Received my ZX yesterday and I was quite surprised at the size of the thing. Much smaller than I'd thought, with very little excess material in both the bowl and head. These things are beautiful, and the Zirconia really kicks it up a notch in looks. I haven't used an injector in a while because it puts the material so far away from the heat source, but this little guy looks like an ideal solution simply due to it's size. The bowl is so tiny, it's cute. It actually might be a bit too small to handle with my giant fingers. It is perfect for one-hitters though, and matches the amount of herb I normally use on the first screen setting. Good to know I can use larger loads with the additional screen notches, but it might present a flow problem if you use fine grinds.
I'm using mine with an Auber controller, and after a 15 minute burn-off at 350c, I went about the task of calibrating the temps. I like to do this to get a baseline for all my vapes. I set the controller to 232c (rough combustion temp for flower), then keep upping the temp correction until the bowl just starts to combust on a normal draw with a normal load. You'll taste it right away. Many bowls of experimenting later (freaking sky high now), I've settled on a correction factor of 1.4 for my draw on the Auber controller. After getting this set, I tend to vape at about 200c on every device.
Already, I'm quite happy with the flow of the ZX with the 3mm balls it comes with. It has just about the right resistance for me. The flow sits right between a Screwball with smaller than stock 2mm faceted corundum, and an Omega with 3mm faceted corundum. I use a 14mm female to 18mm male adapter with a screen pushed in as a microdose bowl on all my ball vapes, so the ZX works with my usual bowl out of the gate. Just have to push the screen in a bit deeper to accommodate the injector. Makes comparisons quite easy.
Pure function wise, I'd say I get a slightly more even roast with my diffusers and gemcut rubies. It's also tiny bit more of a hassle loading bowls, getting the flower settled lower into the bowl and out of the way of the injector. Personally, I think this is worth it to get more metal out of the airpath. It just needs a perfectly sized zirconium herb tamper!
Overall, the ZX is a fantastic injector, both in form and function. If you like one hitters with a smaller bowl to match, and like beautiful minimalistic ball vapes, the ZX will be right up your alley. I was worried at first with the lack of mass, but I'm pleasantly surprised at how well the ZX keeps up with a large draw! Because of it's minimal weight and size, it doesn't feel as clunky as my Screwball or Omega. I must say, the form and function of the ZX is just top notch. I think if you match this with a short dark hardwood coil handle and bowl cover, it'd be <cheff's kiss> amazing. That cheap aluminum coil stand needs to go though...
can’t wait to have this little beast in my hands
