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Ascent Vaporizer by DaVinci

poonman

Well-Known Member
But when MD purchases 100 Ascents from DV ,
and DV is aware of this sale of 100 units to MD .
Doesn't this make DV's acknowledgement of this sale to a third party vendor ? Therefore , is required to warranty processes . idk

I would think DV will keep track of all 100 units shipped to MD ,
whether thru serial #'s or receipts . And that they Should honor the products' warranties that they manufacture .

But from what I've read so far , if there are issues .
You have to pay for shipping costs ! And I don't think MD will cover that fee for you .

I have not dealt with MD ...yet .
But would like to think of them as an Online Big Box vendor ,
that will honor warranties .
 

OF

Well-Known Member
Hahah shittttt, @OF i always barely understand your posts. I get the main point and most of the in depth shit goes right over my head..

Not to worry, that's gonna happen. Part of the process. The goal here is, I think, informed buyers? That depends on at least enough information available to base that on. How much each needs from that pool, and their ability to understand it in the way presented are details. And details count.

I'm quite sure when you add up those members who don't understand and those who don't care there are very few left.....but those are the guys I'm addressing?

Ignore it, or read it in the hopes of some humor content?

DaVinci only honors the warranties from the places they have listed on their website page. Buyer beware!

Kinda sums it up for me. To save ten bucks over the 'legit' deal above, I'm with the Q man. Buy the insurance, it's less than half a gram of bud for heaven's sake!

But when MD purchases 100 Ascents from DV ,
and DV is aware of this sale of 100 units to MD .
Doesn't this make DV's acknowledgement of this sale to a third party vendor ? Therefore , is required to warranty processes . idk

Well, I actually do know how this works. Or did know 20 plus years ago, here in California (where it matters in this case). I'm confident contract law still works the same way.

Our company sold through dealers. The contracts included Dealer responsibility for 'front line' service, we provided a "Service Depot" in California to do component level repairs (basically free if shipped to us, much like ThermoVape does). No charge within 2 years, no labor after, $1 each for parts after that. Outside damage not covered. The costs for service are real, our Dealers all factored it in.

A rogue guy got some products from a bankruptcy, including some defective products from other sources we suspect he traded good ones to get. He offered them (pre EBay) at discounts (under MSRP, even wholesale Dealer in a couple of cases) and stuck others (including us) with the warranty (including it seemed selling broken stuff as new then telling the customer to 'send it in' (to us)). We honored it anyway, our Dealers came unglued and the Lawyer told us to cut it out. The Lawyer pointed out we were breaking our contract with the Dealers and offering a rogue better treatment. And costing them sales.

Not saying that's what's up here, of course, but I've seen first hand how this stuff plays out when push comes to shove. There are contracts behind this stuff, and contracts carry duties that are enforceable. The contracts that matter are not always where you expect them.

OF
 
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nigel

And shepherds we shall be,for Accuracy & Discovery
Big news. The Ascent is on massdrop for 190 if it reached 30 buyers. When adding shipping but not factoring in tax, this is 10 less than the Vapornation + fc16 discount.

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/ascent-vaporizer


Correct me if I am wrong, but is the way that MD works:

1. A member suggests an item (poll perhaps?)
2. MassDrop is generated
3. Names are accumulated as *potential* buyers
4. If enough interest is gathered, then MD tries to initiate the deal.

I don't think they have to have an agreement in place to make the offer, nor does having enough people in place guarantee the offer.

IIRC, people have put MDs together, got enough people, but then the deal never went through as the manufacture never agreed to it in the first place.

(Or am I confusing MassDrop with another site??? I could be wrong here. Not feeling well and my memory might not be in good form.)


I think at best what they do is something rather like a petition, where if they get enough signatures, they will then try to push the deal??
 

poonman

Well-Known Member
Yes , Md starts a poll to see if enough people are interested .
Once they get the appropriate count of interested buyers .
Then they present the deal to the manufacturer , I'm on a few polls currently .

But they still have to deal with DV to purchase them .
100 units equates to aprox. $ 25,000 sales . I would think DV would have a personal interest in keeping this as an avenue of
profits . And maybe ... making MD as an authorized site also .
 

OF

Well-Known Member
Then they present the deal to the manufacturer , I'm on a few polls currently .

But they still have to deal with DV to purchase them .

So nobody really knows what the final deal will be then?

Nobody can say for certain at this point past some 'if they won't give us XXX warranty we won't buy' (which they don't ever do as I understand the procedure outlined above).

As the saying goes, "it's all on the come"???

If it were me, that's a detail I'd want to know before laying my money down. To do otherwise invites Murphy to deal you a lame unit........

We have great sponsors that support this Forum, perhaps this is a good time to throw a little business their way? "Vote with your wallet" as it were. Then again, it's your money, you earned it and should have the benefit of spending as you see fit.

Good luck to all, no matter where you buy your Ascent, or how much you pay.

OF
 

linux3214

Well-Known Member
Another thing to consider is the horrendous wait for some products to ship. Comments on grinders and the Arizer Extreme show waits can be as long as 3-5 weeks. Because of the tentative wait, I'd personally go with vapornation since they also include a bunch of accessories such as a grinder and vacuum jar.

How does this compare to the pax? Sorry if this has been asked before, 220+ pages is a bit daunting.
 
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Delta3DStudios

Well-Known Member
Accessory Maker
Another thing to consider is the horrendous wait for some products to ship. Comments on grinders and the Arizer Extreme show waits can be as long as 3-5 weeks. Because of the tentative wait, I'd personally go with vapornation since they also include a bunch of accessories such as a grinder and vacuum jar.

How does this compare to the pax? Sorry if this has been asked before, 220+ pages is a bit daunting.

Order direct from DV and they ship within 24 hours (from my past 2 orders)....

TL/DR to your question - Pax for stealth, Ascent for taste
 
Delta3DStudios,

nigel

And shepherds we shall be,for Accuracy & Discovery
But when MD purchases 100 Ascents from DV ,

But they still have to deal with DV to purchase them .

Who says that the units come from DV? They could just as well come from a distributor or shop, which may or may not be in lines with their agreement. (Grey market) [EDIT: I don't know enough about MD to know if they exclusively deal with the manufacture or not. But this could pertain to any of the copy-cat sites out there.]

A (SLIGHTLY) RELATED EXAPLE: There always are issues with things like non-individuals (read: wholesale) selling on eBay in violation of terms. Every manufacturer has to deal with this. Usually when the party is discovered, they are cut off entirely, but it takes A) either buying back units directly from ebay and tracing the serial number back, or B) having someone buy an unit, have it go bad, then get the serial # and trace that.


100 units equates to aprox. $ 25,000 sales.

Not correct.

I would think DV would have a personal interest in keeping this as an avenue of
profits .

Nope again. DV (any manufacturer) has an interest in keeping their existing AGREED avenues of profit open and happy.

Any company puts a lot of thought into how they are going to have their product distributed in a market. There are plans and strategy that go into this. The approach is *NOT8 "throw a 1,000 products into the air and everyone will buy them." To presume so is to not understand this process.

EXAMPLE CONTINUED: The ebay example above (grey market) is bad because that hurts not only partnered online resellers but it also hurts the "footmen" in the sales army: the LHS. The LHS serve a vital purpose in providing service not only to those who do not want to conduct business online (nor want a credit card record, nor USPS shipments), the casual "window-shopper" (ie, in for, say, a new bubbler and say "Oh, what is that?"), and then the shopper that just wants to see something real in their hands before they buy.

The non-indivudual ebay seller (again, NOT someone selling a personal unit, but someone selling a new unit purchased at wholesale) will undercut as many of the legitimate channels as possible, whilst still maintaining a profit. The legit on-line reseller probably won't be hurt too much by this, but the LHS might take a look at the too many sales being lost to cheap ebay auctions and decide it's not worth to cost to stock the unit anymore, thereby negatively affecting a lot of potential future sales.


That is just one example.

I know the inclination is to think that "Every sale is a good sale" but that honestly is a very short sighted understanding of the strategy that is intended to get a maximum of sales out, whilst maintaing product integrity and some manner of profit for all of the partners involved.


BONUS: Not saying that DV is this way (I don't know one way or the other), but I can think of a few other companies that wouldn't ever engage in something like an MD or the like as that just "sullies the brand." The higher end brands maintain a certain cache to them, and anything that cheapens the brand will negatively effect it, and that is undesirable.
 
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linux3214

Well-Known Member
How strongly does it smell in use and as an everyday carry? Is it big and heavy enough to unbalance and form a bulge in a suit jacket? Is it wasteful with herb? Can it take a few knocks and tumbles: scratches, unit failures, grass breakage? Is it a sharable party vape? Does the unit get unbearably hot? Lastly, could the ascent be safely used in the rain?
 
linux3214,

BLaKSmith

Member
How strongly does it smell in use and as an everyday carry? Is it big and heavy enough to unbalance and form a bulge in a suit jacket? Is it wasteful with herb? Can it take a few knocks and tumbles: scratches, unit failures, grass breakage? Is it a sharable party vape? Does the unit get unbearably hot? Lastly, could the ascent be safely used in the rain?
I think it would fit nicely in most pockets, mine didn't last anything, I would not recommend this for more than 1 maybe 2 people.
 
BLaKSmith,
  • Like
Reactions: linux3214

phazedout

New Member
ascent or solo? i mainly vape in the car mainly after the one with the best battery?
see that the ascent has the best taste but is it really an efficient vape? honestly dont know what to get!
 
phazedout,

poonman

Well-Known Member
Speaking of the DV ( devil ) ,
I got this in my e-mail after returning from lunch ...
They're watching me !!!
G29reyv.png


They seem to deal with Brand Name products , but directly from Manufacturer , idk . I was interested with their Simba and Roor Glass bubblers/recyclers drop . They were legit iirc .

But with only 30 Ascents up for potential sale . They can def.
purchase thru a distributor instead of DV . So I guess we just need to know, if the distributor will be authorized .

I will have to hear more info about MD too, before committing any money to them .
 

OF

Well-Known Member
Nope again. DV (any manufacturer) has an interest in keeping their existing AGREED avenues of profit open and happy.

Any company puts a lot of thought into how they are going to have their product distributed in a market. There are plans and strategy that go into this. The approach is *NOT8 "throw a 1,000 products into the air and everyone will buy them." To presume so is to not understand this process.

Excellent point, and well put.

DV is (hopefully) planning to stay in business. They need Dealers to make that happen, and have worked hard to get that in place. It would be shortsighted indeed for them to undermine the Dealers for a quick profit. After all, they make the unit a customer will buy no matter how it's distributed so there's really no profit in a fast deal with MD and a downside if it pisses their old partners (Dealers) off. Legal obligations aside.

I hadn't considered the LHS angle, they need support too.

Thanks for the perspective, Nigel, kinda conflicts with that 'he's just another pretty face' thing.......

Speaking of the DV ( devil ) ,
I got this in my e-mail after returning from lunch ...
They're watching me !!!

Maybe it's just spam?

If, however, there's a flyer under your windshield wiper when it comes time to go home you should consider taking the bus home, clearing out your bank account and moving to Cleveland under an assumed name.

Pick a good one, "Poonman" doesn't seem to be working well enough........

OF
 

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
Another thing to consider is the horrendous wait for some products to ship. Comments on grinders and the Arizer Extreme show waits can be as long as 3-5 weeks. Because of the tentative wait, I'd personally go with vapornation since they also include a bunch of accessories such as a grinder and vacuum jar.

How does this compare to the pax? Sorry if this has been asked before, 220+ pages is a bit daunting.
The Ascent has superior flavor over the Pax IMO I used the Pax only once, it uses a lot of herb I know that much. I thought the flavor was very harsh.

If I were to buy another Ascent I would for sure find out if they were an authorized dealer. I wouldn't risk it, don't want to lose money. Go with Davinci if you live in the US.
 

Delta3DStudios

Well-Known Member
Accessory Maker
Hey all

I wanted to share a new design I've been working on for the Ascent - a wall hanger/charging dock for the Ascent!

Unfortunately my first test print is way too large, need to rebuild once I get the dimensions refined, but it was still a good 'first print' (sometimes it's hard to imagine these objects IRL until you actually print one)
GF8qmKX.png
 

BLaKSmith

Member
Hey all

I wanted to share a new design I've been working on for the Ascent - a wall hanger/charging dock for the Ascent!

Unfortunately my first test print is way too large, need to rebuild once I get the dimensions refined, but it was still a good 'first print' (sometimes it's hard to imagine these objects IRL until you actually print one)
GF8qmKX.png

Could you make a clip to mount the mount on so it could be used as a portable stand as well?
 
BLaKSmith,

°k

The sound of vapor
The Ascent has superior flavor over the Pax IMO I used the Pax only once, it uses a lot of herb I know that much. I thought the flavor was very harsh.

If I were to buy another Ascent I would for sure find out if they were an authorized dealer. I wouldn't risk it, don't want to lose money. Go with Davinci if you live in the US.
Go with Da Vinci even if you don't live in the US I'd say (unless you got an authorized dealer in your country), I live in the UK at the moment and had to ship my first unit back for replacement. It costed me about £15/18€/$25 and took around 10 days and Da Vinci made up for it with extra glass pieces (I've asked for those as a compensation since the unit was under warranty) and DV's CS delivered :tup:.

By the way @Davinci_vaporizer : is there any news about the spacer/sombrero, I have to use glass flowers in mine (much improved results with small loads) and I'd love to get something designed especially for the Ascent to get even better results.
 
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KeroZen

Chronic vapaholic
Ok I was overwhelmed by work lately so I kept postponing my post again and again until today. I'm kinda OCD so I took note of everything that needed to be adressed, as well as the list of pending issues. So I apologize in advance, it will be long once again.

@nigel to the rescue!

When I wrote my initial review (post #4491 on page 200, for reference) @Davinci_vaporizer was still posting here so I had hopes we could get some answers or clarifications about the pending issues. Unfortunately we haven't seen them for a long time...

The good news is, our fellow @nigel happens to be in (close) touch with them, and will be able to forward our concerns and suggestions! So in this post, I'm going to do a recap of the known problems, to gather them all in a single place. And hopefully it will prove helpful to the new users and those catching the thread on.

[ISSUE-001] Packaging smells
[ISSUE-002] Silicone curing


- Noticed by all new users, with no exception. Makes people uneasy, bad first impression.

Suggestion: While reading the Vapir thread, I wrote down the following sentence: "(they) added Silica Dessicant/Odor Absorbers to new boxes to get rid of potential factory smells" - cheap fix worth considering maybe? Or do more factory burn-ins, some competitors do 48h.

[ISSUE-003] Scratched LCD

- Minor really, but still not resolved completely in my 2AE1 (I'm listing it for the sake of completeness but I really don't care about it)

[ISSUE-004] Temperature display bug

- Contrary to what some people thought, the bug doesn't seem to be linked to long sessions at all. In my unit, there are some temperatures that can be set but not displayed. 205C is one of them. If I select it when I'm at 195C, the bowl temperature will rise (i.e. I get more vapor) but the display will stick to the previous temp. If I select 206C, no problem. This is just a display issue but the device works as expected.

[ISSUE-005] Wires desoldering or breaking with old hinges

- This is a very serious issue affecting all old units. If your serial number starts with 1Axx you are likely to be affected. Most recent 2Axx's should be immune but there is no certitude as I think some early 2Axx's were sold before the hinge was fixed. 1Axx's on the other hand are *all* potentially affected. Some will work flawlessly but the others will experience either the "don't heat up anymore" problem or the "don't charge up anymore" one at some point.

- The problem is due to physical wear and tear on the electrical wires passing through the hinge. To limit the odds of getting the problem (and the trouble of RMA'ing your device) never ever open the bottom part more than 90° (i.e a quarter turn) Opening an entire half turn will twist the wires more, this is Physics 101.

I'm really pleased to introduce my redesigned "mini loading stand".

I loved your loading stand picture, but at the same time I thought you were doing precisely what I'm advising against: a full 180° twist... and bingo, about less than a month later if I'm correct, your 1AA1 Ascent died!

[ISSUE-006] Flowers, sombrero, the rising puck (aka poor vapor production)

- I did a lot of research these last months (OCD-style I told you!!!), refining my technic and getting to know the Ascent better. I must say I still have a love/hate relationship with it, because when it works well it's incredible, but some times this device can be a real bitch and it is completely disappointing!

Unfortunately my research notes are at the office so I will post my findings in a later post. But in short: my device doesn't need any flowers to work properly, but there's definitely a steep learning curve and all vapor production problems reported are, I'm now confident, entirely due to "user error".

[ISSUE-007] Batteries catching fire

- I'm shocked that nobody seemed to care! Are you guys just a bunch of stoners or what?! This is bloody serious and I demand an official statement from @Davinci_vaporizer to clarify this issue. Companies lost a lot of money in the past for similar cases, you know?

The first a model 1AU died after 8 weeks when the display stopped working and did not turn on/ heat up (..) The second one a model 2AU has nearly combusted (...) I noticed a smell in the room and found the Ascent was just about on fire

- What if it happens to you while you are away? Will you insurance cover your loss if they are able to determine that your house burned down to flames due to a faulty device used to consume illegal substances? I don't think so. And even if they did, would your insurance buy you back all your personal stuff, your memories, all those unique items you gathered? I don't think so.

- Ok so maye it was a one-time event, but I urge DaVinci to tell us exactly what type of batteries they are using (brand, capacity and chemistry) Also as there are two batteries and if they are not NiCd, then they must implement a balance charge mechanism and monitor the voltage per cell (vs the total voltage) otherwise the unbalance will create over-load and over-discharge conditions. We need the insurance that these mechanisms are properly implemented.

In post #5098 someone gave the link to the battery institute site but we need to know what chemistry we are dealing with here. The common consensus is that they are LiIon but do we have any proof of that? I based my usage (charge/discharge) patterns on this asumption and try to stop using the device as soon as the last battery bar disappears (there are 4+1 bars on the indicator, so the last one corresponds in theory to the last 20% that you should never deplete)

[ISSUE-008] Glass-on-Gap-on-Glass, too much air

- I should have made this the number 1, because tests have shown that reading attention tends to plummet after the 6th item in any list.. But this is the most serious issue to me, and I'm not the only one to complain, there are many older posts but recently we had:

I have found that you can pack too tightly and end up sucking air in thru the buttons instead of thru the bowl. A major design flaw IMO. That air-path should be sealed up.

- I suspect also that this one is linked (sorry to hear that @Tony Hemp) because he had a flawlessly working device like mine, he had the technic right, then he received his new device and couln't make it work properly:

My stealth ascent was amazing it produces great vapors bs I never used the jar or screens once. Just a pack down real right with my finger or a pen. I just can't seem to get a good run out of this ascent (...) Sorry if I sound pessimistic, but it's a huge let down.

- Then there is post that sounds surprisingly similar to my last finding:

Just recently noticed a ring inside the air tube that slows the stem from going up and down maybe 3/4 of the way in. Is that normal?

- So to sum up the problem here is what we know:
A) there were initial air-leaks problems, and they led to the design of the new silicone bowl seal
B) in some very early device batches, electrical wires could be seen through the "air chamber" (aka the tunnel)
C) many people reported being able to blow air through the LCD and surrounding buttons
D) as I said in my initial review, but someone else expressed it better recently, matching your glass straws pair (ie select them with closest diameters) improves draw
E) as many people confirmed, using the GonG adapter tool improves draw
F) someone reported that his draw was fine then some day he had too much air (can't find the post back)

- Ok so this leads us to my last finding and what I assume @Bezerkben hinted: we know that the potential culprit is the spot where the two silicone pieces that make the air chamber/tunnel up meet together. Now this is all speculations, and I don't understand why DaVinci just don't issue a clear statement. They have one sentence to say: "No, there is absolutely no possibility that air can flow between the two silicone pieces" (ie from the electronic circuits and batteries area) But what I found the other day when switching my glass stem with the other one in the kit is that with the slightly larger stem, I can feel it "pop" and resist against the "ring" where the two silicone pieces meet! 3/4 down the way when pushing the stem, I can feel a resistance, and it's pushing/pulling the silicone pieces.

...could it be the source of the problem? Can it widen the gap? Please DaVinci, just tell us there is no gap, that there is cylinder of some kind behind the silicone... please tell us we are not fucking vaping air coming from the circuit boards and batteries area!

AND BEFORE YOU GUYZ START BUGGING ME WITH YOUR LEAST RESISTANCE PATH REMARKS, I STOP YOU AND SAY THAT I DON'T BUY THIS SHIT! This is not what I'm seeing after extensive use of this device. I can see oil (reclaim) all over the supposedly least resistant paths. I can see oil on the exterior of the bottom glass straw (between the straw and silicone), I can see oil leaking all around the new silicone bowl seal (which btw is pretty much destroyed already due to too much friction, this is what happens when you add quick afterthought fixes!)
 

JCat

Well-Known Member
Accessory Maker
[ISSUE-008] Glass-on-Gap-on-Glass, too much air
The issue here is the top silicone seal. It does not extend into the tube but is basically flat ... so if your two glass straws aren't a really good match (and are "leaky"), then air can be drawn from the top which has access into the electronics and batteries. This issue is currently resolved by well matching glass straws or by using the GonG stem as it is longer and you can seat it at the bottom of the other glass straw creating a seal (you can test the seal between your straws by covering the glass screen and trying at various levels of extension when not in the Ascent)
 

Bezerkben

Well-Known Member
I think it would fit nicely in most pockets, mine didn't last anything, I would not recommend this for more than 1 maybe 2 people.
it has a strong order but if you keep it tucked away in a pocket no one will smell it or will notice it. will most defiantly fit in a suit jacket pocket. for me the ascent bowl is too large for just me. i find if i vake by my self 1 bowl will last me 2 sessions. if I'm with 1 other person 1 full bowl is the perfect amount for me.. it defiantly conserves herb, i find it will produce vapor and keep hitting even tho the herb has been fully roasted. i don't find it gets too hot even at 430 for 2 sessions. it does get uncomfortably hot but not something to be concerned about. i have vaked in light toronto rain but i its pouring i wouldn't recommend it just because it has electronics.. right?

ascent or solo? i mainly vape in the car mainly after the one with the best battery?
see that the ascent has the best taste but is it really an efficient vape? honestly dont know what to get!


if i had to choose id say the solo.. i find for the price its unbeatable.. it simply is a power house, multiple accessories, great battery life and no learning cure. you can pick it up turn it on a vape... it uses less herb then the ascent and doesn't require any fine tuning. with the solo you can pull hard, slow, lightly pack the bowl, tightly pack the bow and by the end of it all you'll be nicely vaked.

planet vape is having a sale on the solo.. all the more reason to get it..IMO..

let us know what you decide
 

CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
KeroZen, Hopefully there won't be anymore Ascents catching on fire a serious matter. I have only heard that happening once on FC, but I could be wrong. I try to keep up on the Ascent pages. Sometimes folk don't comment on everything, we're busy. More post are included and sometimes things aren't addressed.
It depends on whose on FC at the time. I am sure people care that an Ascent caught on fire. I think folks would be more concerned if we had heard more findings of this. I sure wouldn't continue to use my unit if I thought it was dangerous.

And no we aren't just a bunch of stoners that don't care. I was so surprised when I would read through the posts 6 months prior to me to me joining FC how compassionate and caring most folks are on this site. I would not have joined if I thought people were a bunch of uncaring stoners.

There are many smart people that have a vary wide array of experience, knowledge and education and they apply some of that here for us to share, I m thankful for that.

Sometimes we find that a unit isn't for us. It's sounds like you have found the Ascent to be an awesome vape. All units aren't perfect. Imagine how great vapes will be in 5 years. This is just the infancy of vaporizers. They will be getting better and better as the years go by. Hopefully most folks will realize what a godsend that vaporizers are and more folks will be converted.

Not all folks are recreational users of herb, some are using this amazing product for various illnesses and it helps them get through their day with less pain, nausea or anxiety and other reasons that I don't even know about.

I read your whole post too.
 
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BLaKSmith

Member
Ok I was overwhelmed by work lately so I kept postponing my post again and again until today. I'm kinda OCD so I took note of everything that needed to be adressed, as well as the list of pending issues. So I apologize in advance, it will be long once again.

@nigel to the rescue!

When I wrote my initial review (post #4491 on page 200, for reference) @Davinci_vaporizer was still posting here so I had hopes we could get some answers or clarifications about the pending issues. Unfortunately we haven't seen them for a long time...

The good news is, our fellow @nigel happens to be in (close) touch with them, and will be able to forward our concerns and suggestions! So in this post, I'm going to do a recap of the known problems, to gather them all in a single place. And hopefully it will prove helpful to the new users and those catching the thread on.

[ISSUE-001] Packaging smells
[ISSUE-002] Silicone curing


- Noticed by all new users, with no exception. Makes people uneasy, bad first impression.

Suggestion: While reading the Vapir thread, I wrote down the following sentence: "(they) added Silica Dessicant/Odor Absorbers to new boxes to get rid of potential factory smells" - cheap fix worth considering maybe? Or do more factory burn-ins, some competitors do 48h.

[ISSUE-003] Scratched LCD

- Minor really, but still not resolved completely in my 2AE1 (I'm listing it for the sake of completeness but I really don't care about it)

[ISSUE-004] Temperature display bug

- Contrary to what some people thought, the bug doesn't seem to be linked to long sessions at all. In my unit, there are some temperatures that can be set but not displayed. 205C is one of them. If I select it when I'm at 195C, the bowl temperature will rise (i.e. I get more vapor) but the display will stick to the previous temp. If I select 206C, no problem. This is just a display issue but the device works as expected.

[ISSUE-005] Wires desoldering or breaking with old hinges

- This is a very serious issue affecting all old units. If your serial number starts with 1Axx you are likely to be affected. Most recent 2Axx's should be immune but there is no certitude as I think some early 2Axx's were sold before the hinge was fixed. 1Axx's on the other hand are *all* potentially affected. Some will work flawlessly but the others will experience either the "don't heat up anymore" problem or the "don't charge up anymore" one at some point.

- The problem is due to physical wear and tear on the electrical wires passing through the hinge. To limit the odds of getting the problem (and the trouble of RMA'ing your device) never ever open the bottom part more than 90° (i.e a quarter turn) Opening an entire half turn will twist the wires more, this is Physics 101.



I loved your loading stand picture, but at the same time I thought you were doing precisely what I'm advising against: a full 180° twist... and bingo, about less than a month later if I'm correct, your 1AA1 Ascent died!

[ISSUE-006] Flowers, sombrero, the rising puck (aka poor vapor production)

- I did a lot of research these last months (OCD-style I told you!!!), refining my technic and getting to know the Ascent better. I must say I still have a love/hate relationship with it, because when it works well it's incredible, but some times this device can be a real bitch and it is completely disappointing!

Unfortunately my research notes are at the office so I will post my findings in a later post. But in short: my device doesn't need any flowers to work properly, but there's definitely a steep learning curve and all vapor production problems reported are, I'm now confident, entirely due to "user error".

[ISSUE-007] Batteries catching fire

- I'm shocked that nobody seemed to care! Are you guys just a bunch of stoners or what?! This is bloody serious and I demand an official statement from @Davinci_vaporizer to clarify this issue. Companies lost a lot of money in the past for similar cases, you know?



- What if it happens to you while you are away? Will you insurance cover your loss if they are able to determine that your house burned down to flames due to a faulty device used to consume illegal substances? I don't think so. And even if they did, would your insurance buy you back all your personal stuff, your memories, all those unique items you gathered? I don't think so.

- Ok so maye it was a one-time event, but I urge DaVinci to tell us exactly what type of batteries they are using (brand, capacity and chemistry) Also as there are two batteries and if they are not NiCd, then they must implement a balance charge mechanism and monitor the voltage per cell (vs the total voltage) otherwise the unbalance will create over-load and over-discharge conditions. We need the insurance that these mechanisms are properly implemented.

In post #5098 someone gave the link to the battery institute site but we need to know what chemistry we are dealing with here. The common consensus is that they are LiIon but do we have any proof of that? I based my usage (charge/discharge) patterns on this asumption and try to stop using the device as soon as the last battery bar disappears (there are 4+1 bars on the indicator, so the last one corresponds in theory to the last 20% that you should never deplete)

[ISSUE-008] Glass-on-Gap-on-Glass, too much air

- I should have made this the number 1, because tests have shown that reading attention tends to plummet after the 6th item in any list.. But this is the most serious issue to me, and I'm not the only one to complain, there are many older posts but recently we had:



- I suspect also that this one is linked (sorry to hear that @Tony Hemp) because he had a flawlessly working device like mine, he had the technic right, then he received his new device and couln't make it work properly:



- Then there is post that sounds surprisingly similar to my last finding:



- So to sum up the problem here is what we know:
A) there were initial air-leaks problems, and they led to the design of the new silicone bowl seal
B) in some very early device batches, electrical wires could be seen through the "air chamber" (aka the tunnel)
C) many people reported being able to blow air through the LCD and surrounding buttons
D) as I said in my initial review, but someone else expressed it better recently, matching your glass straws pair (ie select them with closest diameters) improves draw
E) as many people confirmed, using the GonG adapter tool improves draw
F) someone reported that his draw was fine then some day he had too much air (can't find the post back)

- Ok so this leads us to my last finding and what I assume @Bezerkben hinted: we know that the potential culprit is the spot where the two silicone pieces that make the air chamber/tunnel up meet together. Now this is all speculations, and I don't understand why DaVinci just don't issue a clear statement. They have one sentence to say: "No, there is absolutely no possibility that air can flow between the two silicone pieces" (ie from the electronic circuits and batteries area) But what I found the other day when switching my glass stem with the other one in the kit is that with the slightly larger stem, I can feel it "pop" and resist against the "ring" where the two silicone pieces meet! 3/4 down the way when pushing the stem, I can feel a resistance, and it's pushing/pulling the silicone pieces.

...could it be the source of the problem? Can it widen the gap? Please DaVinci, just tell us there is no gap, that there is cylinder of some kind behind the silicone... please tell us we are not fucking vaping air coming from the circuit boards and batteries area!

AND BEFORE YOU GUYZ START BUGGING ME WITH YOUR LEAST RESISTANCE PATH REMARKS, I STOP YOU AND SAY THAT I DON'T BUY THIS SHIT! This is not what I'm seeing after extensive use of this device. I can see oil (reclaim) all over the supposedly least resistant paths. I can see oil on the exterior of the bottom glass straw (between the straw and silicone), I can see oil leaking all around the new silicone bowl seal (which btw is pretty much destroyed already due to too much friction, this is what happens when you add quick afterthought fixes!)

You say about the burn in times, in my experience if they had given it a 48h burn in then they probably would of lost a lot of their units before being sold and realized the faults. I have mentioned to customer support that someone supposedly had a battery venting issue, they didn't acknowledge the statement.
 
BLaKSmith,
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CarolKing

Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
How strongly does it smell in use and as an everyday carry? Is it big and heavy enough to unbalance and form a bulge in a suit jacket? Is it wasteful with herb? Can it take a few knocks and tumbles: scratches, unit failures, grass breakage? Is it a sharable party vape? Does the unit get unbearably hot? Lastly, could the ascent be safely used in the rain?
The Ascent does give off a smell when the herb starts to heat up. It's about the size of an old fashioned cell phone from the 90s, it's not too big. In my opinion a very beautiful vaporizer. Not wasteful for me with the herb. I use the glass flowers and a bit of organic cotton on top.

The stems for the unit are breakable. Ed has started making wooden stems for the Ascent, I bought a set and I'm really impressed with the craftsmanship. Eds a very talented guy, he makes some amazing pieces. Two people probably could use the Ascent depending on the person, I would use the extra set of glass or mouthpiece. I really like using the gong as a mouthpiece personally.

I'm not sure about using this vape in the rain. You would have to ask Davinici.
I don't know about durability, it bumps around in my bag and seems to hold up OK. This vape is really great when you get a good one without flaws. There seems to be some problem units even now after 8 months since released.
 
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