Ok, to start out...
The DotLeaf requires a fully packed bowl to perform properly. Because it is conduction focused heating, it requires contact with the chamber, and the more contact the better. I have been using a medium grind, and because of the size of the holes in the chamber, I would not recommend using a fine grind with this. The herb chamber/heating oven is modular and removeable, so that can be a bit of a pain every time you want to reload the bowl, but because of the size of the bowl, and how many hits/sessions you get out of the one bowl of herb, I believe it balances out. Not to get ahead of myself, but this vape gets 2-3 sessions out of one bowl of herb.
Once the bowl is loaded and lightly tamped, you turn the device on with 5 clicks. The device has a dedicated button for adjusting between 4 temp settings, and there is a light ring around the power button that tells you which temp you are on. To start the session, you click the power button 3 times and wait for it to heat up. Warmup time is roughly 20-26 seconds based on what I have experienced, but this will obviously depend on the environment that you are in. When the devices is ready, it will vibrate letting you know that it has reached the set temperature.
I do want to point out that this is not a 10+ second draw vape. My hits ranged between 2-6 seconds long and I was more than satisfied with the hits. This is definitely a sipping vape, and the vapor just goes and goes and goes. Depending on how you want to vape, temp 1 provides solid visible vapor that is comfortable, flavorful (in a conduction way), and would be satisfying for those that aren't looking to get a punch to the face.
On temp 1, I got 20+ hits before the vapor died out. That was over the course of two full 3 minute sessions. When I checked the herb, it still had life in it, so I bumped the temp up to 3 and got another full and satisfying session. Now, I have intentionally been using the native mouthpiece for these tests just to gauge the comfort level of using this on the go. (There are other recent vapes that have come out that are designed to be portable, but fall short when the vapor is too hot to use natively.) So far, on temps 1 and 2, the vapor is warm but comfortable, and very tolerable from a temperature perspective. The vapor has more throat hit than I would say convection vapes have, but I believe this to be true with other conduction vapes too. Conduction just has that extra roasty punch to it.
On my sessions at temp 2, the vapor production doubled and was warm but still tolerable. I have been getting around 25 solid hits out of 1 bowl over 2 sessions on this temp setting, and when I checked the herb afterwards, it was pretty decently cooked. The DotLeaf cooks the herb very evenly and there is no hot-spotting or inconsistent heating. When I bumped the temp up to 3 to finish off the bowl, there wasn't much vapor left, so I stopped the sesh and emptied the bowl. (Temp 3 is not advised on a fresh bowl)
Temp 2 has been my favorite so far. It's a good tolerable temperature of vapor, and the flavor has a full and bold roasty taste (which I am really enjoying), very similar to the Vapman and MFLB. Because it has the ability to provide so many comfortable hits back to back over the course of multiple sessions, this temp setting is my top pick for on the go native use.
I briefly used temp 3 natively on a fresh bowl, and while some of you could probably use it just fine, it was a bit uncomfortable for me. The vapor is just too punchy, and borders uncomfortable. I say punchy because its a bit overwhelming. I don't really know how to explain it other than...its just too much conduction vapor to handle natively. So I would personally reserve temps 3 and 4 for glass rigs only. Like I said, some of you may be able to handle (and even enjoy) the punchiness of temp 3, but it was too much for me. Temp 4 is out of the question. I simply cant handle that much vapor without running it through a glass rig first.
So far, battery life is just ok. In all fairness, I have not been able to properly give 1 fresh battery a solid chance and count how many sessions it can handle. I will have to report back on that later. I found that the "activated heater" light indicator goes from green to blue when the battery level drops, and I would assume that it goes from blue to red when its time to charge. I have been getting the blue light after about 3-4 sessions, and I would assume you would get another 2-3 sessions after that before it went red...but once again, I have not properly focused on battery life, so this is all speculation at this point. I will report proper battery life later on. Also, as the battery drops, I have NOT seen a drop in performance.
Pros:
Good travel companion
Great for group sessions
Has a big bowl that efficiently uses the herb depending on temps
Lower temps provide extended use from 1 bowl (multiple sessions)
Very compact device
Swappable mouthpieces (510 driptips)
Customizeable faceplates
Comes with literally everything you need...carry case, 14mm WPA, 18mm WPA, native mouthpiece, brush, stir tool, charging cable, and a set of extra orings
Removeable 18650 capability (18650 not included)
Modular heater unit
Passthrough charging
USB-C Charging port
Cons:
Device gets warm (not uncomfortably hot, but definitely warm)
Higher temps are rather punchy and can be harsh
The bowl is very big and not the best for microdosing
Requires a full bowl to take advantage of conduction heating
Modular heater unit can also be seen as a negative for loading and unloading.
In conclusion, if I were to rank this device in how it stacks up, it shares a lot of similarities with both the Pax 3, but also the Crafty/Mighty. Since this vape focuses on modularity, I would suggest (to DotLeaf primarily if you read this), adding the ability to buy a heater with a smaller herb chamber for those that want to microdose. Outside of that, this thing just works. It has the ability to provide light wispy vapor, or ridiculously thick dense vapor that will knock you to the floor. Because of all the pros and cons, I would give this a 7.5 to 8 out of 10 as a session vape. It cannot really be compared against on demand or convection vapes such as the TinyMight, Milaana, etc. This is a different animal.
Bonus video showing a sesh through glass!