MiniVAP Vaporizer

Delta3DStudios

Well-Known Member
Accessory Maker
Seems to me that you are missing a seal on the top illustration. I am pretty sure the lid itself will not seal on the miniVap body.


Which seal are you talking about? The Flexcone? My part will slide over the black cover, not replace it
 
Delta3DStudios,

Smknbud

Well-Known Member
Hey all!

Just wanted to share with you some exciting news! A fellow member of this site was kind enough to lend me some MiniVAP parts so I can create a custom Silicone WaterPipe Adapter!

The parts have been measured and I'll be printing the first casting mold later today. The part is designed to cover the top of the MiniVAP

Here is the 14mm WPA version (1/4 cutout to see the inside)
jUz2MM6.png


And here's what the molds will look like (1/4 cutout again to see how the mold looks inside)
6HtrJOx.png


If all goes well, this part should be available sometime VERY soon (one or two weeks from now)
Count me in. If you designed a cooling chamber as part of the design I guarantee no one would be disappointed at all. :tup:
 
Smknbud,

lazylathe

Almost there...
That's fucked up! Every time I have them send me something from Spain they send it on Friday and it gets here on Monday.

My replacement is coming direct from Vapor Nation again.
Just hope they said it was a warranty replacement because if I have to pay duties again I am going to be pissed but so happy to have my MV back again!
 
lazylathe,

Sid

Member
They're supposed to be releasing a new version this week, I have to say, I'm not impressed with their customer service, I've got one on order and I've sent 3 emails which they've not replied to, I've also tried ringing a couple of times, once I had the phone slammed down on me and they've not answered since! Pretty worrying when they have nearly 500 Euro's of my money!

I'd settle for an answer to one of my emails asking when they're going to send it, I can't believe how bad their service is, I'm wondering whether I should be contacting the credit card company to apply for a refund?

Just to update this, I received an email today from MiniVap, my vape will be posted tomorrow and should be with me on Friday, really pleased and can't wait to try it :D
 

kimura

Well-Known Member
kimura said:
I'm seeing less value in water filtration these days

I may have spoken too soon. After a great weekend of seeing old friends and using the miniVAP fairly heavily, direct draw style with no water, I am again appreciating the value of water.

also, I can confirm that you don't need to use the lid to get good vapor on the first hit.

apparently, after a few months, I'm still learning how to use the miniVAP
 

lazylightning

It's an obsession but it's pleasin'
I ordered my black MiniVAP direct from Hermes Medical during the black friday sale. The day after I ordered, I was reading on FC about the issues some had experienced with the black color (mis-matched core and battery). I sent an email to Hermes asking them to change my order to the silver color if the black ones were mis-matched.

I heard back from Alfredo at Hermes a couple days later on December 1, first with shipping notification and then with an email saying they had changed the unit to silver. I’m not sure if there were problems with the black model or if there was just a miscommunication, but I was okay with silver.

Just 3 days later, the MiniVAP was delivered. Only problem is that it was delivered to my business address after I’d taken care to specify a different home shipping address in the space provided. This could have been bad since it says vaporizer on the package, but the only thing it did in my case was delay my receipt of the MiniVAP by a few days.

As soon as I retrieved the package, I charged up the silver MiniVAP and started testing on blue. I immediately got huge choking clouds! But wait, I was expecting tasty blue vapor. I cycled through the different settings and tried to reset by taking battery off, but nothing changed. I tried red, thinking maybe the colors got reversed or something but that was even hotter. As effective as the blue setting is, I need a vaporizer capable of the lower settings I was expecting based on the FC forum feedback. The blue was okay, but none of the other settings would be usable for me.

After putting the lid on a half dozen times, the top aluminum part game unglued from the bottom plastic part. There were 2 small dabs of glue that had loosened. I contacted Hermes and asked for another lid. Alfredo replied a couple days later and said they wanted to make me a better proposition. He said they would send a double-sided sticker to stick between the lid pieces as well as my choice of accessories. I responded right away and asked for some more flexicones. I also told Alfredo about the high temps of my unit and asked if he could help me solve the problem.

Not long after, I received a black MiniVAP in the mail! The package looked like it had been savaged at customs and the little plastic clamshell cases the accessories should have been packed in were open, while the accessories were all over the bag. I had asked Alfredo for some flexicones to replace the flexicones+ he’d sent in the first package and I did get a package of those. The other ones may have made a jailbreak through the small hole in the bag after escaping their plastic clamshell case.

I was pretty excited to have a replacement MiniVAP in my hands so quickly and I tried it out as soon as I verified that the battery showed charged on the charger. This unit was a lot cooler at the low settings and I finally understood why so many FCers love it!

I ran down the battery in a long afternoon of industrious “testing” and tried placing it on the charger over and over but couldn’t get the light to turn red as it had with my silver unit. I finally just put the battery on the charger and left the light green. 5 hours later and the battery wasn’t charged at all. I tried both chargers on multiple outlets and it became clear that the new black battery wasn’t going to charge.

I wrote to Alfredo again and filled him in on the black unit and the battery not charging. I heard back a couple days later and he said they were a little bit busy and he hoped to answer me over the weekend. That was 5 days ago and I haven’t heard anything since. All I need now is a black battery.

So right now I’m operating with a black “core” unit and a silver battery until further notice. The combo works great, though it looks a little funky. I’m not too upset by the experience, though I’ve invested a good deal of time into it. Alfredo has been friendly and helpful, but they don’t seem to have their customer service figured out and I find the whole experience a little “hit or miss” for such a pricey unit.

Out of two brand new units, I’ve had one bad core, one bad battery, and one bad lid…so far. Maybe it’s just really bad luck? Maybe it’s punishment being visited on me by the vape gods for recent excessive VAS/GAS indulgence?

It would be hard for me to recommend the MiniVAP to a new medical patient who could only afford one serious vaporizer. I wouldn’t want them to spend a month or so getting their vaporizer sorted while they were in pain and needing their medicine. A vape like Herbie seems a lot more reliable and foolproof as an “only vape”. As more of a “hobby” vape that is part of my collection, The MIniVAP is certainly a unique and powerful little tool that I look forward to getting fully dialed in!
 

Sid

Member
That sounds like a bit of a nightmare, it's an expensive vape so I agree that the customer service could/should be top notch. I'm supposed to be receiving mine tomorrow so I'm torn between being excited and nervous that it won't perform properly, time will tell!

One thing though laxylightning, Alfredo is ill and has been for the past 4-5 days, I was in contact with him but it all went silent, I heard from another employee yesterday explaining that Alfredo had been ill in bed for days, hence the radio silence!
 

lazylightning

It's an obsession but it's pleasin'
Alfredo is ill and has been for the past 4-5 days, I was in contact with him but it all went silent, I heard from another employee yesterday explaining that Alfredo had been ill in bed for days, hence the radio silence!

That explains a lot. He's always responded in 2-3 days before. I hope he starts feeling better soon. It must be stressful processing holiday orders, especially with troubleshooting cases like mine cropping up here and there.

Hope yours works perfectly outta the box @Sid. Let us know what you think!
 
lazylightning,

Kommyknocker

Well-Known Member
After putting the lid on a half dozen times, the top aluminum part game unglued from the bottom plastic part. There were 2 small dabs of glue that had loosened. I contacted Hermes and asked for another lid. Alfredo replied a couple days later and said they wanted to make me a better proposition. He said they would send a double-sided sticker to stick between the lid pieces as well as my choice of accessories.

It would be hard for me to recommend the MiniVAP to a new medical patient who could only afford one serious vaporizer. I wouldn’t want them to spend a month or so getting their vaporizer sorted while they were in pain and needing their medicine. A vape like Herbie seems a lot more reliable and foolproof as an “only vape”. As more of a “hobby” vape that is part of my collection, The MIniVAP is certainly a unique and powerful little tool that I look forward to getting fully dialed in!
I'm not a medical patient but could fully appreciate this stance..
And I could use one of those lid stickers.. Broke mine whilst tinkering with the Hermes glass adaptor.
 

JJ Cool F

Well-Known Member
For a product in the 'premium' price range, Hermes' quality control seems pretty sketchy.

Maybe I'm being harsh on them, but the Minivap isn't new anymore. It's now years-old tech, several software revisions deep.

I wonder how many units per month Hermes are shifting, and what the return rate is for malfunctioning units.
 

Kommyknocker

Well-Known Member
It is better than new, it's constantly refined and updated. It does comes at a cost but I hope reliability is going to get better and better.
I'm Ok with how they run the company I must say.. If a product can be updated frequently then I'd rather the newest customers benefit from changes made, rather than waiting a long time for a fully revised model.. Ala the Arizer Air.

Doesn't hurt I live really close to the HQ that any warranty issue is dealt with very quickly indeed, with a very short turn around.
 

bigmouth

Well-Known Member
I heard back from Alfredo at Hermes a couple days later on December 1, first with shipping notification and then with an email saying they had changed the unit to silver. I’m not sure if there were problems with the black model or if there was just a miscommunication, but I was okay with silver.
Pretty sure they have been having some problems with the black model. Aside from the issues reported on this thread, the Vapor Nation folks told me earlier this month they were expecting a shipment of black units but received only silver.

Anyway, bummer to hear about your difficulties lazylightning...
 

MinnBobber

Well-Known Member
In the cheap glass thread, jivebuggered was looking for a Mobius Ion clone for his miniVAP.
Both the Mobius and Chinese clones are 18 mm female joints. The mV flexicone "wire basket module" seems to sit a hair too low in my 18 mm Mobius piece--doesn't quite seal, like 1/64" apart.

One can get a 18 - 14 glass reducer of course. I continue to discover new combinations of pieces.
If you want to use stock pieces for an 18 mm bubbler----there is a way!

Starting at the 18 mm bubbler joint, the flexicone plus silicone basket fits in the 18 joint just snug enough to work. The flexicone whip can then be mated to the hard mouthpiece (firmer attachment) or to the exiting flexicone nipple and .... voila.... water with the stock pieces.

miniVAP = most versatile vape out there
 

Kommyknocker

Well-Known Member
I also can use my Black leaf Smoke shower with the flexicone straight onto the 18mm joint. The unlidded MV cores soft part on top actually kinda snuggly envelopes the joint.. Having said that, I like having my reclaim lattes that comes from using some form of adapter that let's reclaim gather before entering the WT.

This WT is superb for its price with a showerhead perc made by Toro Glass.
Can still be picked up on the German blackleaf site.. There's actually a lot of good quality glass on there fairly cheap.

http://www.blackleaf.de/index.php/black-leaf-smoke-shower-4.html
 
Last edited:
Kommyknocker,
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sweetherb

Well-Known Member
For a product in the 'premium' price range, Hermes' quality control seems pretty sketchy.

Maybe I'm being harsh on them, but the Minivap isn't new anymore. It's now years-old tech, several software revisions deep.

I agree 100%. I was also thinking of investing in one of these, but I have lost confidence with all the issues, the bad batch of black units and stories regarding a total lack of customer service. If we were talking about $150, I would dive right in, but at this price point the issues really should have been ironed out long ago.
 

Kommyknocker

Well-Known Member
I agree 100%. I was also thinking of investing in one of these, but I have lost confidence with all the issues, the bad batch of black units and stories regarding a total lack of customer service. If we were talking about $150, I would dive right in, but at this price point the issues really should have been ironed out long ago.

Still, you're missing out. Each to their own though.. Different strokes for different folks.
 
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