MiniVAP Vaporizer

bigmouth said:

That doesn't sound right. Because it's brand new, however, I'm still leaning toward operator error. I gather you're using the unit dry? If so, have you tried loading the chamber directly and just putting an empty basket on top of the load? If you preheat for 7-10 minutes on blurple, then load the unit like I described, you should get large clouds.

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Yeah, but I'd rather not load directly into the chamber in that I like to load very small loads with no more than a small baskets worth and also for maintenece issues. But, as you say, if I did do that and it produced large clouds on blurple, than the reasons that my MV is acting this way may be aligned with what I said above, eh?

But........there are many here who apparently get large clouds on blurple loading it the way I do with the small basket in the flexicone, so what's I'd like to know is, is mine running to cool, or are theirs running too hot? In other words, is mine calibrated correctly at the factory? What I don't want to do is to send a unit back if in fact it is performing as it is designed to do.

lwien,

I think you said you use very small amounts. I found that mine produced little visible vapor with small loads. That was fine with me as IMO visible clods exhaled = wasted herbage.

Recently I got an addition to my stash and tried a bigger load---- the visible vapor was there.
Also, some strains just produce less vapor.

My opinion is that the mV produces less visible vapor than many other vapes BUT it also gives flavor and effects and efficiency that are unsurpassed by other vapes. It might be the 100% convection + laminar airflow = no hot spots/ less visible vapor / superb taste/ max efficiency/ ABV that is not as dark as other vapes with more uneven heat.

I think your mV is likely fine, visible clouds on green. The real question is, how are the effects? Do you get medicated??

I often test mine---take a hit and immediately unscrew cover and feel the basket, is it hot?

Your small basket is farther from heat source so maybe you should try a larger basket AND put a screen or the liquid pad on top of the herb, to keep it lower in the chamber, to get the hot air sooner/hotter?? Like you, I do not like to load herb directly into chamber as those baskets are so great.

Let us know how it goes

MinnBobber said:

lwien,

I think you said you use very small amounts. I found that mine produced little visible vapor with small loads. That was fine with me as IMO visible clods exhaled = wasted herbage.

Recently I got an addition to my stash and tried a bigger load---- the visible vapor was there.
Also, some strains just produce less vapor.

My opinion is that the mV produces less visible vapor than many other vapes BUT it also gives flavor and effects and efficiency that are unsurpassed by other vapes. It might be the 100% convection + laminar airflow = no hot spots/ less visible vapor / superb taste/ max efficiency/ ABV that is not as dark as other vapes with more uneven heat.

I think your mV is likely fine, visible clouds on green. The real question is, how are the effects? Do you get medicated??

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This is kinda where I was going with my earlier comment. Basically, with a small basket not even filled that big cloud production shouldn't be expected. I was hoping maybe @lwien would sacrifice one filled and slightly packed basket to find out if his MV is indeed working as it should cloud production wise.

MinnBobber said:

The real question is, how are the effects? Do you get medicated??

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Yup. I get medicated really nicely with a LOT of tastiness even on blurple with no visible clouds.

MinnBobber said:

Your small basket is farther from heat source so maybe you should try a larger basket AND put a screen or the liquid pad on top of the herb, to keep it lower in the chamber, to get the hot air sooner/hotter?? Like you, I do not like to load herb directly into chamber as those baskets are so great.

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Great idea. I will defiantly try that and report back.

Smknbud said:

I was hoping maybe @lwien would sacrifice one filled and slightly packed basket to find out if his MV is indeed working as it should cloud production wise.

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I will try that as well.

lwien said:

Yeah, but I'd rather not load directly into the chamber in that I like to load very small loads with no more than a small baskets worth and also for maintenece issues.

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Your call, obviously. But smaller loads work great for me this way, and I personally haven't encountered any maintenance issues after switching to this method. Keep in mind, I'm someone who always used the baskets on my old unit, and tried them on my new unit at first.

lwien said:

But........there are many here who apparently get large clouds on blurple loading it the way I do with the small basket in the flexicone, so what's I'd like to know is, is mine running to cool, or are theirs running too hot? In other words, is mine calibrated correctly at the factory? What I don't want to do is to send a unit back if in fact it is performing as it is designed to do

Click to expand...

Honestly, you should see huge clouds either way. As I say, something is clearly wrong with the results you're getting. I'm just suggesting a (slightly) simpler setup that might help eliminate user error as a possible cause.

I say this mainly because it took me a few uses to get the hang of the basket/flexicone setup. But I will also admit I'm a bit of a cult evangelist where direct-packing the new models is concerned lol.

PS: Just my opinion, too, but I have to strongly disagree with @MinnBobber that MiniVAP delivers less visible vapor than other vapes. My experience is very much the opposite, especially with the new models. Blows away my Cloud EVO and Crafty in sheer vapor production per hit even when vaping small amounts.

bigmouth said:

PS: Just my opinion, too, but I have to strongly disagree with @MinnBobber that MiniVAP delivers less visible vapor than other vapes. My experience is very much the opposite, especially with the new models. Blows away my Cloud EVO and Crafty in sheer vapor production per hit even when vaping small amounts.

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Is yours the glass core or the teflon core?

Hi guys,

For anyone who finds their MV going bottoms-up on them there is a new procedure, according to this mornings email from VN...

Hello Killick,
I am very sorry for any delay in response, as I created the return nearly a week ago and have been awaiting approval.

We have been informed that there is going to be a change in the handling of miniVAP returns and Hermes has requested that all end users work directly with them to get the issue resolved or the unit replaced.

They can be contacted directly at: http://www.minivap.com/usa/minivap-vaporizer/

Alternatively if it would be easier for you, I can initiate contact on your behalf.

Please let me know what you would prefer. Thank you and once more I apologize for this unexpected change in procedure.

lwien said:

I will try that as well.

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So I went ahead and used the small basket, half full or so, then heated to blurple temp. My results cloud wise were the same as full large basket, and if anything quicker for the best of. I prefer the longer flavor ride with the large basket though.

So @lwien , if they have been fuckin' around with the temp profile again or not, since yours acts more in line with the original unit I started with this past August, I haven't a clue. Maybe see what Hermes has to say.

Smknbud said:

So @lwien , if they have been fuckin' around with the temp profile again or not, since yours acts more in line with the original unit I started with this past August, I haven't a clue. Maybe see what Hermes has to say.

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Yeah, they may have changed up the profile with the introduction of the glass cores.

I know that they have stated that one should get a glass core if they were interested in cloud generation or teflon if they were more interested in taste.

I think I'll contact them directly........The last thing I want to do is to send a unit back if it's working to spec. Being that they've made heater changes, trying to compare mine to others may not be of any value.

So, with the description that I was giving, it mimics your original unit you got in August?

killick said:

Hi guys,

For anyone who finds their MV going bottoms-up on them there is a new procedure, according to this mornings email from VN...

Hello Killick,
I am very sorry for any delay in response, as I created the return nearly a week ago and have been awaiting approval.

We have been informed that there is going to be a change in the handling of miniVAP returns and Hermes has requested that all end users work directly with them to get the issue resolved or the unit replaced.

They can be contacted directly at: http://www.minivap.com/usa/minivap-vaporizer/

Alternatively if it would be easier for you, I can initiate contact on your behalf.

Please let me know what you would prefer. Thank you and once more I apologize for this unexpected change in procedure.

Click to expand...

Oh that's really disappointing. I was seriously considering buying another MV from an authorized dealer in the US just so I could actually get service.

I'm curious what other users would do if you had been without use of your MV for 3 months and Hermes had ignored your last 4 emails sent over a period of 7 weeks?

What more do you do at that point? 25% of my 1 year battery warranty has been used up during my wait and I haven't been able to use my core for 3 months.

I really hate to do it but I'm about out of options. I wonder how fast Hermes would respond if I opened a Paypal dispute?

lwien said:

So, with the description that I was giving, it mimics your original unit you got in August?

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I went back and re-read your temp comments.

I would say your green was more like my old pink where I got wisps of clouds, and red more in line with my green.

Your idea of contacting Hermes is probably a good call to get it sorted.

lwien, I was in your frustration boat, in my case finding that my replacement was ok, then better, then bad, then ok again. It appears now, though, that it's a charging pad issue. I've discovered that when I place my MV in the pad I have to twist it a tad to activate the charger. Check how the brightness of the charger indicator changes.

DO said:

lwien, I was in your frustration boat, in my case finding that my replacement was ok, then better, then bad, then ok again. It appears now, though, that it's a charging pad issue. I've discovered that when I place my MV in the pad I have to twist it a tad to activate the charger. Check how the brightness of the charger indicator changes.

Click to expand...

Yeah but as long as the MV is fully charged as per the batter level LED on the MV showing green, we should be good to go, eh?

I'm gonna try it hooked up directly to AC to see if that makes a difference. It shouldn't though.

I'm also trying a tight pack in the basket.

Will report back findings tonight.

Will also try a larger basket with a spacer.

I really want to eliminate all other possibilities before I contact MV on this.

hello guys


just to say i'm enjoying bho and cotton in minivap at red temp setting
Big clouds and flavor max !!! delicieux !

DO said:

lwien, I was in your frustration boat, in my case finding that my replacement was ok, then better, then bad, then ok again. It appears now, though, that it's a charging pad issue. I've discovered that when I place my MV in the pad I have to twist it a tad to activate the charger. Check how the brightness of the charger indicator changes.

Click to expand...

....................................

This is a known "character trait" of the mV. Placing it in the charger pad when you know it is low, watch the light on the "puck" to make sure it goes to red. If not, give the mV a little wiggle in the cradle til it does turn red. Then wait for green and you're good to go.

I have this weird thing going on with my battery.

I can take it full off the charger and the battery light only stays at blue a couple minutes before switching to green.

What do you guys think?

MinnBobber said:

....................................

This is a known "character trait" of the mV. Placing it in the charger pad when you know it is low, watch the light on the "puck" to make sure it goes to red. If not, give the mV a little wiggle in the cradle til it does turn red. Then wait for green and you're good to go.

Click to expand...

MinnBobber said:

....................................

This is a known "character trait" of the mV. Placing it in the charger pad when you know it is low, watch the light on the "puck" to make sure it goes to red. If not, give the mV a little wiggle in the cradle til it does turn red. Then wait for green and you're good to go.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that MB. OH, to NOT be red-green colorblind....

Awww... no blurple for you!

scottg402 said:

I have this weird thing going on with my battery.

I can take it full off the charger and the battery light only stays at blue a couple minutes before switching to green.

What do you guys think?

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Mine does the exact same thing.

Ok, I finally got.

Nice cloud production even on blurple.

So here's the deal. On blurple, if I try hitting it right after the LED stops flashing, I'll get tasty buy very little visible vapor going on AND the LED will begin blinking about 3 quarters through my first hit indicating that the temp has fallen.

On the other hand, if I heat up till red stops blinking and then back it down to blurple, and wait till the LED stops blinking as it comes back down to it's desired temp, and then hit it, I get really nice cloudage AND the LED doesn't blink at all even after 2 really strong hits.

So I'm guessing that the reason for this is while the temp may reach it's level and stop the LED from blinking, the heater core may not be sufficently warmed up enough to maintain it's temp so when I hit it, it immediately loses temp and my hit is weak. But if I take it up to red first and then back it down, the heater core is warmed up enough to maintain the temp during the hit. Make sense? It does to me.

Or, each color of the LED represents a 10 degree window and by doing what I'm doing, I'm catching it at the top of the window rather than the bottom.

I have no doubt, especially with the recent changes, that the heater has been recalibrated more than a few times and that we may, in fact, have different versions of the MV, outside of if it's just a glass or teflon core.

Bottom line is that I can now get the kind of clouds that you guys have been reporting at the lower temps. i'm basically using it the same way as Stick does...........and it's workin'.

Oh, the AC puck does not work at all. No power to the MV.

killick said:

They can be contacted directly at: http://www.minivap.com/usa/minivap-vaporizer/

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I really don't think so...

scottg402 said:

I have this weird thing going on with my battery.

I can take it full off the charger and the battery light only stays at blue a couple minutes before switching to green.

What do you guys think?

Click to expand...

mixchu69 said:

Mine does the exact same thing.

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The blue light normally indicates AC-use. (or really full batteries).


@lwien
Nice to hear your MV is finally working.
I can get some(-times) even heavy clouds of my 2014 tcmv if I preheat it for 10 min on red and load the material directly into the bowl with the small basket on top to ensure contact with the bottom sieve and to keep the load near the heater. But still not working with reproductive results and really not working constantly....

lazylightning said:

Oh that's really disappointing. I was seriously considering buying another MV from an authorized dealer in the US just so I could actually get service.

I'm curious what other users would do if you had been without use of your MV for 3 months and Hermes had ignored your last 4 emails sent over a period of 7 weeks?

What more do you do at that point? 25% of my 1 year battery warranty has been used up during my wait and I haven't been able to use my core for 3 months.

I really hate to do it but I'm about out of options. I wonder how fast Hermes would respond if I opened a Paypal dispute?

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You are rightly pissed off as I would be in your situation. Sadly Vapornation can/will leave you in limbo, as they did me for weeks on end, so they aren't much better.

I'd do the PayPal dispute thing also. I've done it before with other vendors.....tends to wake them up and let them know you aren't going to fade away. I can honestly say I would have never thought you would have had to resort to that with Hermes.

@lwien keep playing with the power puck to see if it is finicky. Mine works great at a tight twist on, but I have heard of a few others that needed to be shimmy'd a little bit. Glad you got the clouds coming...I never use mine without doing the full temp heat soak and backing it down. Did they give you any information on your firmware? If you have the latest stuff we may be able to set it hotter for you if you are still wanting more.

I'm curious to hear if you find the signature and taste as unique and enjoyable as a lot of us here have!

mixchu69 said:

Mine does the exact same thing.

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blue? I have never seen blue in my battery light, even after I'v left it on the charger over night!

stickstones said:

@lwien keep playing with the power puck to see if it is finicky. Mine works great at a tight twist on, but I have heard of a few others that needed to be shimmy'd a little bit. Glad you got the clouds coming...I never use mine without doing the full temp heat soak and backing it down. Did they give you any information on your firmware? If you have the latest stuff we may be able to set it hotter for you if you are still wanting more.

I'm curious to hear if you find the signature and taste as unique and enjoyable as a lot of us here have!

Click to expand...

hey man, do you know what the latest firmware # is? And is it necessarily the best one? I believe I have a new TCMV with firmware 3.XX

Edwardo said:

blue? I have never seen blue in my battery light, even after I'v left it on the charger over night!

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How old is your unit? I think the newer units have a blue indicator light at full charge which is a change from the old.

In my case I am questioning the overall battery life if the first stage is expelled within minutes.

I'm going keep track and let it run down so I can see how long I'm really getting.