Phobya have two types of QDCs on the market right now. There is the twist to release type as exemplified by PH-65200 and PH-65199:
As well as the push to release type as exemplified by the PH-65033:
Both types come in little plastic bags that do little to protect the fittings:
The black paint was already chipped in places on delivery. The “black nickel” finish however was not damaged:
The twist type halves are ordered seperately while the push type come in preselected pairs. The push type did not have a male G 1/4 option so I chose the female version instead:
Unlike the Koolance push to release mechanism, the phobya release must be held back as the male half is inserted. This is a bit more awkward and is further complicated by the difficulty in mating the QDC. The locater pin seems to move around and does not automatically slide into place. The temptation is to force it, but instead a bit of jimmying will usually secure a better angle and it locks into place.
The twist type on the other hand is much easier to use.
Performance
The push type was absolutely horrendous in terms of restriction.
At one 1gpm the fitting was reading nearly 20PSI. For reference at 1GPM a D5 at max only puts out about 4.5 PSI. That is astonishingly bad.
The twist type on the other hand was much better. It was more restrictive by far than any other manufacturer’s QDC that was tested but it is also much narrower in diameter. I imagine it is similar in dimensions to the Koolance QD2.
Quality
I haven’t mentioned quality on the other QDC reviews because it wasn’t necessary. However the surface on all the samples left something to be desired. The black finish on the twist type felt cheap and of poor quality. It was already dinged up and this is no surprise because it felt easy to damage. The “Black Nickel” on the other hand was also dissapointing. It felt cheaply done and had an industrial feel without the feeling of industrial longevity. It is not something you would show off in your rig, instead it feels more like something you’d tuck away where it couldn’t be seen.
Price
Phobya however does lead on price. If you want the cheapest possible QDC and don’t care about anything else, then they fulfil that niche. However if you care about quality, finish, restriction, thoughtful design and usability then it is worth paying a few bucks more for something better.
The asterisks are because the Phobya parts do not come with 1/2″x3/4″ Compressions but instead 3/8″x5/8″ compression fittings. This combined with their small size makes them much more compatible with cpu blocks.
Summary
Because of the restriction I can not recommend the push-type Phobya fitting under any circumstances. It will kill any flow in your loop. If you really can’t afford the extra few bucks to move to the Koolance QD2/3 then the twist type will work, however don’t expect to be excited by the quality.
Push Type – 0/10 – Nothing redeeming about these
Twist Type – 2/10 – Cutting corners a little too far this time
