Old Goat
Administrator
Let me start this one with a problem.
The Blaze SOLO2 RTA by ThunderCloud Creations and Mike Vapes walked into my rotation with a serious handicap.
Not because it is badly made.
Not because it looks rubbish.
Not because the deck is stupid, the airflow is noisy, or the thing leaks like an old farm tap.
No.
Its problem is worse than that.
I already own the Yachtvape Eclipse Solo RTA.
And I love that little bugger.
The Eclipse has been one of my trusted single-coil flavour tanks for a long time. It has that bottom-airflow punch I keep coming back to. It hits the coil from underneath, gives flavour that sharp little kick in the backside, and makes certain juices feel more alive than they have any right to.
So when the Blaze SOLO2 arrived, also carrying Mike Vapes’ fingerprints, the comparison was unavoidable.
Two single-coil RTAs.
Both tied to Mike Vapes.
Both aimed at flavour people.
But one has bottom airflow.
The other has top airflow.
And that difference matters.
A lot.
The Blaze SOLO2 comes with that tidy premium presentation I have come to expect from them. It has the metal-case treatment, the bits laid out properly, and enough accessories in the box to make it feel like someone gave a damn.
No sad little cardboard coffin.
No “here is the tank and one miserable O-ring, good luck.”
You get the tank, spare glass, included coils, tools, spares, and the sort of kit that makes the unboxing feel more serious than most modern disposable-era nonsense.
Mine is matte black, which is exactly where I like it. Clean, tough, no peacock nonsense. It looks like a proper RTA, not a vape toy trying to win a beauty pageant.
The finish feels good. The threading is smooth. The top cap behaves. The whole thing gives that first impression of “ja, this was not thrown together on a Friday afternoon.”
So far, so good.
It is built around a compact single-coil deck, top-to-bottom airflow, honeycomb airflow inlets, quarter-turn top fill, and decent tank capacity for a single-coil setup.
It is clearly made for people who still like rebuildables but do not want to run a dual-coil juice furnace every day.
That is where single-coil RTAs shine.
Less battery abuse.
Less liquid disappearing like school fees.
Still enough flavour to make the whole ritual worth it.
In theory, that is exactly my kind of tank.
In practice?
Mostly yes.
But the Eclipse keeps sitting in the corner, smirking.
Designer: Mike Vapes
Model: Blaze SOLO2 RTA
Type: Single-coil rebuildable tank atomiser
Deck: U-style / postless-style single-coil deck
Airflow: Top-to-bottom honeycomb airflow
Fill system: Quarter-turn top fill
Capacity: commonly listed around 3.5 ml straight glass / 5.5 ml bubble glass
Diameter: around 25 mm
Drip tip: 810 wide bore
Style: Leak-resistant single-coil RDL / DL tank
That is the boring spec sheet.
The real question is simpler:
Can a top-airflow single-coil RTA give me enough flavour punch to stand next to the Eclipse?
The threading is smooth. The top cap has that easy quarter-turn fill action. The glass seats nicely. The airflow adjustment feels controlled. Nothing feels cheap, loose, crunchy, or like it was machined by a goat with a blunt spoon.
This is one of those ThunderCloud products where the basic quality is not really the debate.
It is good.
That is almost irritating, because I like having something obvious to moan about.
But no, the thing is built well.
Fine.
Moving on.
You get enough room for a single coil without the deck feeling oversized or wasteful. It is not one of those tiny, miserable decks where every screw feels like a personal attack.
The layout makes sense. Coil placement feels natural. The included tools help. You are not standing there trying to work out whether the designer secretly hated builders.
That matters because a single-coil RTA lives or dies on the relationship between coil, wick, chamber, and airflow. There is only one coil doing the work. If the deck gets that relationship wrong, the whole tank feels flat.
The Blaze SOLO2 does not feel flat.
It feels like the deck was designed by someone who understands what a single-coil tank should be.
I still will not call it beginner gear, because rebuildables are rebuildables. But for someone already comfortable with RTAs, this is not a fight.
It is a straightforward, sensible little build space.
And it is smooth.
Very smooth.
No harsh turbulence. No stupid whistle. No hollow wind-tunnel nonsense. The draw feels polished and controlled, especially if you like a restricted direct-lung to open-ish single-coil vape.
This is where the Blaze SOLO2 does well.
Top airflow gives it that practical leak-resistant character. You can use it more casually than a bottom-airflow tank. You do not feel like it is one careless moment away from baptising your mod in juice.
That is the big win.
But here is the rub.
Top airflow has to travel. It comes in from the top, gets redirected, wraps down, and then finds the coil.
Bottom airflow does not have that same problem. It comes from underneath and punches straight into the coil’s belly.
That is why the Eclipse hits differently.
I have used it for long enough that I know what it does well. It has that bottom-airflow immediacy. It gives flavour a harder edge. It feels more direct, more compressed, more aggressive.
When you put a good dessert, custard, bakery, or sharp fruit in the Eclipse, the flavour feels like it gets pushed up from underneath and thrown straight at you.
The Blaze SOLO2 does not quite do that.
It is smoother.
It is calmer.
It is more controlled.
It is probably easier to live with.
But it does not hit the same.
That is not me saying the Blaze is bad. It is not bad at all. It is very good.
But the Eclipse has that bottom-airflow bite, and once you know that feeling, you notice when it is missing.
Let me say that before someone starts bleating in the comments.
It is not weak. It is not muted. It is not one of those top-airflow tanks where the flavour arrives wearing slippers and asking where the coil is.
It gives clean, smooth, saturated flavour for a single-coil tank.
Fruits come through nicely. Creams behave. Desserts have enough body. Lighter profiles feel clean and pleasant. It is an easy tank to enjoy.
But it is not as punchy as the Eclipse.
The Blaze SOLO2 gives flavour in a smoother, more rounded way. The Eclipse gives flavour with more attack.
Think of it like this:
The Eclipse is a chef’s knife.
The Blaze SOLO2 is a well-balanced camp knife.
Both cut.
One just has that sharper edge.
And sometimes, that edge is exactly what I want.
First, leak resistance.
Top airflow is not just marketing fluff here. It makes the tank easier to live with. You can carry it, use it, leave it standing, and generally not treat it like a nervous little glass grenade.
Second, smoothness.
The Blaze SOLO2 draw is cleaner and calmer than many bottom-airflow tanks. It does not feel raw. It feels polished.
Third, daily use.
The top fill is simple. The capacity is good. The deck is friendly. The tank does not demand constant babysitting.
Fourth, it has that modern Blaze feeling.
The airflow system, machining, and overall usability feel refined. It is clearly part of the same family as the other Blaze tanks, and that is not a bad family to belong to.
That is the short version.
The Eclipse has more impact. More bite. More of that “there it is” moment when the airflow hits the coil from underneath and the flavour comes alive.
The Blaze SOLO2 is excellent, but it feels slightly more polite.
And I do not always want polite.
Sometimes I want the tank to grab the juice by the collar and drag the flavour out.
That is what the Eclipse does better.
That is important.
It is a top-airflow single-coil RTA. Its job is not to beat bottom airflow at its own game. Its job is to give you strong flavour, smooth airflow, easier daily use, and far better leak resistance than the tanks that live dangerously underneath the coil.
Once I stopped judging it only as “Eclipse vs Blaze,” I liked it more.
Because as its own thing, it is a very good RTA.
It is just not my favourite single-coil RTA.
And that is okay.
Not every good piece of hardware has to dethrone the king.
Sometimes it just has to earn a place on the shelf.
The Blaze SOLO2 does that.
Creams and lighter desserts are also good, especially if you like a softer, more rounded draw.
Where I prefer the Eclipse is with heavier profiles that benefit from a stronger punch: custards, bakeries, richer dessert mixes, and anything where I want that bottom-airflow pressure to really push the flavour.
The Blaze does not fail there.
The Eclipse just does it better.
That is the honest answer.
Top airflow tends to help with that. The vapour feels controlled, and the tank does not become an angry little branding iron under normal use.
That makes it a good daily RTA.
It is not as dramatic as some flavour tanks, but it is civilised in a way that makes sense when you actually use it for more than ten minutes.
And yes, sometimes civilised is good.
Even for me.
Do not tell anyone.
I like the matte black finish.
I like the smooth top airflow.
I like the easy filling.
I like that it does not behave like a leaking little drama queen.
I like the deck.
I like that it gives single-coil users a proper Blaze-style option without forcing them into a dual-coil juice furnace.
Most of all, I like that it knows what it is.
That is the big one.
The flavour is good, but it does not have that bottom-airflow punch. If you are coming from the Eclipse and expecting the same sharp impact, you will notice the difference.
The Blaze SOLO2 is smoother, but smoother is not always better.
It also feels less aggressive, less immediate, and slightly less exciting with certain liquids.
Again, not bad.
Just different.
And in my case, the Eclipse still has the edge.
It makes sense if you like RDL or open single-coil direct-lung vaping.
It makes sense if you want something more practical and less temperamental than bottom-airflow tanks.
It makes sense if you love the Blaze design language but do not want a dual-coil monster.
Skip it if you want the strongest possible bottom-airflow flavour punch.
Skip it if you already own and love the Eclipse and expect the Blaze SOLO2 to replace it directly.
Skip it if you hate rebuildables.
Skip it if you want plug-and-play convenience.
This is still an RTA. It still expects you to know your way around a coil and cotton.
It is well made, smooth, practical, leak-resistant, easy to live with, and capable of strong flavour. The deck is sensible. The airflow is polished. The top-fill system is clean. The whole tank feels like proper ThunderCloud hardware.
But it does not dethrone the Eclipse Solo for me.
The Eclipse still has that bottom-airflow bite I love. It is sharper, more direct, and more flavour-aggressive. The Blaze SOLO2 is smoother and more practical, but it does not hit the same.
And that is the honest review.
If you want the safer, smoother, more daily-friendly single-coil tank, the Blaze SOLO2 makes a strong case for itself.
If you want that raw bottom-airflow flavour punch, the Eclipse still stands there with its arms folded, refusing to move.
The Blaze SOLO2 is good.
Very good.
But the Eclipse is still the grumpy little king in my single-coil stable.
Deck: Clean and easy to work with
Airflow: Smooth, polished, and leak-resistant
Flavour: Very good
Flavour punch: Not Eclipse level
Daily use: Strong
Leak resistance: Big win
Looks: Matte black done right
Beginner friendly: Not really, still rebuildable gear
Main complaint: Top airflow cannot quite match bottom-airflow bite
Final mood: Respectful, but still loyal to the Eclipse
The Blaze SOLO2 is smoother.
The Eclipse hits harder.
And this Old Goat still loves that Eclipse bite.
The Blaze SOLO2 RTA by ThunderCloud Creations and Mike Vapes walked into my rotation with a serious handicap.
Not because it is badly made.
Not because it looks rubbish.
Not because the deck is stupid, the airflow is noisy, or the thing leaks like an old farm tap.
No.
Its problem is worse than that.
I already own the Yachtvape Eclipse Solo RTA.
And I love that little bugger.
The Eclipse has been one of my trusted single-coil flavour tanks for a long time. It has that bottom-airflow punch I keep coming back to. It hits the coil from underneath, gives flavour that sharp little kick in the backside, and makes certain juices feel more alive than they have any right to.
So when the Blaze SOLO2 arrived, also carrying Mike Vapes’ fingerprints, the comparison was unavoidable.
Two single-coil RTAs.
Both tied to Mike Vapes.
Both aimed at flavour people.
But one has bottom airflow.
The other has top airflow.
And that difference matters.
A lot.
First Impressions: Proper ThunderCloud Treatment
ThunderCloud knows how to make hardware feel like hardware.The Blaze SOLO2 comes with that tidy premium presentation I have come to expect from them. It has the metal-case treatment, the bits laid out properly, and enough accessories in the box to make it feel like someone gave a damn.
No sad little cardboard coffin.
No “here is the tank and one miserable O-ring, good luck.”
You get the tank, spare glass, included coils, tools, spares, and the sort of kit that makes the unboxing feel more serious than most modern disposable-era nonsense.
Mine is matte black, which is exactly where I like it. Clean, tough, no peacock nonsense. It looks like a proper RTA, not a vape toy trying to win a beauty pageant.
The finish feels good. The threading is smooth. The top cap behaves. The whole thing gives that first impression of “ja, this was not thrown together on a Friday afternoon.”
So far, so good.
What It Is
The Blaze SOLO2 is a single-coil rebuildable tank atomiser.It is built around a compact single-coil deck, top-to-bottom airflow, honeycomb airflow inlets, quarter-turn top fill, and decent tank capacity for a single-coil setup.
It is clearly made for people who still like rebuildables but do not want to run a dual-coil juice furnace every day.
That is where single-coil RTAs shine.
Less battery abuse.
Less liquid disappearing like school fees.
Still enough flavour to make the whole ritual worth it.
In theory, that is exactly my kind of tank.
In practice?
Mostly yes.
But the Eclipse keeps sitting in the corner, smirking.
Specs Without the Perfume
Brand: ThunderCloud CreationsDesigner: Mike Vapes
Model: Blaze SOLO2 RTA
Type: Single-coil rebuildable tank atomiser
Deck: U-style / postless-style single-coil deck
Airflow: Top-to-bottom honeycomb airflow
Fill system: Quarter-turn top fill
Capacity: commonly listed around 3.5 ml straight glass / 5.5 ml bubble glass
Diameter: around 25 mm
Drip tip: 810 wide bore
Style: Leak-resistant single-coil RDL / DL tank
That is the boring spec sheet.
The real question is simpler:
Can a top-airflow single-coil RTA give me enough flavour punch to stand next to the Eclipse?
Build Quality: No Complaints, Which Is Annoying
The Blaze SOLO2 feels properly made.The threading is smooth. The top cap has that easy quarter-turn fill action. The glass seats nicely. The airflow adjustment feels controlled. Nothing feels cheap, loose, crunchy, or like it was machined by a goat with a blunt spoon.
This is one of those ThunderCloud products where the basic quality is not really the debate.
It is good.
That is almost irritating, because I like having something obvious to moan about.
But no, the thing is built well.
Fine.
Moving on.
The Deck: Friendly Without Being Dumb
The deck is clean and sensible.You get enough room for a single coil without the deck feeling oversized or wasteful. It is not one of those tiny, miserable decks where every screw feels like a personal attack.
The layout makes sense. Coil placement feels natural. The included tools help. You are not standing there trying to work out whether the designer secretly hated builders.
That matters because a single-coil RTA lives or dies on the relationship between coil, wick, chamber, and airflow. There is only one coil doing the work. If the deck gets that relationship wrong, the whole tank feels flat.
The Blaze SOLO2 does not feel flat.
It feels like the deck was designed by someone who understands what a single-coil tank should be.
I still will not call it beginner gear, because rebuildables are rebuildables. But for someone already comfortable with RTAs, this is not a fight.
It is a straightforward, sensible little build space.
Airflow: Smooth, Clean, and Very Blaze
The airflow is classic Blaze thinking: top airflow routed down toward the coil, with lots of little honeycomb inlets doing the smoothing work.And it is smooth.
Very smooth.
No harsh turbulence. No stupid whistle. No hollow wind-tunnel nonsense. The draw feels polished and controlled, especially if you like a restricted direct-lung to open-ish single-coil vape.
This is where the Blaze SOLO2 does well.
Top airflow gives it that practical leak-resistant character. You can use it more casually than a bottom-airflow tank. You do not feel like it is one careless moment away from baptising your mod in juice.
That is the big win.
But here is the rub.
Top airflow has to travel. It comes in from the top, gets redirected, wraps down, and then finds the coil.
Bottom airflow does not have that same problem. It comes from underneath and punches straight into the coil’s belly.
That is why the Eclipse hits differently.
The Eclipse Problem
The Eclipse Solo is the tank haunting this review.I have used it for long enough that I know what it does well. It has that bottom-airflow immediacy. It gives flavour a harder edge. It feels more direct, more compressed, more aggressive.
When you put a good dessert, custard, bakery, or sharp fruit in the Eclipse, the flavour feels like it gets pushed up from underneath and thrown straight at you.
The Blaze SOLO2 does not quite do that.
It is smoother.
It is calmer.
It is more controlled.
It is probably easier to live with.
But it does not hit the same.
That is not me saying the Blaze is bad. It is not bad at all. It is very good.
But the Eclipse has that bottom-airflow bite, and once you know that feeling, you notice when it is missing.
Flavour: Good, But Not the Same Kind of Good
The Blaze SOLO2 has very good flavour.Let me say that before someone starts bleating in the comments.
It is not weak. It is not muted. It is not one of those top-airflow tanks where the flavour arrives wearing slippers and asking where the coil is.
It gives clean, smooth, saturated flavour for a single-coil tank.
Fruits come through nicely. Creams behave. Desserts have enough body. Lighter profiles feel clean and pleasant. It is an easy tank to enjoy.
But it is not as punchy as the Eclipse.
The Blaze SOLO2 gives flavour in a smoother, more rounded way. The Eclipse gives flavour with more attack.
Think of it like this:
The Eclipse is a chef’s knife.
The Blaze SOLO2 is a well-balanced camp knife.
Both cut.
One just has that sharper edge.
And sometimes, that edge is exactly what I want.
Where the Blaze SOLO2 Wins
Now, before this turns into an Eclipse love letter, the Blaze does have its own strengths.First, leak resistance.
Top airflow is not just marketing fluff here. It makes the tank easier to live with. You can carry it, use it, leave it standing, and generally not treat it like a nervous little glass grenade.
Second, smoothness.
The Blaze SOLO2 draw is cleaner and calmer than many bottom-airflow tanks. It does not feel raw. It feels polished.
Third, daily use.
The top fill is simple. The capacity is good. The deck is friendly. The tank does not demand constant babysitting.
Fourth, it has that modern Blaze feeling.
The airflow system, machining, and overall usability feel refined. It is clearly part of the same family as the other Blaze tanks, and that is not a bad family to belong to.
Where the Eclipse Still Wins
Flavour punch.That is the short version.
The Eclipse has more impact. More bite. More of that “there it is” moment when the airflow hits the coil from underneath and the flavour comes alive.
The Blaze SOLO2 is excellent, but it feels slightly more polite.
And I do not always want polite.
Sometimes I want the tank to grab the juice by the collar and drag the flavour out.
That is what the Eclipse does better.
The Real Personality of the Blaze SOLO2
The Blaze SOLO2 is not trying to be the Eclipse.That is important.
It is a top-airflow single-coil RTA. Its job is not to beat bottom airflow at its own game. Its job is to give you strong flavour, smooth airflow, easier daily use, and far better leak resistance than the tanks that live dangerously underneath the coil.
Once I stopped judging it only as “Eclipse vs Blaze,” I liked it more.
Because as its own thing, it is a very good RTA.
It is just not my favourite single-coil RTA.
And that is okay.
Not every good piece of hardware has to dethrone the king.
Sometimes it just has to earn a place on the shelf.
The Blaze SOLO2 does that.
Juice Testing
With fruit profiles, the Blaze SOLO2 works nicely. It gives clean, bright flavour without becoming harsh. Sharper fruit blends do well because the airflow keeps the vape smooth.Creams and lighter desserts are also good, especially if you like a softer, more rounded draw.
Where I prefer the Eclipse is with heavier profiles that benefit from a stronger punch: custards, bakeries, richer dessert mixes, and anything where I want that bottom-airflow pressure to really push the flavour.
The Blaze does not fail there.
The Eclipse just does it better.
That is the honest answer.
Heat and Comfort
The Blaze SOLO2 stays comfortable.Top airflow tends to help with that. The vapour feels controlled, and the tank does not become an angry little branding iron under normal use.
That makes it a good daily RTA.
It is not as dramatic as some flavour tanks, but it is civilised in a way that makes sense when you actually use it for more than ten minutes.
And yes, sometimes civilised is good.
Even for me.
Do not tell anyone.
What I Like
I like the build quality.I like the matte black finish.
I like the smooth top airflow.
I like the easy filling.
I like that it does not behave like a leaking little drama queen.
I like the deck.
I like that it gives single-coil users a proper Blaze-style option without forcing them into a dual-coil juice furnace.
Most of all, I like that it knows what it is.
What I Do Not Like
It does not hit like the Eclipse.That is the big one.
The flavour is good, but it does not have that bottom-airflow punch. If you are coming from the Eclipse and expecting the same sharp impact, you will notice the difference.
The Blaze SOLO2 is smoother, but smoother is not always better.
It also feels less aggressive, less immediate, and slightly less exciting with certain liquids.
Again, not bad.
Just different.
And in my case, the Eclipse still has the edge.
Who This Makes Sense For
The Blaze SOLO2 makes sense for single-coil RTA users who want smooth airflow, strong flavour, easy daily use, and better leak resistance.It makes sense if you like RDL or open single-coil direct-lung vaping.
It makes sense if you want something more practical and less temperamental than bottom-airflow tanks.
It makes sense if you love the Blaze design language but do not want a dual-coil monster.
Who Should Skip It
Skip it if you want tight MTL.Skip it if you want the strongest possible bottom-airflow flavour punch.
Skip it if you already own and love the Eclipse and expect the Blaze SOLO2 to replace it directly.
Skip it if you hate rebuildables.
Skip it if you want plug-and-play convenience.
This is still an RTA. It still expects you to know your way around a coil and cotton.
Final Verdict
The Blaze SOLO2 is a very good single-coil RTA.It is well made, smooth, practical, leak-resistant, easy to live with, and capable of strong flavour. The deck is sensible. The airflow is polished. The top-fill system is clean. The whole tank feels like proper ThunderCloud hardware.
But it does not dethrone the Eclipse Solo for me.
The Eclipse still has that bottom-airflow bite I love. It is sharper, more direct, and more flavour-aggressive. The Blaze SOLO2 is smoother and more practical, but it does not hit the same.
And that is the honest review.
If you want the safer, smoother, more daily-friendly single-coil tank, the Blaze SOLO2 makes a strong case for itself.
If you want that raw bottom-airflow flavour punch, the Eclipse still stands there with its arms folded, refusing to move.
The Blaze SOLO2 is good.
Very good.
But the Eclipse is still the grumpy little king in my single-coil stable.
Old Goat Scorecard
Build quality: ExcellentDeck: Clean and easy to work with
Airflow: Smooth, polished, and leak-resistant
Flavour: Very good
Flavour punch: Not Eclipse level
Daily use: Strong
Leak resistance: Big win
Looks: Matte black done right
Beginner friendly: Not really, still rebuildable gear
Main complaint: Top airflow cannot quite match bottom-airflow bite
Final mood: Respectful, but still loyal to the Eclipse
TL;DR
The Blaze SOLO2 RTA by ThunderCloud Creations and Mike Vapes is a well-made single-coil top-airflow RTA with smooth airflow, good capacity, easy filling, and strong leak resistance. It delivers very good flavour and is easy to live with, but compared directly to the Yachtvape Eclipse Solo RTA, it does not have the same bottom-airflow punch.The Blaze SOLO2 is smoother.
The Eclipse hits harder.
And this Old Goat still loves that Eclipse bite.