For starters I have not used a lot of different portable vapes so my feedback so far on this vape will be worth….? But seeing how there is not a lot of reviews on this yet I’m guessing every thing helps. If you want to skip this essay let me just say that my experience so far with the elevape closely resembles mephisto's initial report.
At 272.00 shipped from vapor nation, this vape was cheaper then a firefly plus extra battery plus car charger which would have cost 325.00 at vapor world.
I had the app downloaded and ready to go before the vape arrived. Plugged it right in and left it to charge for the night. Upon plugging it in the app showed 50 percent power and preset temps of 4, 7, 10. In the morning the green light was on and the app said 70 percent charged. Loaded it up with some B grade and ran through the three power settings, 1, 2, and 3. one pull each then headed out the door for the day, feeling the effects.
Got back and examined it again, finished off the bowl with good vapor production. Loaded a bowl of A grade and delighted with the flavor at 3 power setting. Great vapor and affects. Continued through the three day weekend playing with temp, load size, draw speed and taking it apart. If you like to tinker with things you will enjoy taking this vape apart. The cnc machined aluminum parts fit together with nice tolerances making it feel like a finely crafted device. The black anodized finish definitely keeps it low profile. Without the mouth piece it measures 1 3/16-in. wide x 2 ¾-in. long x 2-in. tall. It has some weight, 178 grams. While it feels very portable and stealthy the 1 3/16-in. width keeps it from being comfortable in your pants pocket. Not bad but you know its there. Feels nicer in a jacket pocket. While on the topic of storage, the small case that comes with it is very functional, keeping the usb cord, brush, tamper and vape secure in a tight little package not much bigger then the vape itself. Even that felt comfy in my jacket pocket. Not sure how long the zipper will last on it though as it is a tight fit.
The app is pretty neat. I’m a sucker for tweaking settings, and having three heat channels with 16 temp options seems luxurious even if I rarely change them. As I get used to this vape it will be fun to try and dial in the perfect temp for me.
Using the vape is very basic. I got to the point on my mflb that I quite letting friends try it as the technique was tricky and the first results usually left newbies very unimpressed. With this vape just hand it to them and let em rip. I find a strong pull gives great vapor. To pop the cap off, twist it 90 deg and pry up. It’s a snug fit which is good but I wouldn’t say it pops off easily. The bowl is small in size with a fill line that I’m guessing is kinda critical from a cleanliness standpoint. Above the fill line are the air chambers. The screen in the cap goes right to the fill line keeping debris from entering the air chamber. But if your sloppy with the fill, herb will lodge in the air chamber. This doesn’t mean you get a mouthful of bits as the screen in front of the mouth piece will catch them but it does mean that the screen will get clogged sooner. The cap and the mouth piece screen are where all the cleanup will happen. Each time I took my unit apart there was very little dust around the heating element and sensor. The cap is the bottom really with small channels that line up with the air channels in the body. As you draw bits get lodge in the screen held to the cap. When you take the cap off it looks like the screen is growing herb hairs. Taking it apart and cleaning is pretty fun actually as seeing that tiny little coil brings a smile to my face. After a few months of use…who knows, might be well over the cuteness.
So load a bowl to the fill line, place the cap on , flip it over so the light is up and draw. A stonger drawer seems more natural and produces nice vapor. The light will go on for 8 seconds then blink, you can either stop or keep going, the light and power will come back on. I kinda lost track of battery life. I would plug it into the app to check percentages but it seemed to keep going with no detection of loss of power. In fact had loaded it up, set it at power level two, got several big vapor clouds. Came back to the load, which still had some life in it, the next day only to get no real visible vapor. There was taste and effect but no clouds. The battery power showed 50 percent so that is my done battery setting I guess. Hooked it up to the laptop and after 3 ½ hrs the green light came on but the app battery percentage said just 64 percent charged. Will keep an eye on these numbers to see if they change. Guessing the app is still in the proto phase.
As far as how it cooked the load. Seeing as there are so many heat setting you should be able to dial in what ever you want. I had it set hot and was trying to get combustion but never did. I did get some uneven browning on the 3 setting but stirring or crushing the load in my hand got out all the goods. On setting 2 the browning was more uniform it seemed.
As you can tell I’m pretty stoked with this vape and glad I jump aboard when I did. I know there will most likely be some hiccups but with a life time warranty on the sensor and one year on the battery and coil I feel protected. The coil is user replaceable so its really just the battery life to worry about in the long run.
Things I don’t like….the vape is finished very nicely but the edges on the top and bottom are not rounded over as much as the corners. This is probably why it’s not very comfortable in a pant pocket coupled with the 1 3/16-in. body width.
The metal tamper/stir rod is cool and functional but…the magnets for the lid grab the tamper and pull it to the body, they are pretty strong. Plastic or wood stirrer would be better.
The mouth piece screen can get clogged which makes draws harder, taking it apart and cleaning it out is easy but it takes a moment of time and not something you can do walking down the street. Between loads with the cap off blowing into the mouth piece to clear the screen seemed to work at clearing it out without taking it apart.
I hope there is an update to the app as seeing what the actual temps are would be informative as well as having the battery power percent showing accurately. Being able to see battery life if pretty cool as you can tell whether or not its time to recharge.
I’ve only had this vape for 5 days so I’m still pretty excited that I got a functioning vape from such a new vendor. The longer I have it the more things will pop up I’m sure and I’ll try and update as things change, if they do. Sorry not to include pics or videos, not really set up for that.
