@TherealVaporblunt ,
@Engineering
Here is my inital review of the Pinnacle Pro DLX package with GonG that I received yesterday.
I'll say this first, we have come a very long way with portable vaporizers in the last few years. I'm extremely excited to see what happens in another few years.
First impressions upon opening the box, this thing is small, well packaged, and a treat to look at. The WT is rather impressive for the cost, and while I could recommend improvements like more slits in the perc, and having the slits not go so high, that would drive the difficulty to make and cost up. Its perfect for this setup.
The bullet holder does exactly what I wanted, and while there is a gap I dont feel a whole lot of smell is going to be given off from the not so perfect seal. Smell proof cases, rubber, whatever you do will not prevent Johnny laws canine from finding it if he wants to, so if u cant smell it, thats all u can ask. Smell proof cases don't protect you from the nose of a canine, I certainly wouldn't bet my freedom on it. I feel that fully packed bullets loaded into the holder may mix if the holder is vigorously shook, but nowhere near enough to justify a complaint on my end.
The unit feels sturdy, I have read the complaints about the plastic casing, seems extremely solid. The GonG adapter, while not giving a "snap" or click into place does fit well. It seems to me that the locking snaps we seek from this unit, would provide me with some reassurance, but in my experience those plastic snaps break. Think of a phone case, those designs are not meant to be taken apart over and over, and inevitably break. The GonG is tight enough to provide resistance from easily falling off, but also loose enough that a slightly dirty GonG will not be stuck and too difficult to remove. The only way I see to improve this casing and mouthpiece and/or GonG attachment would be to build the PnP with a metal case, and have the mouthpiece attach with a small buckle snap. But honestly, that's dreaming. I feel this was designed with a perfect balance of durability and affordability. Id pay more for a metal case, which would provide options for new mouthpiece attachments, but not everyone could. Small companies like this having molded metal cases complex enough to hold this shape would definitely drive up the price.
The PnP is extremely well thought out, the bullets are a great idea. The button is recessed enough that I know accidental presses will not happen. At the highest temp setting it is also not uncomfortable to touch anywhere on the exterior. Simplicity goes a long way, this unit is simple, but incredibly effective.
I want to touch on some of the complaints that almost steered me away from the PnP. First, the plastic PonG issue has been solved with this new GonG, hopefully issues of melted plastic have been eliminated. I will note that after using the PnP on the highest temp setting the plastic on the outside of the glass in the GonG didnt seem hot enough to possibly be damaged by the heat. The second issue, uncomfortably hot vapor, to that I say this, mainly to people like the vapor critic whose review in my opinion is inaccurate, its a heating element, hot enough to vaporize herbs, two inches from your face..... I don't know what people expect? Im not a fan of burning my mouth and throat but I don't see how people would think this thing is gonna be cool as a solo. The draw is incredibly easy, so take slow hits, and I can crank it up to 5 without issue. Im not an iron lung either, I just realize you have to give hot air time to cool before it reaches your mouth and throat. These comments almost lead me to buy a less stealthy solo, something I know I wouldve been dissatisfied with due to portability issues. Its hot, but its supposed to be. I only wish this were a problem back when we couldnt get portables hot enough to effectively use. Next, taste... now I imagine the PonG wasnt as clean tasting, but the GonG, I didnt do a burn off on my unit, I like to play guinea pig. The "plastic taste" wasn't as bad as advertised, similar, not worse, to the taste you get from using fresh tubing on an SSV or most whip style vapes. After an initial run at the highest temp setting, the taste went away. The taste of the vaporized product was everything I could ask from a portable unit, especially considering how evenly browned the entire bullet was. Just like any other vaporizer I've ever used, the lower the temp setting the less dense the clouds, the better the taste, and longer it lasted.... the inverse for higher temp settings... Its not rocket science. Your product will taste like popcorn eventually, yes... but I prefer that over the taste of the last half of a bowl being combusted. We are spoiled by our vapes, I'd rather taste popcorn than a cashed bowl 10 out of 10 times. I will say, and this may ruffle some feathers, the extraction is more efficient than my extreme tower and ssv, as any owner of either would agree that turning the whip, stirring, or dumping abv breaking it up even more and reloading are commonly used to get the most efficient extraction. This headache is eliminated with the PnP. I've had an impressively even toast every time so far.
The battery life review will have to wait, as my concerns are battery life and the ability to replace it, which ive seen done here already. It wouldve been a great modification to be able to swap out 18650s on the fly, and probably wouldnt increase size much. Remember though, you cannot use just any 18650, and an incompatible battery installed could damage the unit, maybe that thought went into the design of the PnP.
The water tool was amazing, I wont say how much you get out of a bullet as thats subjective. Hit volume, speed, and temp controls all affect how long a bullet lasts. If youre somebody that likes several small hits, its capable of this. If you like large clouds, you can cloud chase till your heart's content, just know you'll be replacing bullets more often.
I wasn't able to combust anything on the highest setting, great. And you can definitely get your product that burnt toast brown, and know youve spent the bullet entirely.
As for swapping out hot bullets, I laughed when vape life guy burned himself with the bullet, kinda like the friend who touches the glass whip end of your ssv, hey buddy... thats warm, ever grabbed a baking rack out of a hot oven? scrape your skin off that please, I dont wanna know how that vapes. I wasnt burned by the bullet, once I turned the unit off I took a phew long fast draws to cool the PnP, GonG and bullet, and dropped it right into my hand, I based the temp of the air I pulled on how hot the bullet was, and had no issues. Easy bullet swap. Simplicity equals love.
All in all, if this thing holds up, meaning the heater, battery, and electronics, this is the portable to buy. Its a very easy product to learn and use, and its so simple.
I only used the GonG, have not tried the mouthpiece yet and don't intend to. Also, these are initial impressions, I'm not a fanboy at all, if this thing sucked I'd say so. I just dont want others being turned off by poor reviews. This isn't a final review, but initially the PnP is everything I wanted and more. I couldn't be more satisfied. Now TRVB and Engineering get back here, don't let a few folks drive you away from interacting with your client base. You can't be perfect, customer service and interaction brought you into the realm of top vaporizers, continuing to do so will keep you there.
I'll update you guys as I use it, I plan to use the PnP exclusively for a while, so I'm sure there will be hiccups, but so far so great.
i recent;y got myself my first vape which is a pinnacle pro. Ive been enjoying it lots. One issue i think my vape might have i it takes way too long to heat up. i havent timed it which i will do and post here tonight but it seems to take bout 4 mins to get to level 3 and it cant even get to level 4 before the 8min auto time shuts it down. It seems to even take atleast a couple mins to reach level 1-2 is this normal? what should i do guys? -thanks
, sounds like something is wrong with your PnP.
because this thing has potential to be the best on the market. I've been modelling and designing components on a significantly larger scale for over ten years, little stuff like this is fun. How many of us would've paid twenty bucks extra to have a gong supplied with the pnp? It works great, buy one if you like the potential of the pnp.