sufficiently for this to become a real issue. From online reviews, I get the impression that this is likely common to genuine models too.

Note that the external appearance of the base is almost identical to the 'Kylin M Pro' RTA (almost a mesh deck version of the Kylin V3), but this actually has a multi-turn base which is conventional and far less disaster-prone.

I'm utterly baffled as to why Vandy Vape considered a quick release base to be a good idea. It's transformed what might have been an ideal newby's tank into something that's hard for me to recommend to anyone.

The Kylin V3 with the Kylin M Pro (right). The base is almost identical in external appearance. But sadly the V3 has the 'quick release' bayonet fitting instead of the M Pro's far more sensible multi-turn threaded.

Pros

Apart from the swarf issue, build quality seems remarkably good for a clone
Very spacious build deck which simplifies coiling and wicking for newbies
Huge dual coil deck, capable of colossal punch when set up appropriately
M3.0 terminal grub screws rather than the smaller (and IMO inferior) M2.5 that are very common on dual coil RTAs
Juice capacity about right for dimitri juice in a tank of this type (for my own prefs at least)
Would be relatively simple for a newbie to set up and generate smooth powerful vapour using this tank
Again perfect for noobs - has very deep fill port surrounds, which helps prevent accidental spilling of juice into the centre hole whilst filling - this would cause flooding and would likely leak out when placed on its side.

Cons

The quarter turn 'quick release' base is IMO a potentially show-stopping disadvantage that could easily cause accidental mass escape of juice in a moment of absent mindedness
Much residual swarf lodged in the side and bottom honeycomb air inlets (on the build deck). This may not be present on genuine models.
Has a similar rotating build deck design of the Mini V2 and other Kylin models - but on my V3 at least it seems to be totally fine
Some will not regard this as a disadvantage, but it pops every bit as violently as the Mini V2 when filled with equivalent djuice!

The largest fill ports I've ever seen (the outer kidney-shaped holes), plus a huge depth to avoid accidental spillage down the centre hole.

Not bad. Spares include a complete set of 6 O rings, 4xM3.0 grub screws and an 810-510 driptip adaptor.

Conclusions

As a basic easy-to-use noobs RTA, the Kylin V3 is IMO almost ideal and in many ways seems cleverly designed for inexperienced punters. The deck naturally fits a larger coil which perhaps less vape-efficient for most users needs, but might be more likely to produce a smoother more forgiving vapour to suit the unacclimatised. The deck is exceptionally roomy and relatively foolproof to build on, and the wicking is as straightforward as it gets. It's just an user-friendly tank all round, all except for that one major flaw.

It's a colossal pity about the ridiculous quick-release base, which is IMO a disaster-in-waiting. Absolutely unbelievable that they didn't stick with the Kylin M Pro threaded base and for this reason I just cannot recommend it to newbies. But if you think you can live with the base then I can almost guarantee that this tank will earn a place in your toolbox. Just remember the swarf in the honeycombs. It might not be there on yours especially if genuine, but I'd argue it's worth checking.

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