Hi. Been hanging around the forum waiting till I read the
whole thread before I commented. Got my solo new for about $135.00 from an ebay seller advertized as an authorized seller. It's an M1A1. Works great!
I also bought an EQ three years ago and have never been sorry. I confess I am using the Solo more than the EQ now, mostly because of the Solos' portability and because it uses less herb.
I so far only have the four hole straight and bent stock stems and an Eds blackwood stem for outside in the yard(6.5 acres).
The only real defect I could find in this unit was the tendency for the stem retaining ring to come loose and pop up above the top of the unit under the screw on cap. Although many users have used an "O" ring, I was unable to get the right one and used a teflon washer with a groove filed on one side so the plastic heater cover has room. The stems fit through the hole in the washer without gripping, but keeps the stem retaining ring flat which compresses it enabling it to do its' job. Guess I was lucky I had the right cap size, because it works pretty good. I was careful not to screw it down tight all the way at once, but tightened it up more over the next several days.
After using the Solo for awhile I have come to believe that the restricted draw is actually by design.
I followed the advice of some members and put a screen in the bottom of the heating chamber. this gives just a bit more airflow in the right spot. The other modification I did was to add a piece of 1/2"
tubing and simply put the bag mouthpiece for the Extreme EQ on the end. Besides making the whole device look rather elegent, it seems to help with the draw speed. For me(strong lungs) it just feels right and the little piece of tubing works as a "shock absorber. And here's another piece of resinated glass for my tea, coffee, hot chocolate.
I also took the advice of some adventuresome(cheap) FC vaporists and used a PS2 slim power supply.
These are 8.5 V and 5.65 Amp. I just cut off the wrong size connecter and replaced with the proper size, ensuring that it was wired with the right polarity. Of course never connect any power suppy to an electrical product without first checking voltage and polarity with a meter. I have been in the video game business for about 25 years, so I luckily had a few laying around. The best way to do this , of course, would be to buy a special connecter to convert to the right size. I also have been running an inverter in my van, so I don't even have to use the battery or recharge. I still need to build a 12v car charging cord so I'll have another option.
For those of you waiting to buy--Just Do It. Thanks to the folks on this forum, I was able to research and make to right decision twice. Arizer makes great products and stands behind them. Go For It.
. It seems to work well and is very cute.
