I just went thru this and have had my hardware since Tuesday (thanks
@VGOODIEZ for the pre-sale consult, the crazy fast shipping*, and the post-delivery followup**). Here are my current thoughts for what they're worth... Note that I have a B2 with injector, so ymmv.
The benefit of the injector is a standardized head-to-bowl interface; it's an 18mm male joint, just like all the 18mm glass joints you see on this site, which enables you to use any appropriately-sized joint as a receiver. The Elev8 bowl, the wood ones from TNT and SBL, or any 18mm female adapter you can stuff a screen into and be happy with. The newly updated Shovelhead from CF also takes the injector, but the end of the nozzle comes very close to the screen so you're likely to get some green-ring action unless you load accordingly.
One potential downside is that the minimum spacing between your balls and your load (heh) is determined by the length of your injector (omg)***; Scott suggested I stack a flat screen on a basket screen to raise the deck of the Elev8 glass-screen bowl and raising the load 10mm made a huge difference.
With the non-injector head you don't get that engineered interface unless you're using the Shovelhead- I don't have the non-injector (yet?) but I guess that you just hold the heater to the top of whatever bowl you're using if it's not the Shovelhead? Min distance between your balls and load is smaller here, because there's no injector snout, but I dunno if it's difficult to get a good seal (and in the absence of an engineered interface you may need to hold the heater in place while using).
@David Root : I read your V-rod journey with great interest and agree with much of what you wrote and some of the related conclusions.
You pitched a FP with an injector on one side and the 22mm diffuser on the other. (
@Chris_CH : This is a *very* good idea; why make us choose?)
You built a nub. This inspired me to try to use my B2 upside down- I took the SIC dish off, reinstalled the B2 Nut, and flipped it over for use with my 14mm adapter bowl. Success, thanks!
Finally, there was more discussion about the load-to-balls distance, and I fully agree with those who concluded that the FP injector nozzle is overlong and that we need a bowl with adjustable deck.
$0.02,
fc
(*Ordered Friday, in-hand
Monday, no BS.)
(**Scott reached out via email a couple days later to check in; who the hell does that anymore? I've bought stuff that cost 10-20x what I've got in my FP and gotten
zero post-sale followup.)
(***frequently the case it would seem...)
[Edit to include new info from
@WelshBrok ]