Discontinued The Firefly Vaporizer

Yeah I've been through a few, never any with that issue however. First was battery/charge/led related, second was mouthpiece seal tearing/loosening, third started tasting off and harsher suddenly... This is all in the span of a year of fairly heavy use in a variety of settings. However customer service has been repeatedly stellar for me personally, quick turn arounds, working with me, and mostly charge free. It is a shame it isn't a bit more reliable but I think with a device like this that is still its nature at this point in time. Many people never have issues, some have many, but if the company stands by the warranty well and takes care of you (on a more as needed basis vs protocol even) and the product is fairly outstanding at what it does (in my experience it really is strong, tasty, and simple like an e pipe. Combusters sure seem to love it and I enjoyed it a lot myself) despite its limitations, which pretty much all pure convection portables have trade offs, I've tried most of them.

@pifive this very well may not be the one for you, so I would recommend trying to go through the warranty again and then trading or selling it for another convection unit, or really, since you do enjoy it when it works, keep discussing with them until you get satisfaction. I always use email, and rationally lay out my perspective. They have never let me down yet in their resolutions, unlike some other companies I experienced beforehand with weaker vapes...

MinnBobber said:

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The FF is a wonderful device but I'd have to call BS on their claim of 1% failure rate.
If @pifive is on his 5th FF in a little over a year, that just doesn't add up.
If the odds of each unit going down were 1% (1 in 100), how could he possibly be on unit #5?

It would be like (1/100) x (1/100) x (1/100) etc
What does that give you, odds of 1 in one hundred million that it could happen?

Me thinks they are "fibbing" on their 1% claim.

Great vape but wish they could up the reliability factor

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One user has four failures. Another 400 have none. How likely is that? I have no idea. Neither does anyone else outside the company. I agree the math looks daunting, until you consider the superset of FFs in the wild. Without knowing these numbers....who can say? From my experience I tend to agree with your assessment....except I know what I don't know, which is how many FFs have never failed vs those that have. All I hear are squeaky wheels....not the quiet ones.

I have a huge jar with thousands of jelly beans. I pull out three. Two are red, one is green. Does the jar contain 2/3 red and 1/3 green jelly beans? We can't say. Sample size is way too small.

As for the future, I know they are working on reliability issues for the FF2....but we will just have to wait to see how that unfolds. I'm as desperate for news as anyone!

@mitchgo61 ,
i like the jellybean jar analogy but here's the FF jar, using the company's "claimed 1%" fail rate:

Jar has 99 red jelly beans (red is good) and 1 black (their 1% fail bean).

@pifive dipped into the jar (99 +1) on 4 separate occasions (now on his 5th) and EACH TIME got
the black jelly bean....... the 1% fail.

Not going to happen with a true 1% fail rate.

And it's not like he's the only person with multiple replacements.
A great unit but wish they'd develop a FF2 version that's more reliable.

Do I put my Joliet screen with the large 7 holes face up or face down?

Timothymdq said:

Do I put my Joliet screen with the large 7 holes face up or face down?

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You talking about the Iolite Wispr screen disc thingies? If so, put the 7 hole side down, and the screen side up. That's assuming it drops easily into the bowl...if not, don't force it...I found more recent FFs have a slightly more tapered bowl that makes it impossible to use the Wispr screen.

Thank you Mitchgo61. And thank you for figuring out my phones auto correct language. I guess it prefers dead Shakespearean girls to pretty metal earth rocks... Lol

Sent my broken device back to FireFly. They will repair it. Now I dont want this device any longer. I will sell it. Anyone has another product very similar of the FF to get instead? Tired of a broken device every 2 to 5 months.

The Crafty does the Same thing.
Brakes. I don't know how the pax2 is too bad it has a huge chamber. I'm not much of a pax fan but if it was reliable maybe. Elevape smart vape looks good but from the forum it looks like some have issues also. The Air is supposed to be reliable but it has a hard draw.

^ Mine is not working either. I still need to contact them about it, but I moved to the Arizer Air and that ended any interest in anything else, for portable needs anyway.

pifive said:

Sent my broken device back to FireFly. They will repair it. Now I dont want this device any longer. I will sell it. Anyone has another product very similar of the FF to get instead? Tired of a broken device every 2 to 5 months.

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Not really the place to discuss these others so feel free to pm, but for pure on demand convection like FF there's really only Elevape, Firewood3, the old Thermovapes, upcoming Grasshopper and Zion. Also check out torch powered convection vapes as well...

Good luck selling yours, I think it is a pretty great vape overall, if still a bit pricey at retail. I'm sure a v2 will bring a lower price for v1, we'll see some time next year probably what they're cooking up I'd imagine. All of these on demand convection vapes (maybe all vapes) tend to have trade offs, others like Air and Crafty do too

Was really thinking about getting one of these for the holidays. The reliability issues have me concerned though.

Is there any member still on their first Firefly with more than a year of use? (I mean this as a serious question. No tongue and cheek)

My fly is plus one year. Nov 1 last year. It was my first vape. Used hard daily at least four times a day
for two months. Then I got an enano and it became my out and about device.
All five 750mah batts were dead before the year, that said the new 770mah are almost twice as powerful.
It is heavy in a pocket. Doesn't like the cold. But I love it.

oh and I have dropped it on pavement with the sickening smaack of dead vaporizer, I don't recommend, but all was good after a thick bowl.

hafalump said:

My fly is plus one year. Nov 1 last year. It was my first vape. Used hard daily at least four times a day
for two months. Then I got an enano and it became my out and about device.
All five 750mah batts were dead before the year, that said the new 770mah are almost twice as powerful.
It is heavy in a pocket. Doesn't like the cold. But I love it.

oh and I have dropped it on pavement with the sickening smaack of dead vaporizer, I don't recommend, but all was good after a thick bowl.

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Appreciate the response. Been looking for an on demand portable flower unit to fill the void left behind when my T1 finally died.

Look at torch driven

I have two torch units. They're great but not really the stealth option I'm going for.

I hear you. I saw a vape review and they gave the lotus props for stealth, and very low for the FF?
I can tell you FF is stealth as along as YOU are. duh. Lotus not so stealthy.

One of the 99%ers checking in ... I've owned my FF for nearly 2 yrs with no problems ( other than battery ) and my wife's will be 1yo in Jan.
We also own a Pax2 that gets daily use.

Gonzo said:

Appreciate the response. Been looking for an on demand portable flower unit to fill the void left behind when my T1 finally died.

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Yeah Thermovape rocked, but closest to T1 is still Grasshopper right now. Firefly and Elevape are great units too, none are perfect ofcourse

twigs said:

One of the 99%ers checking in ... I've owned my FF for nearly 2 yrs with no problems ( other than battery ) and my wife's will be 1yo in Jan.
We also own a Pax2 that gets daily use.

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I love that you guys have "his and hers" FFs.

I got my firefly about 2 weeks ago and have been under whelmed by it since I got it. I was expecting to get good clouds with the right circumstances and a really nice buzz but so far I can get better clouds from my pax 2 on the lowest setting and my grasshopper blows the firefly away. The only was I can get any kind of clouds from the firefly is to puff puff on it, I have tried long slow draws, pre heating the chamber, packing tight packing loose. I do get better results from a tighter fuller pack. The abv can also be taken from my firefly and put into my pax 2 at the lowest setting and I can get 5-10 good draws. Just wanted to see if this is normal or if i should send my unit in. If this is all that can be expected I may just try selling this and moving on.

Thanks Jason

nighthawklude99 said:

I got my firefly about 2 weeks ago and have been under whelmed by it since I got it. I was expecting to get good clouds with the right circumstances and a really nice buzz but so far I can get better clouds from my pax 2 on the lowest setting and my grasshopper blows the firefly away. The only was I can get any kind of clouds from the firefly is to puff puff on it, I have tried long slow draws, pre heating the chamber, packing tight packing loose. I do get better results from a tighter fuller pack. The abv can also be taken from my firefly and put into my pax 2 at the lowest setting and I can get 5-10 good draws. Just wanted to see if this is normal or if i should send my unit in. If this is all that can be expected I may just try selling this and moving on.

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Not normal, but still could be technique related.

Pack densely. Make sure the lid is on correctly. (If you squeeze the lid and get thicker vapor, your lid magnet may be too weak.) Hold the heat button in for the full 30 seconds before you first draw....and then hold it in for the full cycle when you take your first hit. Don't draw faster than the natural resistance of the FF. You should be able to get the unit, and the bowl, more than hot enough to generate thick vapor. If none of that works it may be an issue with the coil.

Give it a try...be aggressive with the heat button and see if that helps. Good luck!

Off to give this a try, thanks for the advice. I also tried using the iolite screen and it takes alot more heat and draws to kill the pack, should I expect this since the material is further away from the heat. I would expect the screen to get hot and help the process. I know in my pax 2 I have the pusher as well as the lower screen that is about as thick as the pusher. I use the stock screen to hold in the lower "spacer" if you will and put the pusher on top of the load and am able to get a really good experience with about 1/3 oven load. Would something like this be necessary to get larger clouds. I tried using the concentrate pads on top of a load bit it seemed to cause combustion. I have had this unit combust on me about 5 times, once with the pad on top of a load, once when I was hard on the heat button, once I am not sure why, once with a really fine grind packed tight and once with the iolite screen in and hard on the button. Just trying to figure out if its my technique or if my unit is faulty. I like to think I pick vaping techniques up fast as I have a vapor genie and was using it like a pro the first day I got it.

Thanks Jason

nighthawklude99 said:

Off to give this a try, thanks for the advice. I also tried using the iolite screen and it takes alot more heat and draws to kill the pack, should I expect this since the material is further away from the heat. I would expect the screen to get hot and help the process.

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This probably varies by user, but, yes, I've found this to be the case....it's counter-intuitive, but the Wispr screens seem to make it a little harder to generate vapor. (I haven't used one in over a year, so my memory may be hazy here.) Rather than adding any appreciable conductivity to the thermal mass in the bowl, they seem to weaken the vapor a bit probably due to distance.

If I were having trouble getting thick vapor, I would A. use the stock screen and not the Wispr, so the weed sits right on the screen, right on the steel plate at the bottom of the bowl, and B. maybe put on a top screen, which will definitely add conductivity and raise the heat. Just proceed carefully, you might find it can get too hot with this method.

My technique is to pack it however way you want to, don't over fill it, just lightly packed to have a small bump on the bowl, that makes it sit in the bowl and not go all over the place.

Then hold the button for 8 seconds, then start inhaling, I start slow and then start sipping on the vapor like a juice box lol. varying the speed as i think that helps with getting a bigger cloud.

Works perfectly.

Starting the warranty dance for my dead firefly tomorrow. Not sure when I'll see it repaired or replaced and not sure it's going to make it back into the rotation when it comes home.

This thing gives pretty good hits, but between the batteries being complete and total crap, the utter lack of any kind of low battery warning besides "your battery is dead", and the so-so reliability, I'm not sure I really trust it to be the only vaporizer I take with me.

The fact that it's so good when it works actually makes it worse for me.