Discontinued The Firefly Vaporizer

Mynameismud said:

Looks really messy. How is it switching back to herbs, cleaning it up after

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As you can see from the pictures, I had more difficulty keeping flower debris off the pad than I did going back and forth from wax to flower.
It is not messy.
Keep dab centered, and it stays centered, as oil runs from heat.
Small dabs do well.
Larger dabs are not a good idea.
I found that once up to heat, you can speed up your draw with the pad, to get that wax done.
The only spot to be a bit tacky was the first 1/4 inch down from the bowl.. and of course the general sticky nature down the vapor path.
The bowl remained clean, and ready to vape flowers.
I found my performance increased today.. like maybe the FF got broken in...
I notice a difference in my ability to take faster inhalations without cooling things down too much.

Vitolo said:

I notice a difference in my ability to take faster inhalations without cooling things down too much.

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Thats funny you say that. @OF asked me about the speed of inhalations when we were talking about the FF compared to the cera. I told him i never really tried or thought of inhaling faster/harder. So i gave it a try the other day and got just as good results. Also no dark spots in the abv! I was surprised at how easy it was to inhale faster because when you draw slowly it seems kind of restricted.

Thanks for the tip about those pads im gonna have to find one and give it a try

Thanks for another awesome find V! Soon as the pads are in stock, I suspect a number of us will be jumping in.
Regarding the humidipaks, I've loading them into my jars, but last night, in the "Storage Container - Which to use?" thread, I read about some issues regarding too much moisture and mold due to the paks.
Interested in keeping my meds as healthy as possible of course, and particularly interested in them being in the right state for the Firefly if it's temperamental about the state of the load.
Any thoughts?

The Herbalizer people will be working double duty to keep them in stock.
They need to provide for Herbalizer, and now for FF.

Adobewan said:

Thanks for another awesome find V! Soon as the pads are in stock, I suspect a number of us will be jumping in.
Regarding the humidipaks, I've loading them into my jars, but last night, in the "Storage Container - Which to use?" thread, I read about some issues regarding too much moisture and mold due to the paks.
Interested in keeping my meds as healthy as possible of course, and particularly interested in them being in the right state for the Firefly if it's temperamental about the state of the load.
Any thoughts?

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I have never had an issues with the humidpaks, mold, or using humidipak cured herbs in the firefly. I use humidipaks in all of my jars. Like i mentioned previously, i have a variety of jars but my favorite is the cvault. I just opened up my small one i had a small amount i put away just to see how long it could last. Its been about 18 months (i did open it up every couple months just to let it vent for a few minutes), its lost a little bit of color and smell(still pungent just not as much), its turned a little bit more amber color than when i put it in but it looks basically the same as when i put it in and its still just as fresh. Also the humidipak is still like brand new no stiffness to it. In the jars i open up daily/weekly the humidipaks last maybe 6 weeks or so before they get hard and need to be replaced.

Taste is unreal with the firefly, no issue getting vapor either. And it still packs a punch. Barely finished one load.

Im suspecting that whatever the person you mentioned put in with the humidipak wasnt cured properly to begin with and thats where the mold came from. The humidpaks can only do so much and they recommend you properly cure whatever your using before you use the humidpak

You da Man, Mud!
Thanks Bro-ham.

Risine said:

Thnaks for your answers. MLFB is that bad? I searched the lotus, haven't found it in my country And i'm not very found of butane stuff to be honest. But well, still thinking about it if it's worth it. What about the hammer? it seems to be close to the lotus.

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MFLB is very usable if you learn to use it well. You have to control the temp by balancing how hard you draw with pulsing of the battery. If it's what you have access to, it's a very acceptable vape.

@Mynameismud absolutely. That 62% seems like a very well-chosen RH.

I'm having a wild ride with my new Silver Firefly.

I previously reported that my new silver unit was functioning exactly like my first dark grey unit. Eventually I started noticing that it was a tad warmer than the grey one. I also noticed that the gap between the glass bowl and the metal plate seemed bigger on the silver unit, allowing more material to slip under the bowl, past the screen, and onto the metal plate. So I decided to try changing the screen to see if a different one would slide around less inside the bowl.

That's when the combustion started

I was using my normal technique and...flash of flame (visible even above the FF glow), acrid smoke, nasty burnt cherry in the bowl.

Well I snuffed it out and set about cleaning the Firefly to try to get rid of the smell. I chalked it up as a fluke until two sessions later - flames, smoke, cherry. I had even backed off on my button press time to prevent it from happening again!

Not to be deterred, I cleaned the unit up again and got ready for the next session.

I had been using 8 second button presses after the first draw, so I figured I would cut it down to 4 or 5 and see how it went.

One-one-thousand...two-one-thousand...three-one-thousand...four-one-th...COMBUSTION!

Again flame, smoke, cherry!

Frustrated, I took the top plate off, lifted the bowl assembly off of the ceramic components, and tried moving the coil around slightly (and gently). I cleaned and reassembled the unit with a different screen. After tightening the top plate the gap between the glass bowl and the bottom metal plate seemed somewhat smaller than before, with the screen fitting a little more snugly. I've run several bowls through it since, and have not combusted. I am still using much shorter button presses than before though.

It really seems to me that the combustion started after I changed the screen. I was careful not to apply too much pressure to the other components when doing so, but it still seems to me that changing the screen somehow changed the way the unit worked. It seems to be almost a completely different vape than when I got it.

Something tells me that there are ways that the Firefly performance can change, depending on how things are put together, how the screen sits in the bowl, and how much of a gap there is above the metal plate. All speculation of course, but something changed in my Silver unit.

Ordered a Red Firefly today to replace my dead DV.

Glad the multi-personality disorder is now at the "wonderful firefly" stage, and the witch of combustion personality is in remission.

Isn't that strange, that it should be so sensitive to the exact position of the coil? The coil can get THAT much hotter at a different nudge? It's as if when you nudged things the controller lost all feedback from the coil. There's no apparent temp sensor wired back the way a thermocouple would normally be connected. So if it senses the temp at all, it has to be by some secondary derivation, like exactly how much current changes at different voltages, and the position of the coil could affect that. Or what? It just runs full throttle and how hot that is depends on the thermal coupling of the assembly and nothing more? Somehow I have trouble believing that, since the FLIR shot shows a 403 deg F temp. Is there an InfraRed sensor on the main board, and the position of the coil affects how the IR reads the temp?

I guess I'm late to the party with reading this review? Hey, the guy was annoyed from the git go, he ground his herb way too fine and took a mouthful.

fogbank said:

It really seems to me that the combustion started after I changed the screen. I was careful not to apply too much pressure to the other components when doing so, but it still seems to me that changing the screen somehow changed the way the unit worked. It seems to be almost a completely different vape than when I got it.

Something tells me that there are ways that the Firefly performance can change, depending on how things are put together, how the screen sits in the bowl, and how much of a gap there is above the metal plate. All speculation of course, but something changed in my Silver unit.

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Well, I certainly empathize...my Silver FF changed from perfect to combustion machine without so much as a screen change. Just BAM! Random combustion. I didn't open it myself and risk warranty voiding (and my own inability to fix it and not make it worse) so I just sent it back to them. But this, after three months of perfect operation. Very odd.

New one works awesome so far. Thanks to their service, I'm really not worried about the next weird thing that may happen. I know they'll take care of me. Till then, both of my FF's are getting plenty of miles on them.

A friend of mine stopped by with his new FF and wow that first hit sticks with ya a bit! Very classy unit I wish I had one in my routine! Seeing it in action through the port hole is sweet, but not as sweet as smelling it afterwards or vaping the nectar of the Gods! I can see why this thread is getting so popular, stay vaked my friends!

Nice @SSVUN~YAH that's good to hear that you had a favorable first experiance. I have some catching up to do in this thread until mine arrives. Should be here in a few days. I am excited to see how this performs to the other portables I have owned/ used.

twigs said:

UPDATE -- Going on 1 month since our first "date":

Thanks to all the good technique tips from FF owners on this forum, I've begun to learn the ropes with my lovely lady. Here's what's working best for me:
• full oven, lightly packed coarse ground herb (2-3 turns in my SpaceCase grinder)
• heat button pressed for 6-7 seconds, draw for ten seconds
• consider the first draw as "throw away" -- I think someone else has already mentioned this
• next two pulls (within 60 seconds of the first) with 5 second pre-heat, 10 second draw, heat off, continue pull for 3 more seconds
= good amount of vapor and thinnish clouds

That's usual enough to get me going for a couple or three hours. (I'm not a heavy user).
I then stir the load a bit, getting things set up for a 2nd session later on.

I like to refresh the oven contents after a 2nd session and re-charge the battery every 2nd or 3rd session.

Still experimenting with various strains and methods of packing, and no longer worried about having a "cool" unit.

Lovin my FF; life is good.

T.

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thats a lot of work for a $269 vaporizer. if the design of the heating system were good, you wouldn't have to stir the herb because it would cook evenly.

akaye47 said:

thats a lot of work for a $269 vaporizer. if the design of the heating system were good, you wouldn't have to stir the herb because it would cook evenly.

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I dont stir mine. I take about 10 hits per load and its vaped evenly 95% of the time

akaye47 said:

thats a lot of work for a $269 vaporizer. if the design of the heating system were good, you wouldn't have to stir the herb because it would cook evenly.

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You are condemning the vast majority of vaporizers with that statement. Many costing more than $269. Stirring is normal with most vapes, especially convection models.

Controlling all aspects of the thermodynamics involved for stir-free convection vaporization is not the work of mere mortals.

For the record, with the Firefly I prefer shaken, not stirred.

akaye47 said:

thats a lot of work for a $269 vaporizer. if the design of the heating system were good, you wouldn't have to stir the herb because it would cook evenly.

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It's not about being good or bad (nothing is)… Conduction based vaporizers usually don't need stirring while convection ones usually need, it's just the way they work with their pros and cons. Can you name a vaporizer that you have in mind with a "good" design? I bet I can find a big list go cons…

natural farmer said:

It's not about being good or bad (nothing is)… Conduction based vaporizers usually don't need stirring while convection ones usually need, it's just the way they work with their pros and cons. Can you name a vaporizer that you have in mind with a "good" design? I bet I can find a big list go cons…

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my arizer solo doesn't need to be stirred or shaken. its convection and it only cost me $130

Stu said:

For the record, with the Firefly I prefer shaken, not stirred.

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By shaken, do you mean giving it a few taps on the side to mix up the herb a bit? That's what I've naturally come to do once I started using the FF. Seems to work well. Tapping/shaking the unit has no known problem-causing effects I assume?

@natural farmer I can speak for the Pax when I say it also enjoys a nice stir periodically.. Between sessions especially. Sure if you don't stir it, it still cooks evenly.. But its still a good way to improve the taste and get the most out of an oven-full.

The concept of a "no-stir" vaporizer doesn't make much valuable sense to me. Stirring just seems like a simple, logical step. If I could've stirred my combustion bowls to make them last longer, I would've. But ashes don't behave quite like that. Fuck combustion.

I believe the closer you move the coil to the ceramic plate on top, the hotter your oven will get. Mine was a bit cool, so I simply adjusted the coil angle slightly so it just grazed the ceramic. Works great now.

Just my 2 cents...

akaye47 said:

my arizer solo doesn't need to be stirred or shaken. its convection and it only cost me $130

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I could go on a HUGE list of reasons why that vape is on the top of my list of least favorite portables...

BUT to stay on topic I'll throw some things out there that the firefly does FAR better.

1) Tastes good
2) Safer design
3) Better customer support
4) External hotswapable batteries
5) Cool vapor...WITHOUT needing water
6) Pocket friendly, no glass shards in your pocket...whoops!
7) Stealthier in usage
8) Visually far more appealing
9) Can take single hits whenever you want. 1 minute bowl is easily possible vs 11 minute arizer sessions.
10) 0 second warm up time, heat on demand no waiting.
11) TASTES GOOD

I mean if one person can declare a vape "no good" based on their opinion, there are NO good vapes out there period. There is no vape that is universally loved. The firefly is the overall best portable I've ever used personally. There are many others who feel that way.

For the record I've never stirred my firefly once. I either shake it gently once, or if I placed a full nug in the chamber for the first hit, I'll open it crush that in my hand and sprinkle it back in. Its not efficient to throw in a solid nug, but it tastes so good that I do it for the first hit a lot of the time. Then I crush it up to make it have more surface area and vape better for the remaining hits.

akaye47 said:

my arizer solo doesn't need to be stirred or shaken. its convection and it only cost me $130

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The Solo isn't really convection. It's by and large a conduction vape....material cooks in the stem as it sits in an "oven". The Solo is great...but comparing it favorably to the FF (on the sole criterion of "stirring") which has way better flavor, true convection, and a completely different build design, is a little silly.

Plus, for some of us, stirring is half the fun.

Well, I got some clouds last night. I pre-heated for a couple of seconds, released for a tick, then waited for the glow before a long, slow inhale. Visible clouds.

Unfortunately, my last hit tasted like popcorn and burned my lungs and throat. Funny thing is, there wasn't any black on the ABV. Just real brown. I guess some people might consider it a feature, as it surely used up the bud.

akaye47 said:

thats a lot of work for a $269 vaporizer. if the design of the heating system were good, you wouldn't have to stir the herb because it would cook evenly.

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It's not that much work, compared to what I've read about the Pax, e.g. Or changing out screens often, or adding spacers, etc.

mitchgo61 said:

....material cooks in the stem as it sits in an "oven".

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Any vape where your herb is deposited in a bowl/stem that you connect to the vape, will be officially considered convection by FC, should such a definition/division ever be required for any future forum setup. Since you can mate the stem/herb to the heat, take a quick hit, then immeditately remove the stem, that process would be convection. If you let the loaded stem sit in the vape, some conduction will occur, but since that's avoidable, it's a convection design as far as FC is concerned.

Enough on the Solo. This is the Firefly thread.