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Crafty/Crafty+ by Storz & Bickel

biohacker

Well-Known Member
I had an early mighty purchased a year ago(#1000) and saw degradation in performance recently. I sent it to S&B (purchased directly from them) and they said I had a battery problem and sent me an invoice for $90. I told them that I don't want to pay but still wanted my housing and firmware upgraded. I will use it as a plug-in.

Curious what the symptoms of degradation in performance were?

Also found a good write-up of a Crafty-Solo comparison as we've been discussing over at the Solo thread. I can definitely echo this comparison with my own experience with both vapes:

So I took @biohacker's suggestions and loaded up equal weight bowls in a Solo and a Crafty last night.

With 0.05g through water at max temp (210ºC/410ºF on both vapes) with a 1 min heat soak the Solo actually produced a decent cloud. The Crafty didn't produce much but the load was comically small for the Crafty's bowl. It didn't even cover the bottom.

With 0.10g the Crafty was maybe 2/3 full and produced two nice clouds. The Solo was pretty full since I use a domed screen and produced 2 clouds as well and they actually weren't much smaller than the Crafty. I had thought with a mostly full bowl the Crafty would blow the Solo away but it wasn't actually significantly better.

Dry on the other hand I think the Crafty produces better vapor. This exercise has helped me get a better of what situations call for which vape. The Solo seems to be better for small loads, water vaping, or long sessions while the Crafty is better for quick dry sessions or the rare vape on the go.

Is it true that S&B products never go on sale? I have watched the prices increase since release, for example - here in Canada - the Mighty was released at $399cdn and the Crafty was $339cdn IIRC. Then the cost shot up to $469 for the Mighty and 399 for crafty because over the USD difference, and now a crafty goes for 429 and Mighty 510! I assume black friday, christmas, and 4/20 sales won't mean much for S&B products? I always see places like TorontoV say their sales don't cover S&B.

It's just too bad that the battery replacement costs are so high!
 
biohacker,

Mr. Me2

Well-Known Member
Curious what the symptoms of degradation in performance were?

Also found a good write-up of a Crafty-Solo comparison as we've been discussing over at the Solo thread. I can definitely echo this comparison with my own experience with both vapes:



Is it true that S&B products never go on sale? I have watched the prices increase since release, for example - here in Canada - the Mighty was released at $399cdn and the Crafty was $339cdn IIRC. Then the cost shot up to $469 for the Mighty and 399 for crafty because over the USD difference, and now a crafty goes for 429 and Mighty 510! I assume black friday, christmas, and 4/20 sales won't mean much for S&B products? I always see places like TorontoV say their sales don't cover S&B.

It's just too bad that the battery replacement costs are so high!
Puffitup and Vapornation offer discounts to fc'ers that includes S&B.
 

Krizzle

Hi Very high
The Crafty has dropped in price in the UK since release. I got my first unit soon as it came available in the UK and that cost me around £240. Now you can get them for £198! Bargain!

The Mighty now has also dropped down to less than the original price Crafty at £238. Bitchin.
 

vaporiza

Well-Known Member
Yeah I truly believe Storz doesn't care about quality in regarding to Crafty... I resell vaporizers in my country and have had 25% of units sold with issues....

Now the last one I had never seen before. User received the unit was able to charge with original power supply provided for only one time, after that this power supply doesn't charge anymore, doesn't do anything. User is able to charge on his PS4 when the battery is fully discharged (sometimes it doesn't charge), if the battery is not 100% discharged, when connected to the PS4 it blinks red and blue, doesn't vibrate and doesn't charge.

Has any one seen this? any advice?
 
vaporiza,

UnshavenFish

Well-Known Member
it blinks red and blue, doesn't vibrate and doesn't charge.

In the crafty app it says red and blue means it's either too hot or too cold to charge.

My uneducated guess would be either a bad charger (cord or brick) or a problem with the USB port, I'm not sure on the A rating on the ps4 but the crafty needs 2A I think to charge.

If your in a cold country maybe a discharge warms the cell enough to charge, first thing to check would be a different 2A charger, and make sure both the brick and cable are rated 2A.
 
UnshavenFish,
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vaporiza

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the advice. Storz support said it could be the charger, they are sending a replacement. Now crafty cant't sync with phone app, reset has been done, uninstalled app and reinstalled. I believe it's the charger and the vaporizer
 

UnshavenFish

Well-Known Member
Now crafty cant't sync with phone app, reset has been done, uninstalled app and reinstalled.

The only other way I can think of is to open the app, go to settings and hit connect with other crafty and retype the serial number, I think this has worked for some people but I've never needed to try it out.

You might have already tried this but if not it's worth a go.
 
UnshavenFish,
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headdoctor

Well-Known Member
I've got what is perhaps an odd question about how "hours" are recorded on the Crafty (and as always, apologies if this has been discussed often). Are minutes recorded? Let's say that I turn it on, let it heat up, and take one or two draws; then I turn it off. It's been on for maybe 10 minutes. Do I have to do that 6 times for it to record an hour's use? Does "hours used" mean actual full hours that the unit has been on?
 

MinnBobber

Well-Known Member
So yes, six ten-minute sessions would make the hourdometer go up one number.
..................................................
Does time being charged count on the hour-meter?
I hope not but curious.
Thanks
 
MinnBobber,

vapviking

Old & In the Way
There's a separate count for number of charges, to know if it has had too many cycles.

Yes, as one who's unwittingly stumbled over the limit on number of charges and paid for new battery (am I the only one?), I'm familiar with this.
The hourly use counter is nice to have, but not critical information. Warranty puts no limit on hours of use over the 2 year term. Battery charge cycles, however, do matter.

Only S&B's wizards can access this counter, not mere mortals. Only they, with tireless gaze and ageless wisdom, can tell us if we've violated the battery use policy by charging the battery too many times. The phone rep. was unable to explain what constitutes one "charge cycle". Without this guidance, owners have no way of knowing for sure what their count is. As one of the critical metrics, this count should be integrated and displayed in the App.
 

biohacker

Well-Known Member
Just wanted to add that in my experience with the Crafty I felt that the hours logged was very accurate. It's just like @Stu said.

I want another Crafty, the only thing holding me back is the heatup time after say 40+ hours....3 mins is just too long for me, for a portable, especially when the Mighty can do it in approximately a minute. My buddies Crafty just died after less than 40 hours, and the warmup time was like 3:30! I can't imagine a more lighter casual user, those 40 hours took a year. So, as mentioned many times in this thread - the Crafty is a great portable vape on occasion, but probably not practical to expect hundreds of hours of use.

What is the longest usage in this thread? 150+ or so?
 

Crafty Vaper

Ain't easy being green
Hi fellas! :wave:
First unit 78 hours, second unit 213 hours and my third one is near 100 hours. The first one overheated , so the second one did. My third unit doesn't have any overheating issues but the vibration alarm has its probs. It doesn't work well since the 75th hour. Sometimes it vibrates sometimes not. I think I will send it in next days.
Until now I've had no problems with customer service. I received my new units within a week. I deal with S&B Germany.

Vape on!:rockon:
 

biohacker

Well-Known Member
Sounds like Germany>Cali for service. I had the same issue with both of my Mighty's with the vibration. I have a bad feeling that it may be your battery getting tired, but I could be wrong.
 
biohacker,

Crafty Vaper

Ain't easy being green
I don't think it is a battery problem. Heat up time is still under 2 minutes and the small Bastard performs like a beast! We will see:D
 
Crafty Vaper,
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vapviking

Old & In the Way
Of 3 my Crafty's and a Mighty, every one of them has had intermittent vibrator. Comes and goes, not too important to me. Fine reason to start a warranty claim, though! (I did not start any claim about vibration).
 

MinnBobber

Well-Known Member
Yes, as one who's unwittingly stumbled over the limit on number of charges and paid for new battery (am I the only one?), I'm familiar with this.
The hourly use counter is nice to have, but not critical information. Warranty puts no limit on hours of use over the 2 year term. Battery charge cycles, however, do matter.

Only S&B's wizards can access this counter, not mere mortals. Only they, with tireless gaze and ageless wisdom, can tell us if we've violated the battery use policy by charging the battery too many times. The phone rep. was unable to explain what constitutes one "charge cycle". Without this guidance, owners have no way of knowing for sure what their count is. As one of the critical metrics, this count should be integrated and displayed in the App.
...................................................................................

Denying a claim because of too many recharges really sucks.
Especially if one uses the "maximize battery life method" of only discharging to about 20% and only charging to about 80% :(
I assume each charge counts toward their secret limit, whether it's a max charge or a partial charge.
 

Crafty Vaper

Ain't easy being green
Of 3 my Crafty's and a Mighty, every one of them has had intermittent vibrator. Comes and goes, not too important to me. Fine reason to start a warranty claim, though! (I did not start any claim about vibration).

I think S&B are selling a vaporizer with vibration. It is one of the reasons I bought this product. So I think it is a normal warranty thing when the vibration doesn't work!
 

vapviking

Old & In the Way
...................................................................................

Denying a claim because of too many recharges really sucks.
Especially if one uses the "maximize battery life method" of only discharging to about 20% and only charging to about 80% :(
I assume each charge counts toward their secret limit, whether it's a max charge or a partial charge.
Is this method described in Crafty's literature? I was not aware of need for this, and so I was not doing it that way. I'd put it on the charger almost always when not in use, just as I do with Pax and Pax2. Also charge my phone more often than this method prescribes. Sales rep. started to tell me Crafty was not a "smart" device, but we really didn't get far into that...

I'm not questioning the method you're describing for maximizing battery life. But my Pax, as only vape for two daily users, went 20 months with no noticeable degradation (then I traded up to Pax2). The Crafty in question was 4 months old, same basic pattern of use, and needed new battery. I believe S&B makes the point that Crafty must work very hard to do such a good job. okay.

The fact remains that it was new news to me when S&B told me the number of charge cycles the piece had been through, and that I, the user, had not previously had any way of readily knowing that number, nor did I know what the limit is on number of charge cycles allowed. (fyi, I've forgotten the exact figure the rep. told me the limit was, it was approximately 825 charge cycles. But, what constitutes a charge cycle is no clearer to me after that conversation.)
 

MinnBobber

Well-Known Member
The fact remains that it was new news to me when S&B told me the number of charge cycles the piece had been through, and that I, the user, had not previously had any way of readily knowing that number, nor did I know what the limit is on number of charge cycles allowed. (fyi, I've forgotten the exact figure the rep. told me the limit was, it was approximately 825 charge cycles. But, what constitutes a charge cycle is no clearer to me after that conversation.)
..........................................................................

Tracking the charge cycles to deny warranty claims seems like a low blow.
Especially if you're a lightweight (like me) and only need a couple hits AND if you then put it on charger to top it off-----does that mini charge still count as a charge cycle???

It would be nice to know exactly what counts as a charge cycle, any time you plug in cable or ???

That method of only draining to 20% and filling to 80% is not recommended by any S & B literature, but rather is a universal "truth" for Li Ion battery use. They might have a financial incentive to not share this as their Crafty $50 and Mighty $100 battery replacement costs include a nice markup.
IMO, short sighted though as customers are not happy about the hassle and cost of replacing batteries.
 

UnshavenFish

Well-Known Member
Especially if one uses the "maximize battery life method" of only discharging to about 20% and only charging to about 80% :(

This is the method I use for anything with fixed cells, with the crafty I charge when one bar is left and finish with one bar still to charge (roughly 20%-80%) charge time is quicker (at the sacrifice of runtime per charge)

Check out the fourth table down...

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

For this type of cell 300-500 is around the standard cycles expected before cell is around 70% capacity (cycle defined as charged and discharged = one cycle, regardless of in one go or done in partial charges) so total charge cycles depend on how far you go with regards to DoD (with partial charges the number of cycles go up)

How s&b record this will be important, I would like to think they count a set figure by % so even with partial charges it should register and count each partial charge to add upto a full charge cycle, otherwise people will be cheated and charged for cells that are still usable because of a made up counter.
 

MinnBobber

Well-Known Member
How s&b record this will be important, I would like to think they count a set figure by % so even with partial charges it should register and count each partial charge to add upto a full charge cycle, otherwise people will be cheated and charged for cells that are still usable because of a made up counter.
........................................................................
Yes, that was my point----how does S & B count charges? Does it count one charge everytime you plug in cable, even if that is really only a 20% topping off, or does it track partial charges where five 20% recharges count as one 100% charge cycle?
 
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