Here’s a look at a very well equipped squonk kit from a company called SVDE Ltd. out of the UK that was designed by Swedish Vaper. Although I’m not very familiar with the company or designer I can definitely appreciate a well-made and well-equipped squonker. Here are my honest thoughts on the Swedish Vaper Hive Squonk Kit.
Swedish Vaper Hive Squonk Kit Package Contents:
- 1 x hive Squonk Mod
- 1 x Dinky 17mm RDA
- 1 x Extra Door
- 1 x Extra Button
- 1 x Extra Oil Bottle
- 1 x Allen key Screwdriver
- 2 x Kanthal A1 26GA-ID2.5 0.6ohm coil head
- 1 x Spare Parts
- 1 x User Manual
Swedish Vaper Hive Squonk Kit Specs:
Hive MOD
- Size: 74 x 49 x 25mm
- Promising Max Wattage: 115W
- Coil ID: 1mm – 3.5mm
- Battery cell: 1 x 18650 battery (not included)
- Main Material: Poly carbonate
- Squeeze Bottle: 7ml
- Thread: 510 thread
Dinky RDA
- Size: 17(D) x 30mm
- Main Material: Stainless Steel
- Thread: 510
Swedish Vaper Hive Squonk Kit Features:
- Honeycomb-like hollow design
- Full output mechanical squonk MOD
- Stealthvape source 510 connector
- 7ml high-quality silicone squeeze bottle
- Switchable between DL to MTL RDA
- Deep juice well
- Wide wires choices
- Side airflow system
The Mod:
The Hive Squonk mod is a fairly simple device, a mechanical squonker that’s mostly made of polycarbonate plastic but with a splash of style to make it look like honeycomb from a beehive. Although the market has seen its fair share of similarly constructed devices it’s not very often that I come across one that is both beautifully constructed and comes packed with so many extras.
Body, Batteries and Bottles: The polycarbonate body of the Hive is nice and compact at just 74mm tall, 49mm long and 25mm wide. It’s available in two different colour combinations a Honeycomb version and what they call the Nightwasp version. The Honeycomb version is the one I got and it’s a nice amber or honey colour with hex shaped holes perforating the battery door as well as hex shaped holes on the side with the button.
On the back it’s engraved with a large hexagon along with the name Swedish Vaper along the bottom edge. On the side opposite the fire button it’s got some engraved hexagons along with the name ‘hive’. On the very bottom it’s got some funny text saying “Nothing to see here. Really? Still Reading? OK Then… VAPE ON!” as well as the usual CE markings we see on most things.
The Hive is a single 18650 powered squonk mod with easy access to both the squonk bottle and the battery via the magnetically attaching side door. There’s a post that juts out inside the box with a magnet on it to meet up with one on the door but there’s also another magnet which adheres itself to your battery when installed. Together they keep the door nice and snug.
Out of the box it comes with a grey coloured door but the kit also included an amber coloured door to match the amber honey colour of the mods body. Popping off the magnetic door there’s a handy ribbon inside to assist in removing the battery but with fairly smooth contacts I haven’t had any issues getting the battery in or out nor have I experienced any rips to my battery wraps. Also tucked inside when it arrives are not one but two squonk bottles, one white(Milk) and one black(Nightwasp) so you could mix and match with your mod. If you got the Nightwasp version you’d get Milk(white) and Sting(yellow) for your doors.
The bottles both hold 7ml and are both silicone which are nice and soft. The lids are metal and they seal well with the silicone bottles. I know some will complain they are too soft but I prefer silicone myself. Another nice little extra included in the kit are several battery stickers so you can wrap your battery with some interesting patterns to make it look that much cooler when installed.
One thing to call out is in the specs they list the max wattage being 115w which will ultimately be decided by the build and the batteries you use. Stating 115w could potentially be dangerous and anyone using any type of mechanical device should exercise caution and be well informed of battery safety and ohms law.
510: The 510 connection on the Hive is a Stealthvape 510 connector which is slightly spring loaded and comes with a unique locking ring. The threads on the 510 are nice and smooth and so far with the handful of squonk atties I’ve tried on it everything has sat nice and flush.
However on mine I had an issue with the locking ring inside the mod. The locking ring is a white plastic ring with an edge that juts out that allows you to slide the ring around from locked to unlocked. The issue with mine was even in the unlocked position it wasn’t allowing for a good connection between the button and the positive post. I ended up having to cut off about a millimeter from the lock ring before it worked properly. It’s super soft plastic so it was a really easy fix but needs to be called out.
Buttons: The button on the Hive is also hex shaped and bears a letter ‘h’ for hive. Out of the box the button is grey to match the door, however just like the battery door they also include a spare/alt button that’s also amber to match the honey colour of the mod and spare door. The button is nothing fancy and works just like other mechanical squonk boxes by forcing a silver plated metal strip to touch the positive contact of the 510. It works well enough once I made some adjustments to the lock ring and also locks via that white lock ring when needed.
The RDA:
The RDA that comes with the kit is called the Dinky and dinky it is. At just 30mm tall with a diameter of 17mm it’s one of the smallest RDAs that I’ve ever used, not the smallest but close. It’s super simple in its construction with a tiny chuff style cap that also acts as the airflow adjustment, it also comes equipped with a regular 510 drip tip which fits in to the chuff tip to extend and shrink the tip.
On their site they suggest it’s all that is needed to convert from DL to MTL but you’ll also need to adjust the airflow for that. The top cap has three small holes in the side which you can open and close by turning the chuff top. On the chuff cap it’s also got three matching holes but on the opposite side it’s completely open so you can chose between any combination of three holes. With all three wide open you can get a restricted direct lung hit but you can also close it down to a single hole or even half a hole for a rather tight mouth to lung experience.
The deck itself is a very simple offset two post design that uses hex grubs to tighten down your leads. It’s essentially a squonk ready atomizer that also comes with a standard 510 pin in case you didn’t want to use it with the hive mod. The post holes are reasonably big so you can fit in more than just basic wire builds and they advertise it being able to handle coils as big as 3.5mm ID but with the size of the chamber I’d suggest keeping it around 2.5mm.
The kit comes with two 2.5mm 26g kanthal coils which are rated at 0.6ohm. The unfortunate issue I mostly had with it was heat buildup. Even running it at fairly low watts it tends to get pretty hot pretty quick. I later popped in a little fused clapton(2×28/40g ni80) and got some decent flavour with modest clouds but again the issue with the heat was a factor and I had to open it up all the way and use it as a restricted DL to keep it from cooking.
Swedish Vaper Hive Squonk Kit Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Lots of extras!!! (Spare battery door, spare button, spare bottle, drip tip, non-bf pin, battery stickers)
- Looks/style
- Build quality
- Ease of use
- Performance
Cons:
- Had to alter lock ring to make it work
- Dinky gets a little too hot
Swedish Vaper Hive Squonk Kit Video
Final Thoughts on Swedish Vaper Hive Squonk Kit
The hive mod performs just as I’d expect it to for a mechanical squonk mod. In regards to the Dinky, while I appreciate many of its qualities I ultimately found it to not be to my style, it’s just a bit too small and gets a bit too hot. I realize squonk mods aren’t for everybody but I’d recommend anyone who wants to use one be well aware of ohms law and battery safety. I’ve been using the hive mod with a Wasp nano and it’s been an incredible combination and it matches really nicely to boot. It’s too bad the hive isn’t available on its own as I think that would make sense for most people. Personally I quite enjoy the mod but this one will definitely be for the more advanced users out there!
Chris Sisson
After 26 years of smoking I made the switch to vaping and never looked back. Now with over 4 years of vaping experience and 3 years of reviews under my belt I’m a passionate and experienced vaper who loves to give back to the community.
