Ascent Vaporizer by DaVinci

Norcalsun said:

Looking forward to seeing your accessories, especially the stand. Keep us posted on your results and products. I'm sure many Ascent owners will be interested.

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Thanks! Hopefully by this weekend, I should have a stand available for sale through [redacted] - I will work on making 'cooler' stands in the future, but for now, I can imagine how many of you are anxious for an easier way to load your Ascent.

Hopefully the mods approve listing my items on this site.

mod note: Website removed pending approval

Pepus said:

Hi everyone!
I just started to use the Ascent, my first vaporizer, and have a few doubts. Meanwhile I read all the staff on this useful thread let me ask the first ones...
Battery life: I have tested two units and the battery lasts only for one hour, 70 minutes at most (at 380ºF). Is the reason I return the first unit (carbon 1AA1 011XXX) and the second one I got (carbon 2AA1 003XXX) acts exactly in the same way. Doesn't it should be 3+ hours? I wonder if everybody has better performance or accepts that as normal. Haven't read anything about this yet.
The use you comment of glass flowers, beads or cotton: Is only to prevent little pieces to reach the mouth? or there are other purposes? Compact material vaporizes better or worse? A little stone could do the work?
Sorry by my terrible English and greetings from Spain!

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Welcome! The Ascent is my first real vaporizer too! Practice! You need to learn how to use the Ascent before you give up. When you do, you will never look back! (Fuck combustion!!!)

Name one electronic device what has the same battery life the manufacturer stated? I have never once found something which easily lasts as long as they say. I personally go 4 to 5 'sessions' before I recharge, but I use it around my house.

Glass flowers help retain heat, and prevent heat-loss when you take a puff. They also help cook the middle of the pack. Do not compact too tight, not too loose - just a light packing will be sufficient.

Ratchett said:

Welcome! The Ascent is my first real vaporizer too! Practice! You need to learn how to use the Ascent before you give up. When you do, you will never look back! (Fuck combustion!!!)

Name one electronic device what has the same battery life the manufacturer stated? I have never once found something which easily lasts as long as they say. I personally go 4 to 5 'sessions' before I recharge, but I use it around my house.

Glass flowers help retain heat, and prevent heat-loss when you take a puff. They also help cook the middle of the pack. Do not compact too tight, not too loose - just a light packing will be sufficient.

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So you think less than half of advertised battery life is acceptable? I'm glad with Ascent in general and don't plan to give up, but bought it mostly for its theoretic autonomy and it is disappointing to know that it is not real.

PS It have to be said, the DaVinci costumers service is great!

How long the battery lasts between charges depends on the temp you vape at. Higher temp uses more battery. My stealth that I have had for 5 months gets about an hour and 15 min battery time. My vape temps are anywhere from 375 to 410.

I'm happy with the battery and the Ascent. There are still some faulty units, but fewer and fewer.
I have to agree customer service is stellar with Davinci.

For those of you dealing with broken glass stems, Ed has come up with an alternative that is worthy of consideration. I don't know if he has all the bugs worked out yet, but he has a good discussion to check out and, as always, it is a beautiful one.

http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/eds-tnt-wooden-vapor-tubes-vapor-stems.3342/page-90#post-558051

Pepus said:

So you think less than half of advertised battery life is acceptable?

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Are you saying it's not possible to get anything closer than half the advertised battery life? Lots of fellows seem to have done the impossible..........

When I had Nigel's to play with I thought that if you kept the temperatures down and didn't draw a lot of cold air in the projected charge life (while optimistic) was realistic. Just like in Solo, VB2 and other such vapes guys have questioned and I've tested.

I see no ground for inferring the maker is being dishonest here. After all I can drive a new car such that it gets noting close to the EPA certified gas mileage, right?

OF

A few more notes here...

On the 400° bug - apparently I don't have it. Last night, after spending a few minutes at my usual 375° on an already-used bowl, I decided to bump it up to 400° mostly just to see if my unit has the bug others are reporting. It climbed to 400 and held steady at that temperature until I was finished with the session. Which brings me to another observation...

On higher temperatures - I'd previously stated that I'd found no value, in my experience, in going much higher than 375°. I was wrong. I'm not sure if I hadn't gone high enough in my previous experiments, or maybe the packing wasn't quite right (I hadn't really dialed in the right grind and pack combination yet when I first experimented with higher temps), but this time, with a bowl I'd pretty much declared "finished" at 375°, at 400° gave me additional vapor and medicinal effect. And to think I'd been "wasting" all that goodness up until now! Well, not actually wasting, since I save my ABV, so I get the medicine out of it one way or another.

So, I guess I'm still learning, even after two months with my Ascent making new (to me) discoveries. Which is good, because it just keeps getting better!

Oh, and as to battery life - I dunno how long my Ascent would last if run continuously, and I don't really care. I can't imagine doing an hour-long session, let alone two or three hours. Unless specific operating conditions are stated, assume that the published duration is at the lowest possible temperature setting, and possibly cumulatively spread out over multiple short sessions. This would give the biggest number, which is what they want. Take it with a grain of salt. It may not reflect what your usage will yield, but is still good for comparison, since all manufacturers tend to use whatever method yields the best-looking spec.

In actual practice, I can get anywhere from three to seven sessions out of a full charge, depending on temperature and duration - but I rarely run it completely down. I've not really kept careful track, but I'd have to say that cumulatively it's probably well over an hour of total time per charge. As long as I plan ahead, I've never been inconvenienced by a dead battery in my Ascent. Remember, unlike NiCd batteries (which can suffer from a "memory" effect), Lithium-based batteries impose no penalty for "topping up" - overall lifespan is related to actual usage (total amount of energy used/replaced) so there is no reason NOT to keep your Ascent fully charged, or to put in on charge every day, just like you might do with your phone. If anything, more frequent "topping up" is less stress on the battery than less-frequent full depletion and recharge cycles.

So top-up your Ascent every night and you should have no trouble making it through a full day.

My unit had the problem of not showing/ allowing the temp to change. I had it on 396 and tried to bump it up 3 degrees and it kept showing 396. After I bumped the heat up 5 degrees it worked. I haven't had that problem since. Maybe it's a sign that it might have more problems with changing temps.

Pepus said:

So you think less than half of advertised battery life is acceptable?

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OF alluded to my response, but it is analagous to an MGP rating on your car. If you are a hypermiler, you will maximize your output. If you drive with a real lead foot, you'll get less than optimal return. Everyone else is somewhere in the middle.

I go "slow 'n' steady" and get very long sessions (and multiple ones out of it) no problem. [SEE BELOW] I also (usually) am at lower temps.

MrNaturalAZ said:

On the 400° bug - apparently I don't have it.

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I'll chime in here and say that, although I usually don't go that high, when I do, I have never seen this issue on any of my units.

MrNaturalAZ said:

On higher temperatures - And to think I'd been "wasting" all that goodness up until now! Well, not actually wasting, since I save my ABV, so I get the medicine out of it one way or another.

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I'm sorry you didn't have the complete information. There are many reasons to go that high and higher. There are great clouds to be found there, if that is your thing. CBCs are in about the 430°F range. There are some terpenoids and other cannabinoids there. I'm sure I'm forgetting other reasons.

I think the main reasons to NOT go that high are 1) Benzene (a carcinogen, but I've not seen accurate figures on how much is potentially present) and 2) the worse offender in my mind, the burnt-popcorn taste.

Oh, and people often associate couch-lock with higher temps. Wait... now I can't decide if that is a reason not to go that high or a reason TO go that high.

Actually, there may be more reasons to not go that high, just like there are reasons to. YMMV.

MrNaturalAZ said:

I can't imagine doing an hour-long session, let alone two or three hours.

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I don't have to imagine that.

MrNaturalAZ said:

So top-up your Ascent every night and you should have no trouble making it through a full day.

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True dat.

Nothing wrong with couch-lock especially at night.

OF said:

Are you saying it's not possible to get anything closer than half the advertised battery life? Lots of fellows seem to have done the impossible..........

When I had Nigel's to play with I thought that if you kept the temperatures down and didn't draw a lot of cold air in the projected charge life (while optimistic) was realistic. Just like in Solo, VB2 and other such vapes guys have questioned and I've tested.

I see no ground for inferring the maker is being dishonest here. After all I can drive a new car such that it gets noting close to the EPA certified gas mileage, right?

OF

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I don't saying that the maker is being dishonest, I'm only trying to find out which is the real battery life, in my own experience, at 380ºF the battery life is less than 70 minutes, far from the 3+ hours published. I asked if people get the same results and it seems to be the normal, isn't it?

Is it acceptable, I don't think so. If a car maker says that the consume of your car is 7l of gasoline every 100 Km and your real consume is 8 or 9l, for me this is acceptable, but if it is 18l, then definitely not. The ratio is the same.

Is adequate the battery life? I depends... if you intend to use the vaporizer away from sockets and more than 7 times, like in my case, then you are in trouble.

But that is not the question, everybody has his own needs and purposes. The point is when buying something you guide by the published features and expect it to satisfy roughly them, always speaking in reasonable conditions of use for which it was designed. Is it the case of the Ascent?

Pepus said:

I don't saying that the maker is being dishonest, I'm only trying to find out which is the real battery life, in my own experience, at 380ºF the battery life is less than 70 minutes, far from the 3+ hours published. I asked if people get the same results and it seems to be the normal, isn't it?

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I think I get what you're saying, and yes, I think something over an hour is pretty typical.

I'm not sure you're getting what I'm saying, if you turn the heat down low and don't draw on it will the battery run 3 hours? I think it will. Granted it would be more useful if it said 'up to an 3 hours' but I think you understand why that's not the case? If 3 hours is possible, even under abnormal conditions, I don't think you have a case with them, sorry to say. The hotter you dial it up and the more cold air you force it to heat the faster the battery will go flat.

Hey, at least you didn't take Got Vape seriously, they claim "a 4 Hour Run time," for the exact same unit:
http://www.gotvape.net/vaporizer/portable-vaporizers/ascent-vaporizer-instructions.html

You should be looking at half a dozen or more sessions here, very typical for portables I think. I'm not sure which one to advise in this class for longer run times, perhaps something like Cera where you can swap in fresh batteries?

Good luck in your quest for 'the perfect vape'. Please write if you find it........

OF

Pepus said:

I don't saying that the maker is being dishonest, I'm only trying to find out which is the real battery life, in my own experience, at 380ºF the battery life is less than 70 minutes, far from the 3+ hours published. I asked if people get the same results and it seems to be the normal, isn't it?


Is it acceptable, I don't think so. If a car maker says that the consume of your car is 7l of gasoline every 100 Km and your real consume is 8 or 9l, for me this is acceptable, but if it is 18l, then definitely not. The ratio is the same.

Is adequate the battery life? I depends... if you intend to use the vaporizer away from sockets and more than 7 times, like in my case, then you are in trouble.

But that is not the question, everybody has his own needs and purposes. The point is when buying something you guide by the published features and expect it to satisfy roughly them, always speaking in reasonable conditions of use for which it was designed. Is it the case of the Ascent?

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I hear what you''re saying .
But think of it this way ,

My laptop was advertised as having 2 hrs of portable battery life .
Which is true , if I'm just entering data in excel spread sheets .
But if I go on the internet , it'll be 1 hour of battery life .
And if I watch HD vids , maybe 45 minutes ...

Pepus said:

I don't saying that the maker is being dishonest, I'm only trying to find out which is the real battery life, in my own experience, at 380ºF the battery life is less than 70 minutes, far from the 3+ hours published. I asked if people get the same results and it seems to be the normal, isn't it?

Is it acceptable, I don't think so. If a car maker says that the consume of your car is 7l of gasoline every 100 Km and your real consume is 8 or 9l, for me this is acceptable, but if it is 18l, then definitely not. The ratio is the same.

Is adequate the battery life? I depends... if you intend to use the vaporizer away from sockets and more than 7 times, like in my case, then you are in trouble.

But that is not the question, everybody has his own needs and purposes. The point is when buying something you guide by the published features and expect it to satisfy roughly them, always speaking in reasonable conditions of use for which it was designed. Is it the case of the Ascent?

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I already told you though that the battery is used more when it's higher. If you put it at the lowest setting it allowed and you used it I'm sure you'd get more than 70 minutes. If you run it full blast you'll get less. Yes, it's normal for more battery to be used when the heat settings are higher.

When you drive a car very fast it will use up more gasoline. When you drive slower it will not use as much gasoline.

Pepus said:

I don't saying that the maker is being dishonest, I'm only trying to find out which is the real battery life, in my own experience, at 380ºF the battery life is less than 70 minutes, far from the 3+ hours published. I asked if people get the same results and it seems to be the normal, isn't it?

Is it acceptable, I don't think so. If a car maker says that the consume of your car is 7l of gasoline every 100 Km and your real consume is 8 or 9l, for me this is acceptable, but if it is 18l, then definitely not. The ratio is the same.

Is adequate the battery life? I depends... if you intend to use the vaporizer away from sockets and more than 7 times, like in my case, then you are in trouble.

But that is not the question, everybody has his own needs and purposes. The point is when buying something you guide by the published features and expect it to satisfy roughly them, always speaking in reasonable conditions of use for which it was designed. Is it the case of the Ascent?

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It seems like most of the portable vapes advertise higher battery time than they actually have. It's like they test them on the lowest heat possible to vaporize to. I realize that, so I take that into consideration when buying a vaporizer. The taste with the Ascent is really great, not always with some portables.

The Ascent is really one of the top of the line portable vaporizers out there. Yes they stretch the truth about how long the battery time is. You can always charge while using. That's a great feature. It doesn't help if you are on the go, unless you buy the car charger........

Davinci, if you are listening make the cord longer on the car charger. The short cord was a draw back.

Ok I have to post this because it's been bothering me and it's worth mentioning here. I received my new carbon fiber model, ran my burn ins and all that. The rubber taste finally dissipated, which I'm very happy about. The problem is that I can't seem to get good clouds with this model. My stealth used to give me exceptional clouds without using any glass screens or anything. All I would do is pack it down tightly and take soft hits and BAM, big vapes. Now with my new model, even when it's packed against the chamber I don't get many vapes.

I ordered daisy style glass screens so I hope that's the answer. I just feel like it loses it's portability while having to keep track of screens, and then can't just empty it out quickly because of the screens.

I used the glass jar without the top on it to take the place of the screen and I don't notice much of an improvement. Certainly limits airflow, I'm just left wanting more every time. I sure hope this improves. Before I sent my stealth in, I was a big time ascent supporter. Now I can't say that I'm very satisfied with it. I'm giving it more time though.

poonman said:

I hear what you''re saying .
But think of it this way ,

My laptop was advertised as having 2 hrs of portable battery life .
Which is true , if I'm just entering data in excel spread sheets .
But if I go on the internet , it'll be 1 hour of battery life .
And if I watch HD vids , maybe 45 minutes ...

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I know, I know, if you drive at high speed or dare go on the internet... by the Ascent is designed to, and mostly of us intend... to watch HD vids with it, don't we?

Seriosly, I was considering to buy a Firefly, in social situations I prefer to vape "on demand", a few long sips now and then stealthy, instead of a full load a time. But they say that it "delivers over 40 rich draws per charge" that may be 15 or 20 real ones. So they directly offer you spare batteries

I get good clouds with flowers and using around 0.4g of herb. My high just doesn't last that long, whether I go long session on 360 or if I go high in like 410. The effects are just not the same has smoking a bowl or out of my bong. Love the taste of ascent and I still use it daily, buttttt the high just doesn't last long enough to my liking.

poonman said:

My laptop was advertised as having 2 hrs of portable battery life .
Which is true , if I'm just entering data in excel spread sheets .
But if I go on the internet , it'll be 1 hour of battery life .
And if I watch HD vids , maybe 45 minutes ...

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Excellent example, thanks for offering it.

The user controls the power demands placed on the battery to a large extent. And just like in the real world, more demands impacts life adversely..........

farcus2323 said:

The effects are just not the same has smoking a bowl or out of my bong.

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Very true I think. The lack of that 'face in the campfire' bit makes a huge difference. Not breathing in a lot of toxic junk with the THC is a different thing for sure. Not only are you not responding to garbage that would otherwise make your eyes water and head swim on their own, but you've long ago associated that feeling with getting high on THC. Often to the point that smoking ABV (no THC left for practical purposes) can still get you stoned if you think it will. Funny how the mind works.....or doesn't.

OF

So it's a health risk to combust THC, I'm confused? If it's so bad for you, and we ingest so much "garbage" why is the way cannabis has been smoked for ages?

farcus2323 said:

So it's a health risk to combust THC, I'm confused? If it's so bad for you, and we ingest so much "garbage" why is the way cannabis has been smoked for ages?

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It's difficult to see this as a serious question and not just trolling. At any rate, if you want to discuss the health risks of vapourizing vs combustion, please find another thread (there should be several to pick from) or start a new one in the appropriate sub-forum.

OF said:

Not breathing in a lot of toxic junk with the THC is a different thing for sure. Not only are you not responding to garbage that would otherwise make your eyes water and head swim on their own, but you've long ago associated that feeling with getting high on THC.

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Well put. A smoking high is different from a vaping high. I think a vaping high tends to be "cleaner" feeling. Vaping at high temps gets closer to a "smoking high", especially if you start the bowl in 400+ range (rather than ramping it up gradually or in steps) but it is still different. I think a big part of the smoke vs. vape difference, at least for me, is the Carbon Monoxide.

OF said:

Often to the point that smoking ABV (no THC left for practical purposes) can still get you stoned if you think it will. Funny how the mind works.....or doesn't.

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Maybe. Or maybe not. I've smoked ABV in a pinch, and aside from tasting terrible, it did indeed get me high, and I wasn't imagining it. Granted, I had to smoke more ABV than I would fresh weed, and the heady high to body stone ratio was rather low, but there was definitely something there.

Referring to the excellent chart here, all the way up at 428° is tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) - listed as, among other things, a euporiant. So, your 400° or lower ABV will still have some punch left in it. Plus, we know that vaporization is not 100% efficient (hence why ABV is good for making tinctures and oils for topicals and edibles) - some of the lower temperature compounds remain, and surely get released during combustion.

MrNaturalAZ said:

Well put. A smoking high is different from a vaping high. I think a vaping high tends to be "cleaner" feeling. Vaping at high temps gets closer to a "smoking high", especially if you start the bowl in 400+ range (rather than ramping it up gradually or in steps) but it is still different. I think a big part of the smoke vs. vape difference, at least for me, is the Carbon Monoxide.



Maybe. Or maybe not. I've smoked ABV in a pinch, and aside from tasting terrible, it did indeed get me high, and I wasn't imagining it. Granted, I had to smoke more ABV than I would fresh weed, and the heady high to body stone ratio was rather low, but there was definitely something there.

Referring to the excellent chart here, all the way up at 428° is tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) - listed as, among other things, a euporiant. So, your 400° or lower ABV will still have some punch left in it. Plus, we know that vaporization is not 100% effective (hence why ABV is good for making tinctures and oils for topicals and edibles) - some of the lower temperature compounds remain, and surely get released during combustion.

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This is why I advise people to read to the end of the thread before starting to reply. Please see my post directly before yours.

pakalolo said:

This is why I advise people to read to the end of the thread before starting to reply. Please see my post directly before yours.

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Excellent advice (once again.......Pak does that kind of stuff). I get 'beat out' by guys responding to a post as I'm fretting over spelling, grammar and other details in my post often enough as it is (find someone has posted the same stuff two minutes before you.....). Much better not to make that even worse by quickly answering a post without reading all the following ones first to be sure someone didn't beat you to the punch long back.

Doing so also leads to multi part replies, and encouraged practice.

My general practice (when I can keep it under control....) is to hit the "Reply" key for that post but keep on reading adding the next "Reply" as it comes along. Then, when I'm done, I can go back and delete parts already covered by someone else, perhaps edit the order to incorporate and combine other guy's posts, dump the unnecessary text from the quoted stuff and wade right in. The only hang up is on page changes, the 'saved in the editor' stuff doesn't always show up again so I routinely copy it and paste it in the new box at the bottom of the next page (being sure the cursor is at the end) before reading on on that page.

It's never perfect, of course, but IMO taking a little extra effort helps the reader and in so doing encourages them to read on? In the end we come to exchange ideas, information and advice. That doesn't happen unless guys read posts to find it.

OF

pakalolo said:

This is why I advise people to read to the end of the thread before starting to reply. Please see my post directly before yours.

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Point made and taken. In my defense, however, my intent wasn't to respond to the trollish issue of health implications, but rather was responding to @OF's comments on the different effects of vaping vs smoking, as well as the point of whether or not one can get high smoking ABV.

In any case, I apologise if I got too far off topic.

To return to Ascent-specific discussion.....

I experienced some unusual behaiour from my Ascent last night:
I can't recall if I powered it up first, or connected the charger first, but it was in quick succession. The temperature was at 400 from last time I used it. The display switched to actual temperature, but, instead of watching it climb, it indicated approximately room temperature and stayed there.

"Oh NO!" I thought - "Not the dreaded heater failure." I powered off and back on, leaving the charging cable connected. Same thing - not heating. I disconnected the charger and then power cycled again, and this time the temperature began to climb. Once it got up into the 200's I reconnected the charger and the heating continued, successfully reaching and holding the target temperature.

So... I dunno if it is a one-time thing, or perhaps some minor bug related to connecting the charger while the unit is still initializing (my guess), but for now I'll just be aware of it and avoid connecting charger and power the unit in quick succession and see how it goes. As long as the behaviour is consistent and predictable, I can live with it.

I had the consistent issue of my carbon fiber stopping at around 398, after I was in a session on 370, i bumped it up to 400 to finish it off, just sat on 398....... frustrating