dry herb portable vape help - need some opinions

[mpizzle421]

I made a review of the only portable vape I have used.

http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/v2-pro-series-7-9.17955/page-3

The main issue I have with this thing is pull resistance / airflow. It really distracts from enjoying the experience.

I'm considering a replacement (dry herb) and would love to hear some suggestions. Any clear cut winners out there and do they resolve the issues I'm experiencing?

 

[Rebelistic]

The mighty has a reasonably low draw resistance. Other than that I've only really tried the firefly (mk1) that has higher resistance.

 

[max]

My latest acquisition is the Odin (available at puffitup), and it's the least restrictive portable I've used. In fact I have to take it easy and modulate my draw. If a restricted draw is your issue, this one will solve it. Load it up and big, dense hits are always available.

Any clear cut winners out there and do they resolve the issues I'm experiencing?

It's a winner in the draw dept. IMO.

 

[Mr. Me2]

Other than draw resistance, what other factors are important to you? Flavor, maintenance, stealth, cost, conduction v. convection, etc.? Are you open to a desktop, or do you definitely want a portable?

With more details from you, I think you'll get more useful/helpful input from fc. Let us know. I'm sure many will chime in.

And welcome to fc, @mpizzle421 !

 

[mpizzle421]

Other than draw resistance, what other factors are important to you? Flavor, maintenance, stealth, cost, conduction v. convection, etc.? Are you open to a desktop, or do you definitely want a portable?

With more details from you, I think you'll get more useful/helpful input from fc. Let us know. I'm sure many will chime in.

And welcome to fc, @mpizzle421 !

Portable only for now. No interest in desktop vape for now.

- low maintenance is preferred and low maintenance cost. This is negotiable for the right until.
- Stealth is important as well. I tend to enjoy using it out in public and prefer that it blends in. This is one I probably couldn't sacrifice.
- Cost is iffy. I don't mind spending extra for something truely worth it, but keeping the cost down if possible is obviously nice.

 

[lookhigh]

Draw resistance in portables is there for a reason. Most portables cannot keep up with fast draws. Funny thing my cheap Chinese IV1 has no draw resistance.

 

[Mr. Me2]

Portable only for now. No interest in desktop vape for now.

- low maintenance is preferred and low maintenance cost. This is negotiable for the right until.
- Stealth is important as well. I tend to enjoy using it out in public and prefer that it blends in. This is one I probably couldn't sacrifice.
- Cost is iffy. I don't mind spending extra for something truely worth it, but keeping the cost down if possible is obviously nice.

Low resistance, easy maintenance, very stealthy = grasshopper (and great value too, and with a lifetime warranty).

Pax2 does have some draw resistance (it's more of a sipper), but meets your other criteria.

Crafty has the least resistance but is larger, and maintenance when needed is a bit of a pain. There are work arounds for this, though. I haven't tried the Boundless CF, which is similar to the Crafty.

I haven't tried the g pen elite, but that one may be worth looking at.

Have you checked out Buzz Danklin's site (vaporizerwizard.com) or the Vape Critic? They do great reviews, with rankings and ratings. It may help you narrow your search down.

 

[KeroZen]

Check the Milaana, ticks all your boxes and some more, and sweet for your wallet.

 

[Baron23]

Boundless CF/CFX. Very reasonable price, near Crafty/Mighty performance, good portable vape without any finickiness at all. Just a thought.

 

[Winegums]

The Mighty is a good portable vape but I don't think it fits your goals. It's expensive for what it is and your goals can be met by other portables at a lower cost.

It does however offer very good vapour and preserves the flavour until the very end of the bowl. It's easily on par with my Herbalizer.

 

[mpizzle421]

Took a look at the 'grasshopper'. Buy now, get in November is unfortunately unappealing.

Pax2 doesn't seem like much of an upgrade from what I'm using. Similar feel?

Crafty - indeed expensive but worth it? How bad is the maintenance?

Milaana - Glass stem seems fragile for portable use?

Boundless CF/CFX - these two look nice. Similar to the Crafty in looks. How does it compare in real world use?

Any other suggestions? Appreciate the suggestions.

 

[Mr. Me2]

Took a look at the 'grasshopper'. Buy now, get in November is unfortunately unappealing.

Pax2 doesn't seem like much of an upgrade from what I'm using. Similar feel?

Crafty - indeed expensive but worth it? How bad is the maintenance?

Milaana - Glass stem seems fragile for portable use?

Boundless CF/CFX - these two look nice. Similar to the Crafty in looks. How does it compare in real world use?

Any other suggestions? Appreciate the suggestions.

The cooling unit (cu) on the Crafty is a process to clean. I found the solution is to have multiple cu's. I have 3. Before the gh, I needed to clean any cu about once a month. But it depends on your use. For me, that spreads out a group cleaning several months. The other parts are easy to keep up with.

People really seem to like Boundless, and it's a great value. But it seems all agree that Crafty flavor is better. I'm not sure if it's noticeably more efficient. I think you should watch Buzz's reviews on those 2 (at least).

Here's a suggestion... Get a boundless now and preorder a gh. The total will be close to the same as a Crafty.

I had/have a v2 pro series 3. Never use it and it pushed me away from even looking at the 7. Even though I don't have that personal experience, I'd be shocked if it was close to the pax. The build quality of the pax2 is fantastic. It's a pleasure to hold and use. I just prefer convection more now. But I'll always be a pax2 fan. I really hope that company comes out with a convection vape.

 

[mpizzle421]

The cooling unit (cu) on the Crafty is a process to clean. I found the solution is to have multiple cu's. I have 3. Before the gh, I needed to clean any cu about once a month. But it depends on your use. For me, that spreads out a group cleaning several months. The other parts are easy to keep up with.

People really seem to like Boundless, and it's a great value. But it seems all agree that Crafty flavor is better. I'm not sure if it's noticeably more efficient. I think you should watch Buzz's reviews on those 2 (at least).

Here's a suggestion... Get a boundless now and preorder a gh. The total will be close to the same as a Crafty.

I had/have a v2 pro series 3. Never use it and it pushed me away from even looking at the 7. Even though I don't have that personal experience, I'd be shocked if it was close to the pax. The build quality of the pax2 is fantastic. It's a pleasure to hold and use. I just prefer convection more now. But I'll always be a pax2 fan. I really hope that company comes out with a convection vape.

Ultimately the GH > the crafty? It's tempting to order it and wait it out I suppose. I have the V2 so I'm not without. Still reading some reviews but I appreciate the info thus far. The reviews, at the time I read them, are what convinced me to buy the V2 pro 7 series - it was highly reviewed at that time and seemed right for the price.

 

[JCat]

The cooling unit (cu) on the Crafty is a process to clean. I found the solution is to have multiple cu's. I have 3. Before the gh, I needed to clean any cu about once a month. But it depends on your use. For me, that spreads out a group cleaning several months. The other parts are easy to keep up with.

People really seem to like Boundless, and it's a great value. But it seems all agree that Crafty flavor is better. I'm not sure if it's noticeably more efficient. I think you should watch Buzz's reviews on those 2 (at least).

Here's a suggestion... Get a boundless now and preorder a gh. The total will be close to the same as a Crafty.

I had/have a v2 pro series 3. Never use it and it pushed me away from even looking at the 7. Even though I don't have that personal experience, I'd be shocked if it was close to the pax. The build quality of the pax2 is fantastic. It's a pleasure to hold and use. I just prefer convection more now. But I'll always be a pax2 fan. I really hope that company comes out with a convection vape.

I find the Crafty/Mighty maintenance to be a breeze. (especially with the new "bullets" for loading w/ the hearing-aid battery style containers )

I found for the cooling units, if you have a couple you're good. I clean after a couple days of moderate use, or on vacation, just swap out. (I actually have 3 CU so I can go a week). If you disassemble and soak the cooling unit in ISO for a few hours or overnight, and then rinse with hot water (or maybe repeat a couple times over a couple hours if really dirty). They come out 100% spotless this way with almost no effort.

 

[Mr. Me2]

No question the Crafty has better flavor than the gh. Not that the gh has bad flavor. But the gh much better suits my preferred vaping style. It's a true one-and-done vape. Even though the Crafty is convection, it is still partly conduction so I find you need to use it as a session vape and finish what you started. That's not so with the gh; you can finish it whenever. And I just love the build quality and aesthetic of the gh (I'm still on my gh honeymoon...can you tell?).

But I don't think the gh works great for sharing. Personally, I let it cool down between pulls. So I think you should consider your planned use and preferred vaping style.

Hope this helps.

 

[mpizzle421]

I'm kicking around the CFX. The major drawback preventing me from pulling the trigger are reports on the draw resistance - the very problem I'm running into now. I've seen reports of this being improved. Confirmed?

I've also been looking at the Crafty - very painful to shell out > 300.00 on a unit - especially as I'm still new to vaping.

Anything else I should be looking at?

 

[Mr. Me2]

There seem to be a lot of people who love the arizer air. You may want to pm @CarolKing about that one.

 

[mpizzle421]

There seem to be a lot of people who love the arizer air. You may want to pm @CarolKing about that one.

Thank you for the info. That one is also known as a sipper (although I may be thinking of the solo). I keep eye-banging the Crafty. None of the discount codes on it I've encountered have worked either. It feels like it would be a luxury to drop 200+ on a vape so early on in the 'novelty' phase. The problem is that between the 7 series and whatever I buy next I will have already spent that money.

To put some perspective on my concern over draw resistance which probably sounds net-picky - it's not so bad for bedroom or netflix sessions. I tend to enjoy vaping while riding my bike. In my late 30s I decided to start bike riding again and invested in a reasonably priced trek. I have some isolated and scenic paths I'm lucky to live near - so it's been a hobby. This is where the real challenge comes into play. I'm already winded in some cases and the slow sip is a pain point there.

That's where the battery of the crafty is also a bit weak as well. I don't mind the size, i'll usually bring a pack with me. I'll just need a decent portable battery charger I suppose.

Would like to hear more about the CFX or CF draw resistance which is supposedly improved after initial release. What would their return policy be if I actually hated it I wonder? Better to order direct or through an online retailer?

 

[Vapor_Eyes]

Here's a suggestion... Get a boundless now and preorder a gh. The total will be close to the same as a Crafty.

I second that opinion. Get a CF, it's honestly not worth the extra for the CFX in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I like my CFX a lot. I still would rather have the CF at this point, even if it cost the same. It's smaller and has the stealth mode, with the same performance and battery life of the CFX. At a lower price I think it's a no-brainer.

The CFX is great with small amounts and with large amounts and group usage. With the hybrid conduction and convection heat it has a unique vape signature, very stoney. I like to session with it while I watch movies at home.

The Grasshopper is a fantastic personal unit, not so great for group use but you can do it with a water pipe and enough batteries. On demand convection is hard to beat as far as flavor and efficiency.

A stainless steel Grasshopper and Boundless CF combined are cheaper than a Crafty.

Just some food for thought.

 

[Mr. Me2]

For best price and best service, buy from Puffitup. Make sure you tell them your from fc to get our discount.

Personally, I always try to buy the best. So I've sought out "top tier" vapes. For me, I generally find Buzz Danklin's reviews reliable. And I really rely on and respect the opinions and experience of fc'ers too.

Personally, I don't think you should try to find a vape that's perfect for all situations. If your priority now is to find a vape that's good for your bike rides, get one that is best suited for that (you may want to look at the G pen elite or summit - I haven't tried either, but they seem more suited for that). For home use, the Crafty may be best for you.

You may want to message Buzz and ask him about that. He's an active outdoor guy, and can let you know which vape he thinks is best for that situation.

 

[Vapor_Eyes]

Would like to hear more about the CFX or CF draw resistance which is supposedly improved after initial release. What would their return policy be if I actually hated it I wonder? Better to order direct or through an online retailer?

I have the original CFX with the old screen. I find it a little restricted, less so than the Pax 2 in my experience. By all accounts the new screens offer much improved airflow.

I'm not sure about return policy but the Boundless people have been very helpful and supportive from everything I've seen. They really care about customer satisfaction. I could say the exact same thing about puffitup.com.

I say email both of them with your concerns about airflow and return policy.

Don't let the CF's price fool you, it really is a great vape that holds its own against much more expensive units.

 

[mpizzle421]

I have the original CFX with the old screen. I find it a little restricted, less so than the Pax 2 in my experience. By all accounts the new screens offer much improved airflow.

I'm not sure about return policy but the Boundless people have been very helpful and supportive from everything I've seen. They really care about customer satisfaction. I could say the exact same thing about puffitup.com.

I say email both of them with your concerns about airflow and return policy.

Don't let the CF's price fool you, it really is a great vape that holds its own against much more expensive units.

Alright, purchase made. I was really tempted by the crafty - but honestly the Boundless CF price point was attractive. 129 - 15% discount on puffitup made it less than 115. The cheapster in me couldn't see spending an extra ~200 bucks.

Mr. me made a good point - perhaps not one vape to resolve every situation.

I'll follow up with thoughts once I receive it. Thank you for the input!

 

[blackstone]

I'm late to this, but it looks like you've done perfectly well!
Maybe only a year or two ago, it was almost impossible to get a good vape cheap, and it might have made more sense to fork out for the Crafty,
But those CFs seem to have changed all that. (And maybe the Flowermates?)
Also of note last the time I checked, is the Fenix (by Weeke?),
Although that's a slightly lower price bracket again, and for all I know might not have the quality or peace of mind of the CF.
Some nice tidy little units available now for the pocket! In both senses!
It's great for the market in general.
Best of luck with that new vape!
And we could be surprised lately, some of these modern portables may be good enough to resolve almost every situation!

 

[mpizzle421]

I just spoke with a customer service agent from puffitup.. ridiculously named "puff puff". Sounds like they have a good return policy in case my primary issue(s) aren't resolved and I need to spend a few extra bucks on another unit.

But I'm still considering what @Mr. Me2 stated about different tools for different situations. We'll see.