Ascent Vaporizer by DaVinci

Shrike · Jan 1, 2014

Sounds like you're loading it okay...a partial bowl "may" still be okay, though you might consider using some glass flowers in there. I do it both ways and don't have a problem.

Since I don't know what kind or the condition of your herb, I can't comment on whether that could be an issue.

It "might" be a temperature control issue...I have no problem producing clouds at 390 and up...even from 360 and up, I still get light clouds...not wisps.

The only thing I found important to do consistently is to take relatively slow draws. You can't hit it like it's a bong. This is not a convection vape, only the bowl is being heated, not the air passing through the herb, so slower hits allow more warmth around and through the herb, which "should" give you nicer clouds.

If you already know all this and still have that problem, then it may be a faulty vape. :2c:

CarolKing · Jan 2, 2014

The Ascent has almost too easy of a draw, I like a little resistance. Not as much resistance as the original mouthpieces for the Solo though. I like the PVHES mouthpieces.

The herb that I've been getting is great and is nice and dry. I was thinking that the units vary in performance, I don't know if it would be considered faulty because I do get a mild medicated effect.

Shrike · Jan 2, 2014

It is a very easy draw...I found the Pax a little too restrictive for me...but that's because of a mouth issue I have. It does take some will power to "force" yourself to keep a nice steady, slow draw going...but that's what works perfect for me and many other Ascent users.

I don't know about faulty or your herb, but when I do a session with the Ascent, it can pretty much put me on my ass if I want it to. It's not Cloud powerful...but, for a portable it's pretty effective.

Not sure why you are only getting mildly medicated on a half bowl...that should nicely do the trick, unless you have a high tolerance like some of our fellow FC'ers have...

CarolKing · Jan 2, 2014

When I use the same exact herb in the Solo as I use in the Ascent, the Solo does the job when I compare the two units. The same thing with the Pinnacle Pro and the Ascent.

That's why I was thinking that the Ascents may vary in quality of performance. Several members have been extremely happy and others aren't having as great a result when using their units.

It may come down to technique, I'm not sure.

Shrike · Jan 2, 2014

May be technique...but if enough try the "standard" draw method, but still can't produce decent clouds or get where they want to be, then yeah, I'd say there is a variation in quality of performance and DV may want to look into this if they aren't already.

Mine performs great and I have absolutely zero issues...as close as a portable has come to being perfect for me. Still room for much improvement...and that's the fun to come for all of us.

OF · Jan 2, 2014

firstavailable said:
First and foremost, it's not really delivering that much vapor. I have to crank it up past 400° to get anything. I'm filling the chamber about 50% with ground up herb, then compressing it with the oil jar. I've tried vaping with the oil jar left in, and I've tried it with the jar left out.

I would not expect it to. You're using a partial load, with very little in contact with the heated surfaces in a conduction vape. To get useful vapor will take experience and skill.

I too suggest you try the glass flowers. AFAIK nobody has reported not getting useful increases in production. Nobody? It might not be 'proven' but IMO you should try it since others have found it useful?

Pinnacle Pro said:
I don't know this for a fact but I think some units work better than others. I wonder about the accuracy of the heater. I heat up to 395 degrees and slowly go up to 420 and when I take the abv out, its dark.

Granted I only measured one, but it seemed accurate to one degree? Critically, I think, was the observation that hitting it only cools the load off. It heats between hits to the maximum temperature but drawing cool air in for the hit only causes the temperature to drop, and radically so. Hard draws drop the load temperature over 100 degrees! The only part of the load that can produce under those conditions is that which is in solid contact with hot glass. Filling to less than a full bowl is working against you. The flowers not only provide more material in contact with the hot glass walls, but also provide hot glass spread through the load for much more contact.

Good luck with it, but if you read this thread you'll see your results are not out of line with what others found and again you'll find that those who tried the flowers found them useful 'to a man'?

OF

smoking2long · Jan 2, 2014

firstavailable said:
Well, I've been waiting to get the Davinci Ascent for over a year now. Two days ago I finally got it. I decided to go with the Ascent over the PAX because of the glass vapor path and temp controls.

First, before even turning it on, I plugged it in for a full initial charge. After about 20 minutes it showed 100% charge. I left it plugged in for another hour to be sure. Then I performed a burn-inn procedure. I set the programmed mode for 375°, 400°, 425°, for 10 minutes at each temp. I ran this program 4 times. I then turned it on 425°and left it for a while. Then I turned it off once I couldn't sense any more "silicone" smell or taste (honestly, there wasn't really all that much of it in the first place). The unit remained plugged into the charger the entire time. My initial thoughts on build quality are very nice. The materials and packaging seem to be high quality.

It wasn't until the next day (Yesterday) that I finally tried it out. I have been anticipating this unit for a while now, and was really excited to try it. To be honest, I'm a bit underwhelmed.

First and foremost, it's not really delivering that much vapor. I have to crank it up past 400° to get anything. I'm filling the chamber about 50% with ground up herb, then compressing it with the oil jar. I've tried vaping with the oil jar left in, and I've tried it with the jar left out. I seem to get a little better results when leaving the jar in, but it's still not that great. In fact, on new-years eave, I tried it with a friend and we really couldn't get much vapor out of it at all. We wound up just smoking out of a bowl instead. Not something I felt very good about after just dropping over $250 and waiting over a year :-/.

Now I'm not saying I don't feel it it all. I do, a bit. And I realize that this is a portable unit, and can't be compared with home units in terms of vapor cloud production. I'm not doing that. I used to own an iOlite / i-Inhale, and I was able to get larger "plumes" or "vapor clouds" out of that unit than I am out of the new Ascent I just got. I haven't given up just yet. I will try to do a couple sessions with the material not-packed to see if this helps. I will also order these "glass flowers" that people seem to be having good success with. Maybe that will improve the experience.

There is another thing. This is more of an inconvenience, rather than a "show-stopper" like the earlier issue I mentioned. I really love the programmed mode. I think that is such a cool feature. I love being able to set 3 temperatures, and the time.

Here is the problem: once the time on the third temp setting runs out, it starts to power down the unit. I can't seem to override this. I find myself having to turn the unit off and on again. I would like it to just stay on the final temp setting after the time runs out, and possibly allow manual temp control.

Yes, turning the unit off and on is a viable work-around. However, I find that by the time I notice the time is up, it has already started to cool off. I'd like a way to keep this from happening. I wonder if there is any possibility of a firmware update to address this issue.....

Overall, I think this unit is OK, although I expected a lot more than just "OK" out of it. I'd be lying if I said I'm not starting to doubt my decision to go with the Ascent over the PAX.

I'd appreciate any comments any of you folks have regarding my experience.[

I'm in complete agreement, it works but it's not the best. I started with the Iolite, which I think was better. Next up was The Hammer. Didn't like it as well mainly because it looks like a crack,pipe. But both of them used much less pot and produced more effect.

firstavailable · Jan 2, 2014

A little update.

I tried it again last night, this time filling the entire bowl, without packing it down. I noticed a little bit of improvement from this. I don't know how much of the improvement is from not packing, as apposed to just having more of the bowl in contact with herb. I'd like to try to fill the entire bowl with packed-down herbs, but that seems like it would take quite a bit more plant material than I want to expend on a session. It seems that DaVinci may have been better off optimizing the bowl for smaller loads, and just have people who want to smoke more pack more bowls. It seems like a vape design that relies on using "more" herb is a bit self-defeating since one of the major advantages of vaping is supposed to be increased efficiency and ability to use LESS herbs. At the very least, they should have included some sort of "adapter" to allow people to use smaller loads. I actually have some ideas myself for such an adapter, I will try them out soon and share if I get any benefit. I'll also post about my experience with the "flowers" once they come in.

On another note, battery life seems to be OK. After the first initial full charge, I managed to get 4 good sessions out of it, before the unit started to auto-cool-down. I guess that's not too bad.

Has anyone else been as frustrated with what happens after the auto-cycle as I have?

nigel · Jan 2, 2014

{EDIT: I hit "post" before realizing there were more posts on this page. I'm reading them now, but I apologize if I've redundantly addressed a point or two already dealt with.}

Reflections said:
I love mine and have had over 3 months!

I have a couple, with the oldest one being used 5 months. Daily use. No problems.

firstavailable said:
Well, I've been waiting to get the Davinci Ascent for over a year now.

Over a year?? Rather doubt that.

firstavailable said:
First and foremost, it's not really delivering that much vapor. I have to crank it up past 400° to get anything. I'm filling the chamber about 50% with ground up herb, then compressing it with the oil jar. I've tried vaping with the oil jar left in, and I've tried it with the jar left out. I seem to get a little better results when leaving the jar in, but it's still not that great. In fact, on new-years eave, I tried it with a friend and we really couldn't get much vapor out of it at all. We wound up just smoking out of a bowl instead. Not something I felt very good about after just dropping over $250 and waiting over a year :-/.

Sorry about having to start the year with combustion.

Of course there are a lot of variables that go into visible vapor, including things like quality of product and packing techniques. (Add to this a lot of us have noted getting well medicated with zero visible vapor, but that's more of a low temp thing.) Off of the top of my head, let me ask two things: 1) How tight is your pack, and 2) is the bowl/grill "too hot to touch."

I found out very early I was over-packing it. ("SHUT DOWN ALL OF THE GARBAGE MASHERS ON THE DETENTION LEVEL!!") This impedes proper airflow. Now, I'm not so concerned with packing at all, as the glass flowers impede this. (I'd crush them.) I just sprinkle a few pinches of product on 2-3 flowers, then fill the top with flowers.

The second thought might be the bowl just isn't heating properly. We had one user here with an early unit, that I think we concluded it just wasn't heating properly. I think it was @Pappy. (Post?) That's not a common issue, but if it happened once, it could happen twice.

Everything else I could think of just boils down to user technique. For example: I've made the point before that one shouldn't attach this thing like a line of shots on a Floridian bar-top during spring-break, but like sipping a fine tawny port. (This is a point I have to keep making to my "skull-ripping b-load" friends.)

I'd suggest experimenting with a bunch of different approaches.

firstavailable said:
I will also order these "glass flowers" that people seem to be having good success with. Maybe that will improve the experience.

Here is the problem: once the time on the third temp setting runs out, it starts to power down the unit. I can't seem to override this.

Yes on the flowers. And, if you are like me, order the 40+ pack. I keep breaking them, and/or loosing a few here and there.

And the shut off at the end of program is a "feature." You found the work around.

Pinnacle Pro said:
I heat up to 395 degrees and slowly go up to 420 and when I take the abv out, its dark.

We have discussed the heat on this issue previously, and I was able to reproduce @OF's findings on that unit and a few others now. This unit, once it gets to temp, it pretty spot on prior to draw. (Evacuation causes thermal drop._ Can you grab a TC and do a measurement on a load of ABV?

Conky · Jan 2, 2014

Just started having an issue, mine will only heat up about 1 degree at a time and about 1 a minute when unplugged, seems to be OK plugged in. I know there was mention of the unit not heating by others but was anyone else seeing really ridiculously slow heating times when unplugged? I assume I'll have to get #3, anyone else have this issue?

Edit - noticed I no longer have a charging indicator anymore either, just shows full, nothing shows when plugged in.

DanAndroid · Jan 2, 2014

Conky said:
Just started having an issue, mine will only heat up about 1 degree at a time and about 1 a minute when unplugged, seems to be OK plugged in. I know there was mention of the unit not heating by others but was anyone else seeing really ridiculously slow heating times when unplugged? I assume I'll have to get #3, anyone else have this issue?

Edit - noticed I no longer have a charging indicator anymore either, just shows full, nothing shows when plugged in.

My guess is that the charge regulation circuitry is borked, hence it working when tethered but not when on batteries only. Either that or the bat pack has one or more bad cells. The charging of LiPo's is usually controlled by the current draw as opposed to the voltage although the better controllers do use voltage as a "sanity check" but I haven't come across many devices of this sort that have that kind of circuitry.

Were I you, I would be thinking about contacting Da Vinci and describing what you are experiencing to them. Something is definitely not right and Da Vinci's customer service is right up there with the best of them.

bassman · Jan 2, 2014

Conky said:
Just started having an issue, mine will only heat up about 1 degree at a time and about 1 a minute when unplugged, seems to be OK plugged in. I know there was mention of the unit not heating by others but was anyone else seeing really ridiculously slow heating times when unplugged? I assume I'll have to get #3, anyone else have this issue?

Edit - noticed I no longer have a charging indicator anymore either, just shows full, nothing shows when plugged in.

Waiting on my third one to get back for the same problem.

Norcalsun · Jan 2, 2014

How long did you guys have yours when it started doing this?

Xaeonis · Jan 2, 2014

bassman said:
Waiting on my third one to get back for the same problem.

Just had this issue tonight.

Was working last night, and a few nights prior. Ever since I got it in October, its been a great little unit. Granted, I havent used it EVERY night. Just every now and then and when travelling. Tonight, while visiting family, it worked for a session. I went to use it again about 5 minutes after ending the session and it would not heat up. Gave it a few hours, and it still wouldnt heat up unplugged. When I plugged it back in, no charging indicator, but still works.

Called Davinci, spoke to Jessica, got my RMA.

*sigh* I havent really even used it THAT much...

Edit: Serial #1AA1 - Stealth. Used infrequently between October and now. MAYBE one session a week outside of the initial week of solid use.

Conky · Jan 2, 2014

Pretty nuts that we got the same issue right at the same time . I got my 1st on the 1st wave of shipments, my 2nd at the time of revision, not sure when that was. Hopefully this next one will last, it is my daily unit.

DanAndroid · Jan 2, 2014

Although I'm sorry to hear about the troubles you guys are having and all around the same time, I do know from experience that having a number of units with the same problem is preferable when it comes to diagnosing issues like this and coming up with design/process changes than it is dealing with the odd unit here or there.

It seems very likely that there is a manufacturing issue not being caught in QC or QA but based on Da Vinci's track record, I would expect them to make good use of the failed units to come up with modifications to their manufacturing and/or QC and/or QA processes to help ensure this same problem doesn't make it into units produced in the future.

Although it's little consolation, I do appreciate your all "taking one for the team", so to speak.

kuhli · Jan 2, 2014

DanAndroid said:
It seems very likely that there is a manufacturing issue not being caught in QC or QA but based on Da Vinci's track record, I would expect them to make good use of the failed units to come up with modifications to their manufacturing and/or QC and/or QA processes to help ensure this same problem doesn't make it into units produced in the future.

Although it's little consolation, I do appreciate your all "taking one for the team", so to speak.

Yup, bleeding edge beta-testing. Even Apple messes stuff up on initial launches. It's expected. This is why I'm still holding out, I just wish I had some real stats on number sold and number of RMAs. I don't know if 10% of units are getting sent back or 0.1%.

nigel · Jan 2, 2014

DanAndroid said:
Although I'm sorry to hear about the troubles you guys are having and all around the same time, I do know from experience that having a number of units with the same problem is preferable

I do believe this issue has recently been identified as a point of hand manufacture where the solder is weak, and has been remedied in all recent units. Due to the hand-production, I guess this is expected to some degree, but is now a watch point to prevent in newer units.

.

ON A SIDE NOTE:
I'd swear these "glass pipe screens" are Schrödinger's glass flowers: I can put in the top layer 100% by-hand as pointing down. NEVER turn the whole device more than 30% from "true". But *still* hear that "crack" when I open the oven as some of the stems break.
*feh*

Quantum vaping.

I am the future...

:whoa:

bassman · Jan 3, 2014

Norcalsun said:
How long did you guys have yours when it started doing this?

First time it did not work out of the box and the second one lasted 5 weeks.

DanAndroid · Jan 3, 2014

nigel said:
I do believe this issue has recently been identified as a point of hand manufacture where the solder is weak, and has been remedied in all recent units. Due to the hand-production, I guess this is expected to some degree, but is now a watch point to prevent in newer units.

I wasn't aware of that but it stands to reason. I've worked for a number of electronic and electrical manufacturers and before working in the field for a while, I thought I knew how to tell the difference between a good solder joint and a bad one but I learned I didn't know squat after having to write a number of ISO 9000 process documents covering the solder inspection procedures and learned from people who really knew their shit what to look for.

nigel said:
ON A SIDE NOTE:
I'd swear these "glass pipe screens" are Schrödinger's glass flowers: I can put in the top layer 100% by-hand as pointing down. NEVER turn the whole device more than 30% from "true". But *still* hear that "crack" when I open the oven as some of the stems break.
*feh*

I feel your pain. It seems like I can't find a happy medium either. I can't pack the load as tightly with the flowers as I can without, or I end up with broken stems even before swinging the bowl back into place but if I don't pack it, the load seems to expand causing the flowers on the top to run into interference when I open the chamber up after vaping.

I remember Norcalsun mentioning that he had found some square glass "screens" somewhere and used those but I don't know if he mentioned where he got them.

@Norcalsun, was it you that mentioned those and if so, where did you get them? Also, I think you've also used the "flower" type "screens" but I don't remember if you mentioned which, if either, worked better.

bassman said:
First time it did not work out of the box and the second one lasted 5 weeks.

Something intermittent like that is definitely an electrical connection issue, probably a cold solder joint as nigel mentioned. It definitely sounds like your Ascent is in need of some Da Vinci tender loving care.

nigel · Jan 3, 2014

DanAndroid said:
I can't pack the load as tightly with the flowers as I can without, or I end up with broken stems even....

Thank you for the kind statements. I appreciate them, but I don't understand this comment.

Why do you want to "pack tightly"? Is it just a sheer volume of product issue? Like you can't have enough without over packing? Or tightly as more restricted air-flow is desired? Or "something" I am missing. Honestly, since I went to the glass flowers, I've just been throwing pinches in there and more flowers on top, and I've been VERY happy with both cloud production and medication.

What is it that "tight" give you?
[Yeah... yeah... yeah... all of us that are over 17 are NOT doing a "Bevis and Butthead" {sic} at that.]

DanAndroid · Jan 3, 2014

nigel said:
Thank you for the kind statements.

The last thing anyone who knows me personally would say about me is that I'm "kind" and, I consider "compliments" bullshit and a waste of one's breath and time, I just call's 'em as I see's 'em.

nigel said:
Why do you want to "pack tightly"?

All things considered that is an especially apropos question!

Although I've been an e-cig vaper for years, I'm very new to flower vaping, as one can tell in that I created an account here when I got my first two vapes, the Pax and the Ascent, both primarily conduction vapes.

My experience with them so far is that unless the material is finely ground and packed well, they don't seem to work as well but, being new to this and not having experimented that much so far, my technique could just be my problem in the first place.

Also, prior to getting the glass flowers and trying those, I found I had to use a glass jar in the "oven" to compact the material or I couldn't get much of anything out of it. This being with what I call "micro-loads", less than 1/4 to 1/2 of an oven full.

nigel said:
... Honestly, since I went to the glass flowers, I've just been throwing pinches in there and more flowers on top, and I've been VERY happy with both cloud production and medication.

Could you explain that a bit more, or at least differently? I'm confused with your use of the term "flowers" as I've heard the glass thingys as well as the material to be vaped referred to as "flowers".

Do you put some glass flowers on the bottom, some material on top and then more glass flowers?

Sorry to be anal but not only am I new to vaping dry materials but English is quite a ways down the list of languages from my mother tongue and so although I can write what I mean fairly easily, I don't always understand what other people mean exactly by what they write.

nigel said:
[Yeah... yeah... yeah... all of us that are over 17 are NOT doing a "Bevis and Butthead" {sic} at that.]

Don't be knockin' the Beavis and Butthead! Probably the easiest way to learn a foreign language is oddly enough, watching cartoons in the target language and although Beavis and Butthead 'toons weren't my primary source for learning colloquial English they definitely were my most enjoyable! :rofl:

I truly appreciate your sharing your experience and what you have come to learn about using the Ascent!

I can't complain about my current level of experience with my Ascent but if I can improve upon it, so much the better.

CarolKing · Jan 3, 2014

When Nigel refers to the glass flowers it's the glass pipe screens off Amazon's online website. They are tiny glass flowers with a stem, many have been using them to generate more heat through their herb so the ascent works better.

FC members have also been using glass beads to do the same thing. The small glass flowers seem to work best for people. Some have had good luck just using the oil jar as a spacer.

The bowl is a bit big for some of us, we are stingy with our herb, the glass flowers or beads fill up space and distribute heat throughout the bowl. Without anything to hold the herb down, it flys around in the bowl when trying to draw (take a hit) from your Ascent.

Norcalsun · Jan 3, 2014

DanAndroid said:
I wasn't aware of that but it stands to reason. I've worked for a number of electronic and electrical manufacturers and before working in the field for a while, I thought I knew how to tell the difference between a good solder joint and a bad one but I learned I didn't know squat after having to write a number of ISO 9000 process documents covering the solder inspection procedures and learned from people who really knew their shit what to look for.

I feel your pain. It seems like I can't find a happy medium either. I can't pack the load as tightly with the flowers as I can without, or I end up with broken stems even before swinging the bowl back into place but if I don't pack it, the load seems to expand causing the flowers on the top to run into interference when I open the chamber up after vaping.

I remember Norcalsun mentioning that he had found some square glass "screens" somewhere and used those but I don't know if he mentioned where he got them.

@Norcalsun, was it you that mentioned those and if so, where did you get them? Also, I think you've also used the "flower" type "screens" but I don't remember if you mentioned which, if either, worked better.

Something intermittent like that is definitely an electrical connection issue, probably a cold solder joint as nigel mentioned. It definitely sounds like your Ascent is in need of some Da Vinci tender loving care.

I was using square glass beads that someone on this thread posted. I got them off of Amazon can't find the link. The link is posted somewhere in this thread. They seem to work well although they are small. I think I'm going to look around for some larger beads and also I've seen some thick oval beads that look promising.

Noob452 · Jan 3, 2014

Just started using my Ascent a few days ago. I like it, but it has one annoying problem, and that is that little bits of material keep flying up into my mouth while inhaling. Anyone else have this problem or know how to fix it?

Ascent Vaporizer by DaVinci

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