**Ball vape comparison megathread** Compare your balls.

[Curious Gorilla]

Interesting new concept from b2cvape. Uses a 25mm coil and has 18mm and 29mm male injectors on either side. (Edit: Just confirmed with b2cvape that the 29mm male joint also fits over 22mm bowls). Was this inspired by your experimenting @felvapes ?
Doesn't really interest me but maybe it will some of you. Would be cool if one side was an injector and the other side a 22mm diffuser.
Now I'm more interested. Cool idea.

Nothing against B2CvapE, looks cool, but really its just VAS tweaking people with no thought. And tries to make it look like its not just the same as all the others, without succeeding.
I believe it just adds excess thermal mass, taking away from the benefits of an open coil. If you can afford the inneficiency of bigger baller heads and the extra weed they use vs effect, you can afford to get originals, or support smaller bespoke makers.
If you want more thermal mass putting it on the outside in the form of titanium is a bad design choice, in my opinion, especially with a naked coil.
This design is a fish on a bycicle.
As far as titanium heads go, most are overpriced for the manufacturing processes and materials. They appear to not have the inside anodised, which could prevent issues with Titanium allergies and peoples mk 1 S.C.A.B.A. Gear. (Self Contained Air Breathing Apparatus, otherwise known as lungs). The insides should be highly polished too.
I can appreciate cheap baller heads for all, I have a very simple cheap to produce design in titanium tube that could be made in UK and compete with jcvaps prices. I can make them myself, but my hands are a bit wrecked, so not in volume. And i dont speak CNC.
Any one capable whos interested and wants to produce it let me know.
DIY glass ones ( there are many viable similar designs on FC and elseware) are easy enough to make.
just bought a devine tribe v2 atomiser for 510 box mods to mess about with(new to me , they are like mini portable benchtop power supplies, interesting! And i cant afford a tinymight 2 and I refuse to buy the cheap chinese knockoff/ factory overrun?) and was talking to Matt at Recomended Vapes, there may be a couple of new designs of injector heads he is bringing to market. I got the impression it would be relatively soon , and somewhat different designs.

 

[Hippie]

Like the idea of the new longer coils (30mm long) and the look of the new screens on the 18mm end
And the Trio concept

I just hope the 29mm joint isn't too long to over the NewVape 22mm bowl (as it looks like it might be)

 

[LesPlenty]

Looks interesting, Q shops latest... probably not for the 'I don't like exposed coils' users,

 

[passerine]

I've had the ZX for a couple of days, here's my thoughts. I also have a Pinky and a ceramic tiodw, both with zirconia beads, and a Dynavap.
The ZX is essentially a finished product. It's not a head that you unscrew to add your choice of balls, it's a unibody design that comes pre-filled with 3mm corundum. There are metal grills on the top and bottom, I guess you could use a hook needle to pull out the top one to do a refill, but it seems best to leave it as is.
Getting the coil around the head was tough. What worked best for me was getting about half the coil past the slope on the bottom, until it's starting to get stuck, then pressing the top lid (where air comes in from) against a hard surface like wood, using my fingers to pry both ends of the coil apart while pushing it down onto the surface and around the head.
It comes with a 14-to-14mm bowl that's a lot tinier than the usual 14-to-18mm ones. The first things I noticed is that it seals really well in this bowl, the airflow feels open, but it whistles a bit when pulling. You also can't put huge amounts in and it's not easy to tamper the material. Obviously these points are about the bowl and not the vape, but the fact that the ZX is a smaller head means you will have to use a smaller bowl. You don't really need to tamper the material though because of how strong the hot air is. As you pull you can see the mush get compressed at the bottom and your ABV usually comes out pretty consistent in these compact pellets. Also I'm used to taking my vape head off near the end of a pull and ending it with cool air, but if I do that with the ZX, once I stop inhalling some backflow air from the Globe makes the ABV shoot up from the bowl. I've had to clean detritus off my desk a couple of times. It's really the only problem I have with the ZX.
This thing extracts fast. I've never tried a metal ball vape, mostly because I wanted an all-glass/ceramic pathway, but from reading several comparisons, the consensus seems to be that metal heads transfer heat better and as a result extract faster. That's how I see this, even though it's zirconia it just turns my Globe white in 2 seconds. For comparison, and this is obviously gut feeling, my Pinky extracts like 70% in the first pull, 20% in the second, and always leaves a large green ring on the outside that requires stirring. My ceramic Tiodw is much more consistent, but very slow at 40%-30%-10% etc. The ZX does like 80%-20% and it's done. Once you do 2 big pulls at a certain temperature it's not doing anything unless you go up.
I think this is due to 3 factors:

1. it's obviously a well-designed vape with great airflow
2. the corundum beads, I first went with zirconia, but people who've tried both say corundum transfers heat faster. This won't matter to most of you that only use corundum anyway.
3. and probably biggest is the bowl. This thing is tiny, both narrower and shorter than a 14-to-18mm bowl, but it pushes the material closer to the beads meaning it gets faster and hotter air on it when you pull. It also means there's less temperature gradient in the bowl since it's narrower, making your ABV consistent

Flavor-wise it's very clean. I've been using it at 550F, 500F gets me a longer and tastier session that hits softer, 580F makes me forget my address.
Pros:

• fast extraction
• hard hitting
• good flavor
• all-glass pathway

Cons:

• tiny bowl that shoots ABV in the air
• can't pack very large amounts

It's now my favorite ball vape head. Before I got the ZX I was thinking of buying a metal ball vape head. Now I'm not, I just don't see what much else I could be getting. The ceramic tiodw is still the best for longer sessions with a lot of flavor, but this is now my best method of extracting THC.

 

[coolbreeze]

tiny bowl that shoots ABV in the air

Great review, glad you're enjoying it!

Tip: the bowl's not the issue, it's the Globe. The blowback is a design issue with open, airy percs on big-bore downstems. I assume that when you use it otherwise you leave the heater/vape on the bowl, which creates enough backpressure to slow the piston of water jamming up into that downstem as the water settles, or you pull the vape and bowl to clear your hit? In either case that will mitigate the reefer volcano, but the easiest way to do it is to get a pass-through valve (as has been added to the newer Megaglobes). This will allow you to clear the bowl and give the onrushing piston of air an outlet other than your bowl!

In the meantime, pulling the bowl with the vape head to clear the vapor will solve the duff showers, or just leaving the head on the bowl until the water settles may work as well.

 

[Timps27]

the fact that the ZX is a smaller head means you will have to use a smaller bowl.

Not so. I use a SBL wooden bowl (originally from Hot Rod) with my ZX, originally designed for 19mm injectors that bowl can hold a lot more than the phase3 bowl.

 

[Oden]

You can use an 18 injector bowl with a mal 18, and female 14 adapter.
I make big bowls like that with my SX, and strangely it works very well at 600

 

[coolbreeze]

Not so. I use a SBL wooden bowl (originally from Hot Rod) with my ZX, originally designed for 19mm injectors that bowl can hold a lot more than the phase3 bowl.

The CouchLog bowl's big and works very well, and someone discovered that the early versions of @Ed's TnT's injector adapters work great too (not only do they seal, but the depth works well with the injector inserted).

 

[Cloud McLongFoot]

Hey guys, Aussie cloud lover here hoping for some advice. Being in Australia we unfortunately have quite limited access to ball vapes with the 2 main ones available here being the freight train line up and qaroma shop line up. I am very keen to get into the ball vape space but was hoping you all could let me know whether it would be worth waiting for some of the newer toys to reach our shores/buy international if the performance is justified or just jump the gun with the freight train pro?

 

[LesPlenty]

Being in Australia

waiting for some of the newer toys to reach our shores

I hear there may be an Aussie player in the market soon as well...but life is short and the Q shop has twice the votes in this poll than some so why not, those Qaroma XL look quite nice, but crazy prices,

Qaroma XL Aromatherapy Device

The Quaroma XL is the extra large version of our Flagship Quartz Device. Qaroma XL uses a 30mm, Clockwise, 5 wrap Heater Coil to transform Qaroma into a full fledged aromatherapy flavour beast!

everestcollective.com.au

These look very overpriced when you take a gander at the Zeal and its variants.
For the price of shipping of most ball vapes from the US to Oz you could get a Grade 2 Titanium Tiodw Mini Housing for AUD50, but you have to make up the rest of the kit if you don't have a PID etc already.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005148000727.html?gps-id=pcStoreLeaderboard&scm=1007.22922.271278.0&scm_id=1007.22922.271278.0&scm-url=1007.22922.271278.0&pvid=6862802c-8f9c-44f0-9c5f-de6339f24623&_t=gps-id%3ApcStoreLeaderboard%2Cscm-url%3A1007.22922.271278.0%2Cpvid%3A6862802c-8f9c-44f0-9c5f-de6339f24623%2Ctpp_buckets%3A668%232846%238116%232002&pdp_npi=3%40dis%21USD%2149.9%2132.43%21%21%21%21%21%402101f01816844073244037043e9e30%2112000031858569321%21rec%21AU%21760816561&spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.smartLeaderboard_6000275376040.1005005148000727

@felvapes has recommended this option for Aussies and he has tried a few more ball vapes than I...he has been missing for a little while so not sure where his testing is up to.

 

[Cloud McLongFoot]

I hear there may be an Aussie player in the market soon as well...

That would be amazing to see, we have a market growing and people like Old Mate and his Aroma grinder which are making waves

These look very overpriced when you take a gander at the Zeal and its variants.
For the price of shipping of most ball vapes from the US to Oz you could get a Grade 2 Titanium Tiodw Mini Housing for AUD50, but you have to make up the rest of the kit if you don't have a PID etc already.

The Zeal does look amazing and I agree the Qaroma seems pretty steep thats why i had been leaning towards the Freight Train Pro. Should probably also explain I'm looking for something with strong efficient extraction like what I have seen from the TKO and Zeal. Hopefully I can pick @felvapes mind at some point hahah

 

[Custom Flower Hardware]

Balls &no balls😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️

Watch "Balls &no balls😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️" on Streamable.

streamable.com

 

[DrömmenOmFrihet]

Can someone who's used both the Freight Train and B0 give me a comparison? I'm 98% sure I'm going with the Freight Train for safety reasons, but would still appreciate it.

 

[coolbreeze]

Sweet Deals!

ZX Plug-&-Play Kit

ZX is the 9th Generation RBV from PHASE3 . Since 2019 we've continually innovated the desktop space, pioneering a number of industry firsts to provide a superior enthusiast experience. With over a decade of research and development in the community, the ZX has been carefully optimized to...

www.gophase3.com

 

[DrömmenOmFrihet]

Sweet Deals!

ZX Plug-&-Play Kit

ZX is the 9th Generation RBV from PHASE3 . Since 2019 we've continually innovated the desktop space, pioneering a number of industry firsts to provide a superior enthusiast experience. With over a decade of research and development in the community, the ZX has been carefully optimized to...

www.gophase3.com

Does this come with everything pre-installed or would I need to attach the coil?

 

[coolbreeze]

Does this come with everything pre-installed or would I need to attach the coil?

Probably so, my Z8 came mounted in the coil. I'd ask @invertedisdead. It's not hard to do and he'd get you together.

Edit: I just checked, it says it's installed. You're good out of the box.

 

[LesPlenty]

Sweet Deals!

ZX Plug-&-Play Kit

ZX is the 9th Generation RBV from PHASE3 . Since 2019 we've continually innovated the desktop space, pioneering a number of industry firsts to provide a superior enthusiast experience. With over a decade of research and development in the community, the ZX has been carefully optimized to...

www.gophase3.com

I wonder if we will ever see an 18mm injector version of this as apart from being 14mm it looks great.

 

[DrömmenOmFrihet]

I wonder if we will ever see an 18mm injector version of this as apart from being 14mm it looks great.

Would an 18mm -> 14mm adapter not work?

 

[Vaporware]

Considering I paid $420 for my Z8 and it didn’t include a PID, seems like a great deal!

@LesPlenty I haven’t used any of the 18mm “ballers”, but personally I find that these hold more than I need them to and I don’t even tamp at all.

Maybe you have a much higher tolerance, but I feel like if I packed these full and hit them at high temps they’d already choke me out.

 

[coolbreeze]

Would an 18mm -> 14mm adapter not work?

He's referring to the diameter of the nozzle. These are unusual because they're 14mm male instead of the more standard 18mm male. It affects load size and the geometry of the oven/roasting path.

EDIT: But, you can in fact use a reducer in an 18mm bowl for this to fit and it'll roast just fine, just not as optimally as it does with its own chamber.

 

[Timps27]

I actually think the efficiency of the 14mm is part of the draw. I own several big ballers and the ZX was the latest to my collection; ZX runs at 410-420 depending on what bowl I pair with it, while the others are all in the 5-600’s. Too much mass is pulling in wasted calories in the big boys, the ZX finds the sweet spot. All of my [favorite] glass is 18mm, so I did have to buy a few more bowls but I’m very happy I got it!

 

[coolbreeze]

I actually think the efficiency of the 14mm is part of the draw. I own several big ballers and the ZX was the latest to my collection; ZX runs at 410-420 depending on what bowl I pair with it, while the others are all in the 5-600’s. Too much mass is pulling in wasted calories in the big boys, the ZX finds the sweet spot. All of my [favorite] glass is 18mm, so I did have to buy a few more bowls but I’m very happy I got it!

Same here. Makes it simple to do reasonably sized, very flavorful hits with a fantastic high. Makes for a great daily driver. I have bigger ones to bring out when that's called for, too, but the Zs will punch hard.

 

[invertedisdead]

I wonder if we will ever see an 18mm injector version of this as apart from being 14mm it looks great.

The first eight versions were 18MM; I find the 14MM system hits just as hard if not harder using a fraction of the material and produces much smoother vapor. It’s also a quicker, snappier evaporation which better emulates a traditional “bong hit.”

Lot of wasted heat on the larger setups that goes directly to the throat. As a heavier user that’s a huge deal. I guess that might sound surprising going smaller with heavy use but the bead chamber is actually the same size as my last 18MM release which is one reason for the “supercharged” performance.

Instead of only focusing on “full extraction” the ZX and Z8 were refined to emphasize absorption. Extraction means nothing if it just creates a bunch of condensate floating on the water line. The vapor has to make it to the alveoli in the lungs to have any effectiveness.

I’m in discussion with a peer to do some content discussing this kind of stuff in greater detail.

Also if you did want to vape a bigger bowl, there’s a new glass bowl prototype being tested that holds around .5G.
There were some pictures on my Instagram of this last week.

Does this come with everything pre-installed or would I need to attach the coil?

It’s completely plug and play, just turn it on and put something green in the bowl

 

[LesPlenty]

Also if you did want to vape a bigger bowl, there’s a new glass bowl prototype being tested that holds around .5G.

That is more than enough for me (about double what I use when in 'pig mode' in a bowl) but I have pretty good herbs...nice!

 

[Axel_420]

I have never tried a ball vape.
Do the ball vapes mentioned here you believe are among the absolute best tasting vaporizers because of the purity of the balls that they all share? Similar or even better flavor than Herborizer? Just to mention one of the absolute best in this regard.
I have a Tinymight, could its performance (power, extraction, vapor quality, flavor) be far surpassed when compared to a ball vape? In particular I would like to know about the ZX. I would like to use it to extract everything in one shot or in a few draws, something like the TM.