Discontinued The Grasshopper

[Vapor_Eyes]

Thanks, Moon...

I'd thought about pointing them to the Fix thread, but I'd think I'll leave that option to our Royal Chronicler, @Vapor_Eyes ... if he so desires, of course.

Sounds like they mightn't have seen @Vapor_Eyes GH fixes resource. This might be a good thing to bring to HL's attention as it covers a lot of tweaks and progression we've discovered over the years

Edit: great minds think alike, thought I may as well leave this a short post after seeing your near simultaneous thinking Joe

...

The difference seems to be a dodgy back-end stays dodgy, no matter what you do. Cleaning it, twisting it, makes no difference, it just stays a bit shit regardless.
It's not so much the heat that's a problem, that seems more random than anything. A proper dodgy back-end simply prevents proper vaporisation. The clouds are thin and the ABV is not as deplete, the red light lingers much longer, and that remains constant.
My good back-end heats up from time to time, just like my dodgy/warranty replaced back-end.
But the difference is notable and unmistakeable, even without comparison. The dodgy back-end prevents the hopper from working, heat isn't a good indication of a broken back-end. If it's still pumping out big clouds, it's all good. It's easier to notice the weaker production when using through glass also.

I'm glad you guys are on the same wavelength. To be honest, I feel a little weird being the official purveyor of unofficial advice. If you guys want to let them know about the fixes resource that's cool with me, but I am not going to do it myself.

I'm king of surprised the blu-tac was news to them as they say they read the forums. I'm not trying to say I want them reading FC all day and not building Grasshoppers, I'm just saying if I was an employee of Hopper Labs I'd be reading FC and other forums here and there on my off time to see what people are saying about the company I work for.

Not that it really matters if they read the forum or not, I'm just surprised. I'm more than happy picturing them hunkering away building hoppers, oblivious to the outside world.

 

[BadDog No]

Can definitely see Bluetac in my near immediate future. How smoothly the mouthpiece threaded on, truly a marvel. And 2 days later I think I've cross threaded it and go into major medicated panic mode until I realized there was a little grit in the threads. Showed "Stain" off to a couple of engineer/programmers tonite. He was still a little cold from a walk but still managed to turn from red to blue in less than 5 seconds. What a little powerhouse. Very evenly extracted and dry ABV, light brown, not worth saving even. Oh and as expected, although few seem to recommend it, you can just jam a little budlet or 2 and get the most marvelous taste. I know, sometimes you just have to grind, but when you can leave the trichomes intact until you just inhale them. Wow, that's nice. I think one of the characteristics of a good vape is how tolerant it is of different packing styles and so far Stain likes everything I throw at him.

Hope they come out with an 18650 model in the future (as others have mentioned). I'd be happy with an "economy" model that loses the adjustable back end and came on medium (3). Bet it would be much more reliable.

 

[Hjalmark]

Just got my hopper! It's freaking beautiful, really well machined and smaller packet then I expected, I turned it on as soon as it was out of the box and 4 sec heat up time on setting 5 and the vape was ice cold straight from the mail box

Sadly I am dankrupt but that can be fixed

 

[biohacker]

Oh and as expected, although few seem to recommend it, you can just jam a little budlet or 2 and get the most marvelous taste. I know, sometimes you just have to grind, but when you can leave the trichomes intact until you just inhale them. Wow, that's nice. I think one of the characteristics of a good vape is how tolerant it is of different packing styles and so far Stain likes everything I throw at him.

Although I haven't tried budlets, I have been OCD about the grind consistency and have been experimenting like crazy. Went from medium to coarse to fine and back to medium.....but now i'm back to coarse again. The taste is a marked improvement, airflow is better and the material doesn't stick to the front end screen, and most of all, much more comfortable to take in. I find convection fine grind extremely irritating to my airways at upper temps. So I stick to the coarse grind for the higher temps, and medium for lower, unless I really wanna fog up the glass than it's fine grind and max heat, but it comes at a cost for me!

Where can one pickup some blutac? Looks like a keeper.

 

[seaofgreens]

Hey guys, just stopping by to say that my hopper is still working same as when I got it back in July. Only bought one unit, usually carry it in my pocket with no carrying case, and a few spare batteries in my mini right jeans pocket.

Sometimes it gets a bit of the symptoms mentioned, hottish back end etc. Fiddling around with it always works just fine. I just don't panic, and it's always worked. Maybe I'm just lucky.

What I find IS a huge problem are the threads inside the mouthpiece cap.... How the hell are you supposed to keep them from getting gunked up? You can't really fit anything inside to efficiently remove stuff from the threads... Honestly hate that bit of design. The other problem is that the batteries are just.... abyssmal.... Is it just me? I can take 4 batteries, and drain them in a good three-four hours of just sitting by a fire and chatting. Not chain vaping, just casually taking a pull when the desire hits. maybe 4-5 good mouthpulls per battery when I get down to it... WTF? (This has been consistent since arrival, battery life hasn't changed much over time for me. But perhaps this is atypical battery life?)

Still though, I have put well over a thousand loads through this thing, haven't had to do much in the way of cleaning aside from keeping the theads and mouthpiece screen clean, and it performs like a champ otherwise.

Flavor/heat straight from the pen is not 10/10 though. It's decent to great when I use it dry through a 14mm microbubbler, which I prefer even through a rig. Powerhitting at 5 through a rig is meh, and you can tell it stresses the device a bit (imo.) If I didn't have the supreme v3 putting the GH to shame through water, maybe I'd feel differently. I dunno.

Overall, I vary from being on the fence with this device to finding it quite enjoyable. It isn't the awesomeness I hoped for, but it is a slice in the right direction. Really hoping they have a battery v2 in the future that doesn't also require a GH v2 to use it.

Gotta be honest though, if I didn't have it already. I probably wouldn't be too interested these days.

Cheers everyone. Happy Hopperdays.

 

[biohacker]

I can take 4 batteries, and drain them in a good three-four hours of just sitting by a fire and chatting. Not chain vaping, just casually taking a pull when the desire hits. maybe 4-5 good mouthpulls per battery when I get down to it... WTF? (This has been consistent since arrival, battery life hasn't changed much over time for me. But perhaps this is atypical battery life?)

Yep, sounds just about right. I think the battery life is fine myself, but I always use it as efficiently as possible. I can nurse a bowl dry and use up the entire battery, or crush through 4-5 bowls in a row on the same battery using temp 5.

Powerhitting at 5 through a rig is meh, and you can tell it stresses the device a bit (imo.) If I didn't have the supreme v3 putting the GH to shame through water, maybe I'd feel differently. I dunno.

How can you tell that it stresses the unit? I think 5 through a rig is cloud city! Put the SUPv3 to shame? The SUPv3 kicks ass don't get me wrong, but there is no way it puts the GH to shame...IMO. They are by far my top two portables (and probably all time vapes even).

Gotta be honest though, if I didn't have it already. I probably wouldn't be too interested these days.

Really appreciate your update, and it's awesome to report that your GH is still healthy after all these months and over 1000 bowls! Personally, and I haven't owned it as long as you, perhaps i'm still in my honeymoon, but there is nothing else that even comes close, so I continue to stand by my original thoughts...

GAME CHANGER! More kool-aid please!

 

[seaofgreens]

I find that the body of my hopper gets fairly warm when I rip at lvl 5 a couple times in a row through my rig. Maybe it's fine, but it's not a behavior I get when using it dry. I feel like you are more able to gauge the vapor intake and the stress you put on the heater when you don't have that water barrier. Probably nothing because my hopper works fine either way? Just one of those gut feelings perhaps.

Vapor preference though, now that is truly subjective, and ever changing for each individual. I just find that first rip from the supreme to have more flavor and more body than the same from the GH. I suspect it has to do with the larger touch of conduction at play with the supreme? Don't know. I would be interested to see if your thoughts change over time!

 

[MoltenTiger]

A question for HL that I'd be interested in: does the device save diagnostic data, or data at all?
I've for sure lost count of the bowls I've had, but I just filed another cop light warranty for the blue pen

I would love a supreme v3, but can't really be bothered with a unit of that size and mild complexity (jankiness+butane). I really hope HL nail the durability aspect of the hopper, the consistency of performance isn't quite up to a 5 star rating, but everything else including general effect pretty well is. Battery capacity is tiny, so although it takes a lot of batteries to see through a few hours, or a day, of vaping, they charge pretty fast. Nearly as fast as I use them anyway. It is annoying swapping them continuously, a fast charge capability while docked or proper pass-through power would be amazing additions.
Nonetheless she still works wonders after all these months. Has great effect

 

[Mr. Me2]

Although I haven't tried budlets, I have been OCD about the grind consistency and have been experimenting like crazy. Went from medium to coarse to fine and back to medium.....but now i'm back to coarse again. The taste is a marked improvement, airflow is better and the material doesn't stick to the front end screen, and most of all, much more comfortable to take in. I find convection fine grind extremely irritating to my airways at upper temps. So I stick to the coarse grind for the higher temps, and medium for lower, unless I really wanna fog up the glass than it's fine grind and max heat, but it comes at a cost for me!

Where can one pickup some blutac? Looks like a keeper.

What do you use to create a coarse grind?

 

[biohacker]

http://torontovaporizer.ca/zeus-vortex-grinder.html

...but this is my next up for GrAS:

https://www.grasscity.com/int_en/bl...k-herb-grinder-4-part-choice-of-4-colors.html

...and I miss my 3 piece SCS....that would have been the most perfect uniform grind, but I just prefer screw-on crank style grinders for ease of use on my aching wrists (I get tendonitis)

My Kannastor GR8TR is perfect for the fine or medium grinds.

What do you use for your hopper?

 

[Mr. Me2]

http://torontovaporizer.ca/zeus-vortex-grinder.html

...but this is my next up for GrAS:

https://www.grasscity.com/int_en/bl...k-herb-grinder-4-part-choice-of-4-colors.html

...and I miss my 3 piece SCS....that would have been the most perfect uniform grind, but I just prefer screw-on crank style grinders for ease of use on my aching wrists (I get tendonitis)

My Kannastor GR8TR is perfect for the fine or medium grinds.

What do you use for your hopper?

4 piece SCS. I always felt that was a medium grind. Works great, though.

 

[Hjalmark]

Alright first battery or 4 bowls on 4-5 native without silicon piece and little with, this thing is no more harsher then a enano dry stem except the tip but that can easily be adjusted for.

The first use tip I can give is ... Screw of the tip and shake it, if it rattle you should take a pair of tweezer and tighten the mouth piece screen

Second one comes from the smarty pants people here and that is to mark your batteries from 1 to x

X being the number of batteries you have

Mother fucking math

 

[vapviking]

http://torontovaporizer.ca/zeus-vortex-grinder.html

...but this is my next up for GrAS:

https://www.grasscity.com/int_en/bl...k-herb-grinder-4-part-choice-of-4-colors.html

...and I miss my 3 piece SCS....that would have been the most perfect uniform grind, but I just prefer screw-on crank style grinders for ease of use on my aching wrists (I get tendonitis)

My Kannastor GR8TR is perfect for the fine or medium grinds.

What do you use for your hopper?

I guess I'm in the Dark Ages with my older 4 pc Cosmic but it does the job. I can adjust the grind finer by using it upside down, or sometimes running a batch thru a second time. If kept clean it still cuts well. My range of grind for Hopper is wide, depending on bud and type of hits (as you said above), with the occasional lil nug if my stash is nice. Not so much lately. But not usually a fine grind.
I've been using an infant spoon to fill through @Ratchett funnel. (Small amounts to Hopper or heaping spoonfuls to Mighty, that is!) Spooning/scraping from the grinder sends more kief down through the mesh, and I realized I've had a bunch develop, mostly from this so-so flower. I've been spooning that into sandwiches in Mighty.
Then, a few minutes ago I did my first kief-in-wad 'o cotton ball in Hopper and it produced voluminously. It took a second long-ish primer draw then started to produce; then several big hits on 4.5-5 through water, clicking off for only a minute or so in between. None escaped from the small ball of cotton, so all clean in there.
The trade-off is that a two or three piece grinder would not collect kief, rather send it more directly to the consumer!

 

[duff]

What do you use for your hopper?

3 piece Space Case

 

[JoeMama]

The first use tip I can give is ... Screw of the tip and shake it, if it rattle you should take a pair of tweezer and tighten the mouth piece screen

Second one comes from the smarty pants people here and that is to mark your batteries from 1 to x

X being the number of batteries you have
Mother fucking math

Here's another smarty pants suggestion.... screw the marking of batteries....
I work with a set of batteries, and they all - but one - go into the charger together, like at the end of the day, or whatever. I got tired of having to re-mark the batteries because even perma-markers don't stay longterm. This way, I just go through them and don't have to bother with going through them sequentially, like the anal OCD nut I was being when I first started with it.

The problem is, you need a charger with at least 4 bays. Otherwise, I suppose math is your only option.

 

[Hjalmark]

@JoeMama what about just a piece of clear tape .. Hmm or maybe not because heat and battery compartment size

Well I have a system on my battery storing bag, + side on left then it's full, + on the right its empty

I am looking for a battery box rather then bag or caps, wanna have as few parts and as portable as possible

Going to routine these for until spring and then buy 8 new, but only routate 4 at a time, then don't really need to worry about marking it

 

[Mr. Me2]

@JoeMama what about just a piece of clear tape .. Hmm or maybe not because heat and battery compartment size

Well I have a system on my battery storing bag, + side on left then it's full, + on the right its empty

I am looking for a battery box rather then bag or caps, wanna have as few parts and as portable as possible

Going to routine these for until spring and then buy 8 new, but only routate 4 at a time, then don't really need to worry about marking it

You might want to reach out to @Ratchett with your battery holder ideas. I only rotate 3 batteries and using his leather gh case and inverting spent batteries works for me

 

[JoeMama]

Does anyone have input on how the Hopper behaves when the batteries are on their last legs?
Specifically, Can a "full charge" on a dying battery result in a weak hit, even on the first draw?

 

[MoltenTiger]

Does anyone have input on how the Hopper behaves when the batteries are on their last legs?
Specifically, Can a "full charge" on a dying battery result in a weak hit, even on the first draw?

Once the batteries are dead, the charger will report them as fully charged (4.2V) but the hopper will report flat batteries (flashing red lights, no blue LED).
I assume this is because of a reduction in capacity, where the voltage falls away almost immediately and prevents the hopper from working normally.

When the batteries are in use, the capacity gradually shrinks, so the hopper burns through them faster. If they are really near death, there's blue flickering lights on first draw and the vapor production isn't consistent.

Some of my GHB1s are still working for 1-2 chambers and they seem to be holding up reasonably well. Half of them are dead though.

With the GHB2s, I'd guess the capacity is much greater, however after a few chambers it seems to be sustaining on less voltage so the performance isn't as good as a fresh battery, although there's enough capacity to keep it operational for a couple more chambers they don't seem to be vaped as well as from a fresh battery

 

[JoeMama]

Once the batteries are dead, the charger will report them as fully charged (4.2V) but the hopper will report flat batteries (flashing red lights, no blue LED).
I assume this is because of a reduction in capacity, where the voltage falls away almost immediately and prevents the hopper from working normally.

When the batteries are in use, the capacity gradually shrinks, so the hopper burns through them faster. If they are really near death, there's blue flickering lights on first draw and the vapor production isn't consistent.

Some of my GHB1s are still working for 1-2 chambers and they seem to be holding up reasonably well. Half of them are dead though.

With the GHB2s, I'd guess the capacity is much greater, however after a few chambers it seems to be sustaining on less voltage so the performance isn't as good as a fresh battery, although there's enough capacity to keep it operational for a couple more chambers they don't seem to be vaped as well as from a fresh battery

Thanks, Molten. Makes sense, as you say; the charger isn't measuring current capacity, just voltage, so, it's really no indication of health. Proof is in the pudding, I suppose.

 

[Vapor_Eyes]

I keep my batteries in a four bay 18650 case with Delta 3D Studios caps on the batteries. I pull from the front, and rotate everything forward, no marking necessary.

If I take the case with all of the batteries out and about I'll flip used ones over so the text is upside down.

Caps aren't necessary on both ends but it keeps the batteries from rattling around and making noise.

 

[JoeKickass]

2nd day with the GH I'm getting some good use through the Pinnacle/F-Bomb tube!

I'm not going to try to use it without water again, it's hard to get a satisfying cloud without burning your lungs. It even had me coughing through the mini tube! Vapor quality is really good though

Got the bad sensor police lights a few times but haven't seen them since

 

[sk8man121]

Field report: 12.16.16, Portland ME — It was 2 degrees this morning with a "real feel" of -14. The Grasshopper did not struggle to perform.

 

[perennialflare]

mine just came in this morning in a very pleasant surprise. And then I spent a good 10 minutes just admiring/holding it with my little bro because wow dang it feels nice. (literally his first words "holy shit it actually is a pen" and then @ the charger "this is some future shit") Tested it empty briefly, seems to work well. And now it's time to really test it out lmao

I'm also excited because when I visit my older bro, I use his water piece but he replaced his recently with something that is slightly smaller than 14mm that my UD does not fit into anymore (well it does but only kind of and its a PitA to hold). Hopefully the hopper's tapered mouth piece (with silicone cap) will be able to make a better seal, and since it's a single lightweight piece it should be easier to hold right in place. I'll have to see next time I visit, anyways

 

[NizzyJones]

Thanks for reminding me about cold temperature reports. Back in October my boss, my gf and I were able to use the GH session-style after work (I think it was around 35-40F outside, hopper had been inside or in my pocket until right before use). Cold enough out that the MP never got too hot, and we just passed it around like a joint to get a lil lit before hitting the bar.