Crafty/Crafty+ by Storz & Bickel

[Roth]

Hey Roth, then yes the problem was caused by the migration from Android 4 to 5.
The root cause is in fact due to the crafty firmware 2.04 (this is what needs to be upgraded).

As @Vambo1980 suggested send it in and they will more than likely replace it with new unit and updated housing too.

There is a work around using the 3rd party app "vaporiser control" but I wouldn't recommend it... It tends to play up a lot (not the apps fault, obviously the crafty firmware).

I'm still running mine on 2.04. I rarely change the settings. I leave it at 180 and 205 boost and I never need to use the app. I have a android 4 tablet at home or my friend's phone.

My OG crafty has been running flawlessly for, just shy of, 1 year.
I'm scared to send in my OG and risk getting one of the units others are complaining about here (which seem to be newer units).

Murphy's law: "don't fix it if I ain't broken".

You're choice though, maybe keep it up the sleeve for when the battery starts getting worse ... It's like your free ticket to a battery replacement..... Nomjustsayin

Ya, I don't really want to send it in. And was sitting on it for the "free" battery replacement like you mentioned. I just really like having the option of using the app when I want. I prefer to look at it for battery life rather than the light flashes.

Going to hold off for a bit, and see how I can deal with it. I might check out the 3rd party app, just to make sure I have my temps where I want them at least. I think I have them at 185 and 205. I'd like to have 185 and 210 if I won't have the option to change later.

I do like having one of the OG Crafty's, my SN is in the 500's.

 

[skeletor]

How efficient, only one trip to the post. With my 3x Craftys, I didn't wait for ship label, just sent them in with escalating frustrating love notes. Third time was the charm and I went for a Mighty instead. Asked for it in the note and the response was a reasonable invoice which I paid and new Mighty shipped right out. I'm off the Crafty merry-go-round!

@vapviking what did they charge you to make the move? I've heard everything from $30 to only receiving a $100 credit for the dead crafty, and a $300 invoice.

But, now that I'm on the Crafty-Go-Round, I am happy to say: The Air is here, and it works! My ABV isn't quite as dark as Crafty's -- but Crafty's in the mail again, so hey! Thanks Puffitup and Arizer!

I will say this: S&B turnaround time on e-mail was much better this time? But they totally pulled an old address from Stamps.com when generating my shipping labels, rather than the one I told them to use....

What's the point of the RMA form being sent in for a shipping label if they aren't going to bother to read it?

So, more back and forth e-mail, but its worked out. Starting to think S & B get their Customer Service reps from the same place as Dell and Time Warner Cable - except I had e-mail responses in under an hour all day today. This is drastically better than a month ago, where responses would go unanswered for days.

So... Sorta kinda maybe good on ya Storz & Bickel USA? Now please send me something that reliably lives up to the product description and warranty?

 

[vapviking]

@vapviking what did they charge you to make the move? I've heard everything from $30 to only receiving a $100 credit for the dead crafty, and a $300 invoice.

Sorry I have to be brief,
C#2 went bad and they would not give me upgrade,saying I had charged the battery over 920!!! times (I don't accept that number, btw), apparently over the 8?? limit. Offered me that $100 discount on Mighty (yeah, pay 300), or pay $70 for new battery in Crafty. I opted for battery and they sent complete new unit, actually only charging my card $50.

That one lasted about two months, so I again asked if they were ready now to give me a piece that might better suit my use pattern.

Then got an invoice for $60 for Mighty, and went that route. I will meet my new piece on weds. on my return home. Kinda excited about this, since both of these things kick ass when working!

Satisfaction can be an elusive commodity in this game.

I would put in a phone call and email and get an upgrade agreement before they fire off a new disposable Crafty to you.

Again, only one person's experience. Best of luck!

I posted detail of this previously - maybe on Mighty thread, idk, but I should stop repeating my story, lest it take on disproportionate magnitude.

 

[skeletor]

Sorry I have to be brief,
C#2 went bad and they would not give me upgrade,saying I had charged the battery over 920!!! times (I don't accept that number, btw), apparently over the 8?? limit. Offered me that $100 discount on Mighty (yeah, pay 300), or pay $70 for new battery in Crafty. I opted for battery and they sent complete new unit, actually only charging my card $50.

That one lasted about two months, so I again asked if they were ready now to give me a piece that might better suit my use pattern.

Then got an invoice for $60 for Mighty, and went that route. I will meet my new piece on weds. on my return home. Kinda excited about this, since both of these things kick ass when working!

Satisfaction can be an elusive commodity in this game.

I would put in a phone call and email and get an upgrade agreement before they fire off a new disposable Crafty to you.

Again, only one person's experience. Best of luck!

I posted detail of this previously - maybe on Mighty thread, idk, but I should stop repeating my story, lest it take on disproportionate magnitude.

Yeah, I have a hard time swallowing a lot of the use estimates based on numbers of hours from the app, etc.

Consider this: By the end of this Crafty's life, its heat time, from 80F to 185F was over 4 minutes. This was on the "33rd hour" of use in something like 36 days. OK -- but if every session on this crafty took 2 minutes longer to heat up than the last one? How much was I actually using it? How many actual sessions did I get out of the unit before it died?

It's like the number of licks it takes to get to the center of the Tootsie Roll pop. The world may never know...

Thanks for the response. ;-)

 

[grokit]

C#2 went bad and they would not give me upgrade,saying I had charged the battery over 920!!! times (I don't accept that number, btw), apparently over the 8?? limit.

Do you remember how many hours were on this crafty when it failed?

 

[vapviking]

Do you remember how many hours were on this crafty when it failed?

#2 (26,xxx) had.about 135 hours, 4 month lifespan. It's demise was not lights of doom, it was not able to charge/hold charge.
Only #3 showed the red/orange lights and that was at about 60 hrs, 2 months.

Btw, I think there must be an internal counter of some kind for number of charge cycles. As I've said before, I seriously question the metric of how they measure this count.
I hope I've covered it all now cause I'm really tired of talking about it.
Get me home to meet Mighty, I am full of optimism! (And please, please get me that Grasshopper I've been waiting for...)

 

[grokit]

That's what I was wondering about, the ratio of hours vs. charge cycles on the counters. So if 135 hours = 920 charge cycles, then 13.5 hours = 92 charge cycles and so on, unless it's more of a logarithmic ratio.

 

[Wizsteve]

if they was smart they redo the crafty so we could remove the batteries to charge .That way when they go bad they can be replaced cheaply and fast .plus you always have spares charging.

 

[justcametomind]

To all the people who had a broken Crafty and cares to answer:

- did you "stress" your unit in any way? Did you use it connected to glass very frequently? Lots of back to back sessions?
Lot of use everyday? Was it your primary device? Screwing and unscrewing when hot all the times? Charged frequently while hot?

This is not to blame anyone, just to try to isolate the possible causes

 

[h3rbalist]

To all the people who had a broken Crafty and cares to answer:

- did you "stress" your unit in any way? Did you use it connected to glass very frequently? Lots of back to back sessions?
Lot of use everyday? Was it your primary device? Screwing and unscrewing when hot all the times? Charged frequently while hot?

This is not to blame anyone, just to try to isolate the possible causes

I used my first Crafty back 2 back as my daily driver.
Always very careful of the case when taking the CU on and off.
Charged fully 3+ times a day.
It was always overheating and dropping connection to the app and the battery started taking a long time to charge.


My replacement Crafty is not a daily driver anymore, and I use it as a stealthy portable maybe twice or three times a day and charge it once a day, max.

This seem to be much more agreeable for my Crafty and it has not given me any more problems.

(fingers crossed)

If stealth was not important to me and I needed a daily driver, I would buy a Mighty.

 

[Niko87]

Hi been lurking here for a while, and recently purchased a crafty. Ive used a few different portable vapes in the past like the gpen and gpro. Those were good enough to get me interested in vaping but not good enough to move completely from combustion, the crafty however has changed all of that. The only thing i can see stopping me is reliability, unfortunately due to my current living situation a desktop is a no go (ive never found vapes truly eliminate the smell), so im aware the batteries constantly need replacing and eventually you can start being charged £70 to replace them. How easy is it to replace the battery? Ive watched the video of someone opening the crafty and it seems easy enough although it doesn't show how the battery connects to the crafty. Also can anyone recommend the type of battery that works best as a replacement?

 

[UnshavenFish]

First off welcome to FC

How easy is it to replace the battery

IMO not as easy as it might look by watching the video, you will need some good soldering skills and the right tools for the job to do it without causing damage, it has already been done by a few members but I don't think it's something most will do, I know I will leave mine alone while its under warranty (after the warranty now that's a different story, but that's still 17 month away for me)

so im aware the batteries constantly need replacing and eventually you can start being charged £70 to replace them.

This will depend on how much it is used amongst other things, I'm still on my first crafty (fw v02.05, you know the one with all the problems ) and after 7 month of light use (on a normal day 1-2 bowls, as it's not my most used vape) my cell is still performing great with a heat up time of 2mins and less depending on variables, also I don't think you will have to pay £70 for a cell change probably more like half that say £30-£40 + shipping, I think someone in the mighty thread paid around $100 which is around £60-£65 but that's for double the cells.

 

[YetAnotherUsername]

@justcametomind My experiences confirm your intuition. A few times when plastic chipped off I'm sure leaving hot CU screwed on was to blame. Once mechanicals (termostat?) simply failed (wouldn't reach temp) and started to smell funky. Regarding battery which was my complain a few posts earlier, I know I'm too blame, I do solely back to back with @Ratchett 's SonG. I leave it charging pretty much every night.

 

[Niko87]

First off welcome to FC



IMO not as easy as it might look by watching the video, you will need some good soldering skills and the right tools for the job

Cheers for the welcome and the info had a feeling that was going to be the case. Not planning to do anything while in warranty lol, was hoping the battery would maybe just clip onto a connection on the board, hopefully it will hold out for a good while, but will only have light use untill i quit smoking

Need to say though so far im loving the crafty, only vape i haven't regretted buying within days of purchase, heres hoping it lasts a good while before i need to send it in for anything.

 

[vapviking]

#2 (26,xxx) had.about 135 hours, 4 month lifespan. It's demise was not lights of doom, it was not able to charge/hold charge.
Only #3 showed the red/orange lights and that was at about 60 hrs, 2 months.

Btw, I think there must be an internal counter of some kind for number of charge cycles. As I've said before, I seriously question the metric of how they measure this count.
I hope I've covered it all now cause I'm really tired of talking about it.
Get me home to meet Mighty, I am full of optimism! (And please, please get me that Grasshopper I've been waiting for...)

One Correction;
Apologies, it was late.
#2 was S/N in the 11,xxx range v.2.04
It was #3 that was 26,xxx range v 2.07

 

[Vambo1980]

was hoping the battery would maybe just clip onto a connection on the board

The battery does just plug/clip into the board, so eventually people will probably sell them with this plug on and the right amount of cable and even the thermistor also ready and shrink wrapped as a complete battery(thermistor is also plugged in but this connection is very small) The demand will increase as the first of the early adoptors 2 year warranty runs out most likely. If you know how to solder (and its not hard at all) it's a very easy job and you don't have to re-route cables etc it can basically done in situ. 5 mins work if you know what your doing 10 if you don't.

 

[Niko87]

The battery does just plug/clip into the board, so eventually people will probably sell them with this plug on and the right amount of cable and even the thermistor also ready and shrink wrapped as a complete battery(thermistor is also plugged in but this connection is very small) The demand will increase as the first of the early adoptors 2 year warranty runs out most likely. If you know how to solder (and its not hard at all) it's a very easy job and you don't have to re-route cables etc it can basically done in situ. 5 mins work if you know what your doing 10 if you don't.

Thanks for the response, i know a few people that solder and that can teach me, so will look into that in future. I read over your posts about the issues you had with yours and how you fixed them, is the soldering mainly to fix that issue or do you need to solder anything to swap out the batteries? And what batteries would you recommend as replacements?

Sorry for all the questions lol, i know alot of this stuff is still covered under warranty but i've always found fixing things myself more conveniant than sending them for repair. Any info on swapping the battery would be greatly appreciated, i wont need to do it any time soon, just like to be prepared and know what im working with

 

[cek]

Hey everyone, longtime thread lurker. Bought my first Crafty (v2.07) back in July from a third party seller. It suddenly died today with about 53 hours of usage logged. The seller says they'll replace my unit free of charge. The battery had been slowing down for quite some time now -- when I used it for the last time this morning, it took about 3, maybe 3.5 minutes to heat up to 365 F.

It's a shame to have to replace my Crafty already... I was hoping I could have something that would last me a couple of years given how much it costs. It's my only vape and I'm a patient, so I've got a rough few days ahead of me. I also bought a Flowermate 5.0s as a backup in case this happens again.

To all the people who had a broken Crafty and cares to answer:

- did you "stress" your unit in any way? Did you use it connected to glass very frequently? Lots of back to back sessions?
Lot of use everyday? Was it your primary device? Screwing and unscrewing when hot all the times? Charged frequently while hot?

This is not to blame anyone, just to try to isolate the possible causes

Occasional back-to-back sessions... I share it with friends at least a couple of days a week. It's only been hooked up to glass a few times. Usage ended up totaling roughly half an hour a day though. It's my primary device, rarely screwed/unscrewed while hot but I sometimes charged it while hot.

 

[skeletor]

To all the people who had a broken Crafty and cares to answer:

- did you "stress" your unit in any way? Did you use it connected to glass very frequently? Lots of back to back sessions?
Lot of use everyday? Was it your primary device? Screwing and unscrewing when hot all the times? Charged frequently while hot?

This is not to blame anyone, just to try to isolate the possible causes

Crafty 1 2.07 firmware, old housing - Died after 41 Hours:

RARE back to back sessions. Daily driver, 3-4 sessions daily (but why shouldn't it be? It's a $339 device with a 2 year warranty, and I can't count the number of other things I use daily with Li-ion batteries without them just up and dying)

Minimal concentrate usage. Pass thru-used like twice until everything I read said, "Yeah, not really a feature, more a way to screw up your battery fast."

Crafty 2 - 2.08 firmware, revised housing, Died after 33 hours

NO back to back sessions.
NO concentrate usage.
NO charging of the unit whatsoever until temperature returned to room temperature (so yeah, seriously, the wait time between my session, charging, and my next session was really long).

This one was babied to a point of absurdity - so much that it never left the house. It died faster.

Both units died the same way: In boost mode, after about 10 minutes of use in a session. Both units became incredibly hot to use on their last day. The second Crafty's battery showed weakness after 2 weeks. If you wait long enough after getting the red/amber lights (30 minutes), on the next power up, the unit will act normal -- but the heater never comes on. Then, on power off, red/amber flashing.

Since the Crafty still turns on, still charges, but never heats when it dies this way? I figure this is the blown fuse that many people have talked about, and that very clearly at least one person in this forum fixed through a simple replacement of crappy push clips and either replacing or bypassing the fuse.

Why do Craftys die? Design flaws and treating customers as guinea pigs is why.

 

[justcametomind]

Thanks all for the answers to my question.
Someone earlier said that than even the Volcano didn't come as dependable as it is today so maybe one day the Crafty will be more dependable one day.
Come without saying that of they don't go for swappable batteries they'll have a hard time.

 

[Vambo1980]

Thanks for the response, i know a few people that solder and that can teach me, so will look into that in future. I read over your posts about the issues you had with yours and how you fixed them, is the soldering mainly to fix that issue or do you need to solder anything to swap out the batteries? And what batteries would you recommend as replacements?

Sorry for all the questions lol, i know alot of this stuff is still covered under warranty but i've always found fixing things myself more conveniant than sending them for repair. Any info on swapping the battery would be greatly appreciated, i wont need to do it any time soon, just like to be prepared and know what im working with

Battery needs to be able to discharge (at least) 10A constantly, and ideally have the lowest temps under-load if you are to tape the thermistor back to the cell. Mine is separated and tucked away from the battery so I don't get the cool down warnings and shut downs: I do not advise everyone doing this, I have done it as I am confident the cell can handle the temps and current I'm using it for + if it set's on fire I've got a good throw!

Different Lithium chemistry types have different characteristics for instance some are great at sustaining voltage under-load other have lower temps under-load, some have high overall density but cannot output high currents. Each has different trade off for safety performance and life cycle, some are good all rounder's.

Inside my crafty originally was the Panasonic NCR18650PF, it may well still be used in current version. This battery is rated 10A continuous @ 2700mAh with an internal resistance of around 21mOhm, but as I have found, having a battery in the crafty which can output 20A constantly and with a lower internal resistance (Samsung INR18650-25R @ 2500mAh with 13mOhm internal resistance) your reward is a faster heat up time and much puncher performance, the down side is that it has lower overall capacity (slightly less run time although I've not really noticed it) and the cell itself does heat up more than the Panasonic and I would not expect it to last as long either, but they are cheap! Hold's a fairly decent voltage and did I say they were cheap? I have used one now for over 150 hours and after such time the cell's performance had decreased from 1min 20ish heat up to around 1min55 so it still was working well really, but I have lots so changed it out again for the speed vaping.

Briefly, changing a battery consists of removing the existing shrink wrap from the battery to reveal the thermistor (tiny little black resistor at the end of 2 small wires) which is taped to the side. You then de-solder the red and black cables from the tabs attached to the cells positive and negative terminals. The cell you purchase will have to be tagged ready to re-solder the cables too. Remove the old cell, solder up the cables to the new, using either shrink wrap or kapton tape insulate the terminals then use a bit of kapton / sticky tape to reattach the thermistor to the side of the cell like it was when you cut it open. Plug the battery back into the board and the thermistor if you removed it, it is a tiny plug and you need to be gentle with it as you do with the heater connection on the main board. Make sure the cables all run back the way they came and do not foul the screw holes or interconnecting pieces of the case. If you want you could shorten the length of the battery cables to make it a bit easier to get it all back in. Mine were a bit to long to get it all back easily, but they do all go back into place, remember how they are run before you remove it. Do not over tighten the torx screws when re-assembling.

It's kind of catch 22, if you open up the unit you could possibly move the heater that is connected to the fuse which is pushed into the PCB. This could put pressure on the heater fuse which then if you don't solder directly, like I have, you could introduce or potentially cause a thermal issue when you use it again. If this does happen, the base gets warmer than it did before. You will have to solder directly like I have or engineer another solution. Although they may have improved the design of this since I received my crafty. So if you do open up the crafty to change the battery and you have not had any issues with the base of the unit getting hot then when you open it just be careful not to put any stress on this connection- you can keep it all in position when you open it with no issues, the only time your likely to move it is when you unplug the battery/thermistor.

Ok so maybe not ten mins first time round! :-)

 

[inhale]

Briefly, changing a battery consists of removing the existing shrink wrap from the battery to reveal the thermistor (tiny little black resistor at the end of 2 small wires) which is taped to the side. You then de-solder the red and black cables from the tabs attached to the cells positive and negative terminals. The cell you purchase will have to be tagged ready to re-solder the cables too. Remove the old cell, solder up the cables to the new, using either shrink wrap or kapton tape insulate the terminals then use a bit of kapton / sticky tape to reattach the thermistor to the side of the cell like it was when you cut it open.

So when you say the batteries need to be tagged ready, do you mean they need to be spot weld with those nickel tabs ?

 

[Deano]

My observation so far.

I recently picked up a Crafty because of all the rave reviews and wanted to give it a try. I currently own an Arizer Air as well so I use this as my baseline for comparisons.

This isn't meant to be a full review but things that stand out between the two devices.

Taste wise they're pretty close. In fact I would say the glass stems on the Air provide slightly better flavor but the difference is negligible.

Resistance wise the Crafty wins hands down. It's literally a night and day difference between the two. The Air feels like you're pulling through a straw with a super thick milkshake. This requires long, slow pulls of at least 10-12 seconds to produce thick noticeable clouds.

The Crafty on the other hand is like sipping on a soda. Easy flowing and quite deceiving because it's so smooth.

My biggest complaint is efficiency and number of hits per bowl on each unit. With the Crafty on default temp settings I can only get 5-6 pulls before the vapor starts thinning and becoming less visible. Even on boost mode I only get maybe 2 more light hits that are hardly noticeable.

With the same amount of herb in my Air on the green setting (392*F) which is about 40* higher than the Crafty's default setting I can get about 10 good, visible draws and if I boost it to red (410*F) to finish it off I manage at least another 6-7 hits before it's "cashed".

I'm seeing about double the hits from my Air with the same amount of herb. This is the only drawback with my Crafty. I've read reviews and seen several online video reviews of guys averaging 10-12 draws per bowl and it makes me wonder if my unit is defective.

Sure the strain and how finely ground the herb is makes a difference but I'm using the same material from the same grinder in both and in terms of quantity of draws the Air makes my herb last longer, more from my money so to speak.

 

[UnshavenFish]

My observation so far.

I recently picked up a Crafty because of all the rave reviews and wanted to give it a try. I currently own an Arizer Air as well so I use this as my baseline for comparisons.

This isn't meant to be a full review but things that stand out between the two devices.

Taste wise they're pretty close. In fact I would say the glass stems on the Air provide slightly better flavor but the difference is negligible.

Resistance wise the Crafty wins hands down. It's literally a night and day difference between the two. The Air feels like you're pulling through a straw with a super thick milkshake. This requires long, slow pulls of at least 10-12 seconds to produce thick noticeable clouds.

The Crafty on the other hand is like sipping on a soda. Easy flowing and quite deceiving because it's so smooth.

My biggest complaint is efficiency and number of hits per bowl on each unit. With the Crafty on default temp settings I can only get 5-6 pulls before the vapor starts thinning and becoming less visible. Even on boost mode I only get maybe 2 more light hits that are hardly noticeable.

With the same amount of herb in my Air on the green setting (392*F) which is about 40* higher than the Crafty's default setting I can get about 10 good, visible draws and if I boost it to red (410*F) to finish it off I manage at least another 6-7 hits before it's "cashed".

I'm seeing about double the hits from my Air with the same amount of herb. This is the only drawback with my Crafty. I've read reviews and seen several online video reviews of guys averaging 10-12 draws per bowl and it makes me wonder if my unit is defective.

Sure the strain and how finely ground the herb is makes a difference but I'm using the same material from the same grinder in both and in terms of quantity of draws the Air makes my herb last longer, more from my money so to speak.

Sounds normal to me, I have the air and crafty and see the same sort of thing, I can put more in the crafty and get less hits than with less material in my air, this is just down to how they work, the crafty has better flow and IMO better heat retention/heater allowing bowls to be finished quicker with bigger hits, crafty is more like a bong something you can rip hard and fast and for me I feel like I get a stronger and faster acting high, air is more like a joint something to take your time with good for sitting taking it easy, this is just my point of view though.

I would agree the air will make your herb last longer due to smaller and longer lasting bowls, for me though the air is more of a daytime or top-up vape as I prefer big free flowing hits, sure the air can get me to the same place as the crafty but it takes longer to get there (for me), they are both great vapes and both outperform eachother in different areas, just a case of matching the vape to the situation.

Ok so maybe not ten mins first time round! :-)

Yeah the messed up way my overthinking head works that's an hour minimum (this post has taken over an hour )

Nice walkthrough bud

 

[Roth]

My biggest complaint is efficiency and number of hits per bowl on each unit. With the Crafty on default temp settings I can only get 5-6 pulls before the vapor starts thinning and becoming less visible. Even on boost mode I only get maybe 2 more light hits that are hardly noticeable.

With the same amount of herb in my Air on the green setting (392*F) which is about 40* higher than the Crafty's default setting I can get about 10 good, visible draws and if I boost it to red (410*F) to finish it off I manage at least another 6-7 hits before it's "cashed".

I'm seeing about double the hits from my Air with the same amount of herb. This is the only drawback with my Crafty. I've read reviews and seen several online video reviews of guys averaging 10-12 draws per bowl and it makes me wonder if my unit is defective.

Sure the strain and how finely ground the herb is makes a difference but I'm using the same material from the same grinder in both and in terms of quantity of draws the Air makes my herb last longer, more from my money so to speak.

I'd say that's working just as intended. The Crafty is just more efficient at extracting your goodies quickly. You're getting the same amount, just quicker and in less hits.

Once you get no more vapor from the Crafty, try putting that AVB into your Air. You won't be getting any more hits. At least I never did when I put my Crafty AVB into my EVO.