Multi-brand Vivant Alternate

Baked-not-fried said:

So, I'm wondering if I may have caught a glimpse of a contributing overheating factor. I wanted to give it a spin for a eve session, it's sitting there and I used it. I got a pic, not the best because it was taken fast to catch the temp reading, but it was at 446 and was coming DOWN from that number. I had it set for 380. Still not sure how to post a pic but if anyone wants to see it or if it should be here for documenting purposes, I have it. I wonder if the temp doesn't run away on some units making them extremely hot and melting them? Anyway, just something I noticed.

D

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Wow! That's concerning. Makes one wonder about the accuracy of temp setting mechanism as well as the temp regulator! I guess if someone might have one of those fancy laser thermometers maybe they might check out their own unit, at least? Anybody?

Fat Freddy said:

Wow! That's concerning. Makes one wonder about the accuracy of temp setting mechanism as well as the temp regulator! I guess if someone might have one of those fancy laser thermometers maybe they might check out their own unit, at least? Anybody?

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I have one coming in today. I'll test it and report back.

People really need to lighten up, do the dtaxx mod if you can't wait my crafty mouthpiece has loosened up a bit and now fits fine. If you can wait it seems like multiple people have corroborated that Vivant has nearly fixed the issue. What's more likely that they spend the time effort and money designing a product, buying a brand, hiring employees in CA (aka not cheap), getting a website set up and working with retailers (imho the most obvious sign that they plan to follow through) and then torpedoing that investment?

If people had been more open about the new test run production CU's AND THEN DISCOVERED that they didn't hold up during use people on this forum WOULD HAVE LOST THEY' MINDS and Vivant's name would be dragged through the mud. I dunno this is probably the first vape I've followed closely from market inception to now (Jumped on plenty of bandwagons Flowermate, Dynavap etc) but I've read plenty of vape technical woe's and this fault just doesn't seem like a company ender.

Haha its kinda weird coming from the 24/7 hugbox that is the Dynavap thread. They've really shook up the $50-100 market (Such as it is lol) with the "M".

First impressions:

Used the Alternate for the first time last night. My base unit does not smell, but the CU had some robot fart smell. Yesterday I took the CU apart and soaked it in warm soapy water for 30 minutes and rinsed well. Okay smell is gone. This unit has the stock software (not updated). I usually vape at lower temps so I used it at 365 F. I also had the front air flow lever closed and the green flap in the mouth piece I took out previously. Vapor was very smooth and tasty. I hit it really hard until the timer went off. At this point I kept hitting it until no more vapor. I do the same thing with my crafty. After I turn it off I continue to take hits until the vapor is no longer productive. I feel this helps cool the unit. I then took off the cu and dumped the ABV. Nice even brown color. In fact a little darker than the ABV I dump from my vap cap. I did another session with a different indica strain at the same temp until timer turned off and hit it until no more vapor. ABV still nice brown color and evenly extracted.

Looking at the CU so far no melting. I am not going to vape over 365 or use it past one minute at a time. Hopefully I will have no issues. If we do get new CU in the next couple weeks then it makes no sense to modify one of my crafty CU's. Time will tell.

All in all it was a similar vaping experience to the crafty. If you are thinking about getting one these unit I think it is a solid choice, but I would urge to hold off until they get the ver. 2 CU's in the pipeline. I think these units will fly off the shelf once the new CU's get here.

On a closing note, I don't think the body has been discussed much here.If I recall a couple of FCers here had the actual body crack due to heat. A very small amount compared the cracked or metling CU's. I hope that after @Vivant implements the new CU's with the new material, they will also use same material for the bodies on future production runs. If they can make it happen at the same price point, then these things will be very popular.

My dhgate unit still goes strong. original cooling unit (removed the silicon valve tho) and countless sessions on high temp. Recently in daily use because my GH needs service again

Hey folks, i married crafty CU with Alternate, if you need advice don't do it my way!
Cut instead, no fucking sanding and fitting, this isn't a way. You need to cut most of this tabs, i left ~6mm each side and off course some sanding at rim are needed.
https://imgur.com/a/SizKg

gienkollo said:

Hey folks, i married crafty CU with Alternate, if you need advice don't do it my way!
Cut instead, no fucking sanding and fitting, this isn't a way. You need to cut most of this tabs, i left ~6mm each side and off course some sanding at rim are needed.
https://imgur.com/a/SizKg

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Thanks for the pics

Happy to help, enjoy!
I'm just amazed but overall feel of this pair, vapor even smoother and cooler, better heat dissipation.
Hey, is looks better to, there are more, is feeling better in hand, and now fitting in my hand flawlessly.
I could craft this little better, but hey i am just crafter beginner

Blublazr said:

@Fat Freddy I ran a 3 minute session at 380°F with a closed airflow. The temperatures of the top cap and the screen of the top cap were measured.

Before heating, my alternate registered an ambient temperature of 82°F and my IR thermometer measured 74.5°F for the top cap and 77°F for the screen of the top cap.

At the end of my session my alternate read 380°F, while the top cap and screen were 116°F and 212°F respectively.

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Seems that at least one of the instruments was measuring inaccurately, IR temp device or the LED temp sensor.

Where be @KeroZen when you need him?

IR thermometers aren't pinpoint accurate to where the laser is. Most take a sampling of multiple points, often more than an inch apart.

One question on the crafty CU - do you just need to sand down the inner ring that holds the screen? Or the outer one too? The tabs are clear - but it's not that clear if the outer ring needs to be sanded down. It looks like @gienkollo has just the inner ring sanded?


Thanks

Just the tabs cut from both sides and the middle ring needs to be recessed. Put them side by side to compare and sand the ring until you can get it to turn.

StonerSloth said:

One question on the crafty CU - do you just need to sand down the inner ring that holds the screen? Or the outer one too? The tabs are clear - but it's not that clear if the outer ring needs to be sanded down. It looks like @gienkollo has just the inner ring sanded?


Thanks

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Yeah, just the inner ring.. but its hard to get the inner ring, without getting the outter ring also. Which is why some pictures you see have both rings sanded. And i only had to clip a very tiny bit off my tabs.

I actually sanded the tabs a little also.. they seemed to stick out a bit too far.

I've just bought the Crafty cooling unit, and I think I'm going to get it next week... hope I'll be able to adapt it.
It feels challenging, since I'm a girl who lacks manual skills....I've never used sandpaper in my life and I've never modded anything. But everybody has to start somewhere!
Thank you guys for your tips!

Maryanna said:

I've just bought the Crafty cooling unit, and I think I'm going to get it next week... hope I'll be able to adapt it.
It feels challenging, since I'm a girl who lacks manual skills....I've never used sandpaper in my life and I've never modded anything. But everybody has to start somewhere!
Thank you guys for your tips!

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Just an idea....you might take the two tops to a local jeweler who may have the necessary tools and skills to "shave" off the material from the Crafty CU.

.

StonerSloth said:

It looks like @gienkollo has just the inner ring sanded?

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Outer ring i sanded also, but side walls not a ring/rim next to oven, off the vapor path

Maryanna said:

It feels challenging, since I'm a girl who lacks manual skills....I've never used sandpaper in my life and I've never modded anything. But everybody has to start somewhere!

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Maybe as a girl you have better skills, than you think, im sure you did some practice on your nails before

since there have been some questions about how to proceed..

this is what i did to make mine fit. as you can see from the pics, everyone has done similar things, but probably all a little different.

https://imgur.com/a/J7a1b

also be sure to go slow, you cant add material back after you cut/sand it off. i did everything with a miniature set of files and 1 piece of 80 grit sandpaper. the files were not necessary, just something i had laying around.

make sure to keep looking at your alternate top cap also, comparing same points on your crafty MP as your alternate MP so you know about what to do

good luck!

It seems I accidentally merged the wrong posts this morning before I had my coffee. Once you've made that mistake, you can't undo it; however, here's the post that I inadvertently merged:

Blublazr said:

@Fat Freddy I ran a 3 minute session at 380°F with a closed airflow. The temperatures of the top cap and the screen of the top cap were measured.

Before heating, my alternate registered an ambient temperature of 82°F and my IR thermometer measured 74.5°F for the top cap and 77°F for the screen of the top cap.

At the end of my session my alternate read 380°F, while the top cap and screen were 116°F and 212°F respectively.

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My apologies to the members concerned.

xlr8shun said:

since there have been some questions about how to proceed..

this is what i did to make mine fit. as you can see from the pics, everyone has done similar things, but probably all a little different.

https://imgur.com/a/J7a1b

also be sure to go slow, you cant add material back after you cut/sand it off. i did everything with a miniature set of files and 1 piece of 80 grit sandpaper. the files were not necessary, just something i had laying around.

make sure to keep looking at your alternate top cap also, comparing same points on your crafty MP as your alternate MP so you know about what to do

good luck!

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Thanks...great pics

Thanks to @xlr8shun and @gienkollo and @dtaxx and anyone else I missed - I am now the proud owner of a Crafternate.

I used a dremel sanding cone for the Crafty mouthpiece and it was pretty painless. Did a rinse, iso wash, rinse and dry, and she's ready to go. I also made the notch on the battery door larger so the support didn't hit it when taking the CU on/off.

I did about ten burnoff sessions and now she's running pretty good after 4-5 test bowls.

Pros:
Good airflow at full-open
Good vapor production
Taste okay
Very even cooking
Will drain your battery down really really low before refusing to heat up

Cons:
Build quality eh - air flow control difficult to adjust
Heat up is pretty slow
Battery life (currently using LG HG2 and these things are taking a beating)
Very stinky during burn-off


All in all the Crafternate is a pretty good portable that I think might find a way into my home-portable lineup. Not sure if it will get any use as a pocket vape - maybe walking the dog or something.

I'm looking forward to picking up a Starry and comparing the two!

Hello! First post! My Alternate is on the way. Very excited to get my hands on it. After seeing the Crafternate mods by @dtaxx and others (great great work btw), I am wondering if anyone has tried a similar mod w/ the Easy Flow WPA for the Crafty/Mighty. After looking at pics online, it looks like if you shave down the tabs, it should work?

I know Vivant has talked about a WPA, but given they have bigger problems, I'd assume that we won't see the WPA any time soon. I think I may go ahead and get one of these adapters and give it a shot myself. The only issue I could see is that the glass might need to be ground down a bit as well. I have a dremel and can get a silicon carbide tip to grind it down if needed.

@travs i'm sure, it can be fitted to alternate, give it a try it's worth it

Hey guys first time posting on FC and I figured this would be a fine first post.

Just received my Alternate in the mail after work. It came with two cooling units (one attached and one extra) as well as an extra set of o-rings and brushes. I got mine on sale during 4/20 and I've heard that many others that ordered on 4/20 also got an extra CU. I ran some burn offs with the stock battery until it died then popped one of my 18650s in. The plastic smell and taste were pretty strong to start and although it isn't completely gone it has dissipated enough to the point where I don't notice while I'm vaping a bowl. (Forgot to mention! The CU that mace attached did start to deform after a couple of bowls on high heat setting). Since then I have switched out the CU for the extra one they gave me and am crossing my fingers hoping it holds up. It made me pretty paranoid because I really hope that the extra one they gave me isn't literally just an extra but hopefully a newer version, but if that was the case why would I even be sent a CU that they know may be defective. smh vivant. It seems like it could be such a great vape if it weren't for this whole problem.

again, this is my first post ever so let me know if i'm missing anything or if im breaking any rules also i'd really love to know what you guys think.

@narlz, did you notice a signs on internal side the top caps? (1 or 2)

Made a craftynate a few days back. Works well. Cool vapor tastes OK . materials are still a concern but if you have an unused crafty mp and a melted alternate lid its worth it