Ok, so here are my first thoughts and criticism, in brief.
To start, I've ordered amongst the first few, from US to EU.
After the second email I paid straight, received the parcel in 4 (!) days by DHL.
If anyone seen some of my previous entries on FC, or my YT channel,
will probably know my main goals when testing. Rather than performance, I focus on build and price/value ratio.
The promise of the marketing (and that niccce, popular guy, who makesss videosss of vapesss
) was exactly what I (and most of us) pursue regarding portable, electric vaporizers. On-demand convection with good performance, convenience and - hang on -
"laboratory-grade vapor path".
Without initial statements, my first impressions, "first run" test result and some afterthoughts as follows:
My first impression is that this is a Chinese, more specifically a Shenzhen made device.
Having received countless Shenzhen parcels I have a strong memory of many typical materials and their main characteristics used in the Asian vape-industry. As of the packaging:
Receiving an Imag, Fenix, Xmax (etc.) vape is pretty much the same experience. Inside the pretty box there is an industry standard black foam, cut to shape, both aesthetic and protective, same as in here, in the Ghost MV1.
The overall smell is more, than typical, if I can have a bet it has been made in the main YUTO Packaging, like most.
Afterthought:
Not one word of the entire device-package resembles Chinese origin, nor states it otherwise. The only clue is
©Ghost Herbal Concepts Limited. Well thought out.
The power supply, fast charger and battery pack are all Chinese make, in fact, this was the only indication of any manufacturing country - for me, also an indication of price/value ratio.
Regardless to EU order, I received a US power supply, no biggie though, I have an adapter.
Sucking through cold, thin air first time to taste the vaporpath is almost the same, as Fenix. Some sort of very faint though neat, almost "tasty-plasticy" flavour, leaving the impression of nothing but an oddly refreshing brand new electric device.
The glass mouthpiece designed oval in cross-section, making it unique, and not replaceable from Alibaba - monetary inconvenience.
A big flaw in the otherwise clever draw-resistance design, that this piece of glass have made adjustable within a ceramic cylinder, but in a very unfortunate way, and during moving it
rubs badly against the ceramic, not only making an icky scratchy noise, but grinding some glass/ceramic dust right in the vaporpath
I did feel sandy particles on my teeth!
My immediate solution to hack this problem:
The heat exchanger designed to be easily taken out and apart for cleaning. The white ceramic bit serves no other purpose than regulating draw-resistance, and elongate vaporpath (cooling the vapor a bit).
So if you happy to forfeit draw resistance adjustability, and have full, unrestricted (though hotter) flaw, just remove this bit! Assemble without ceramic, and no more scratchy-scratchy. Another hack may be to put a piece of tin foil inside this ceramic tightly, but do not cover the holes on it!
Sidenote: There is a black rubber piece in here too, which IS also included in the vaporpath, along with some silicone above crucible.
Silicone can also be seen in airpath, under the crucible, between the coil's ceramic nest and the crucible, making me more concerned, as in here it is exposed to a glowing coil.
This invalidates marketing claims regarding materials in air- and vaporpath.
Fairly disappointed at this point TBH.
What I call a "first run" test, is simply turning on the device first time empty, and with a help of some backlight I look for visible clues of build flaws, particularly off-gassing.
In the box there is an instruction leaflet designed to be appealingly simple, and pleasant for the touch.
Written in perfect english, though slightly confusing (Shipping Mode, Sleep Mode, Vape Mode, Dry Herb Mode, Concentrate Mode, Mode/Vape Button :S ) is also incomplete, as the handy "LED KEY" have no mention of the one and two RED heat setting.
Here is my short tutorial:
The 3-LED indicator utilizing 3 colours.
Green for the
battery,
orange for
herbs and
red for
concentrate.
-After installing/charging battery, long press (~2 sec) the front button.
1, 2 or 3 green LED will lit up for 2 seconds
to indicate charge level. Then goes blank standby.
-While charge level can be seen (for that 2 seconds) release and press
same button again for another 2 sec.
Now LEDs will flash either in
orange or
red, just for a second, and steady for another, indicating
temperature setting. Then goes blank standby, right after this 2 sec, if you don't do any more button pressing. But while lit, you can just cycle through settings (
1, 2 or 3 orange for herbs, and
1, 2 or 3 red for concentrates) by keep short-pressing the same button.
-When temp is set, and you are back in standby, press the front button three times repeatedly (
steady green comes up), you now unlocked the on-demand button on the back!
When pressing down the back button, the coil heats to set temp, and when LED stops the left-right-left "K.I.T.T. scanner", you good to vape laboratory grade.
On paper.
In reality it produces the worst off-gassing I ever came across. For the "first run" I simply removed the crucible and heat exchanger, set it to 1 orange, and fired up the coil to see what comes up from the device. Check my video (or repeat the experiment yourself):
Afterthought:
-While pressing the front button my thumb mostly covers the indicator. Heating is also controlled with PWM, producing an audible, annoying "eeeeeeeeeeeeeee".
Meh.
Once I figured what makes this gun smoking, and got rid of it, I will comment on performance too.
Gibs
