First Look: UD Balrog Starter Kit

By Jerry R in First Looks Hardware Reviews UD Hardware February 25, 2016

The Balrog is the very first starter kit from UD (Youde). UD is best known for its line of RTA, RDA and RBA tanks and drippers. Seven Report reviewed the UD Zephyrus sub ohm tank some time back. Our newest review product supplier, Heaven Gifts, provide the Balrog Starter Kit for a Seven Report review. They list it at $68.00.

The Balrog Starter Kit includes the Balrog TC 70 watt mod and the 3.0 ml capacity, top filling Balrog tank. UD also includes three coils, a 0.5 ohm and 1.8 ohm kanthal coil and a 0.15 ohm Ni200 coil. The 0.5 ohm comes pre-installed in the tank. There’s also a spare Pyrex tube, a mod strap, user manual, micro USB charging cable and accessory kit with a heat sink and spare condensation collection ring.

The Balrog is powered by a single 18650 battery (not included). It has a wattage range of 5 – 70 watts and a temperature range of 200 F – 600 F and 95 C – 315 C. The Balrog will fire coils with resistances from 0.15 ohm – 3.0 ohm and has a spring loaded 510 connector.

To change between variable wattage and temperature modes, adjust temperature, change the orientation of the screen and lock the mod enter the menu by pressing the fire button three times. The menu seems pretty intuitive and it’s all spelled out pretty clearly in the user manual.

When using a new coil for the first time in temperature mod press the “+” and “-” buttons at the same time to initialize the resistance. The Balrog will operate in temperature mode with Ni200 and titanium coils only.

The Balrog tank is top filling, simply unscrew the top most section and fill through the hole on the side of the tank. You can also take the tank apart completely for cleaning and changing coils.

I inserted the Ni200 coil into the Balrog tank, filled it with World Star Vape’s Orion ejuice and put the tank on the Balrog mod, ready for a first vape. I started with the temperature set at 420 F at 50 watts. Vapor production was decent and the flavor was ok, but I felt it could have popped a little more. I cranked the temperature to 475 F and immediately regretted it. I got a burned taste. Turns out UD recommends a temperature range of 200 F – 450 F for the 0.15 ohm Ni200 coil. Why they’d make coil that will only stand up to to 450 F and package it with a mod capable of producing 600 F is beyond me, but they did.

So I backed the temperature off and still had a little burnt taste. I had to lower the temperature a little more to loose that taste, but the intensity of the flavor suffered for it. I’ll keep playing with and also try the 0.5 ohm kanthal coil in variable wattage mode. I’ll be using the Balrog Starter Kit extensively over the next week or so and come back with a full, in-depth review. If you follow Seven Report on Twitter or Facebook you’ll find out that way when that review is live.