Flowermate fanboy on the fence

[PissedHippie]

A great big, first time Howdy to all you healthy rippers out there –

This might get long-winded, but I was hoping to get some feedback regarding my use of the Flowermate line of personal vaporizers. I think I’m currently on my third one and really do love a lot of the features and price. I fire it up about 3-5 times a day and keep it perpetually charged. I keep a rotation of glass stems soaked in alcohol that I change out every couple of weeks. I also try to keep the bowl from getting too sticky by not allowing herb to cool down after sessions. I used to use their rubber stems since the glass can get a little hot, and I’ve broken a couple of them taking them apart to clean. I started to get concerned that the material used in their rubber stems might not be the healthiest option, but I do miss them. They’re just so much easier to use than the glass ones.

My routine:
I keep ground herb stored in a couple of little jars that are easy to pour into the vaporizer. The older models of the Flowermate worked better with a loosely packed reservoir, but I’ve found that the Mini Pro works better with the herb more tightly packed. I don’t use any of the little canisters that come with the unit. I just tamp down the herb with a framing nail. With long steady draws, it works pretty well. I sometimes need to re-compress the herb if it becomes too loose. This is not always a treat if the stem is too hot and slippery. The threads on the stems are also the first to get gummed up.

By the time the unit automatically shuts off, I’m usually good to go. I unscrew the stem, give the spent herb a little stir and blow it out by firmly clamping the whole unit in my mouth from the bottom end where the stem is housed. This is frankly the design’s best feature, although I’m not sure it was intentional. The residual herb is not always completely brown, but keeping it in the reservoir for a second pass later on usually leads to a really sticky affair.

So… I guess my question to all of you heavy hitters, is: How long do you expect your personal dry herb vapes to last? The Flowermates, usually don’t make it more than a few years for me. Not really a huge issue for their price. My concern is that some of the pricier models out there have similar life expectancy, which keeps me in the cheap seats.

I wish the Flowermate line would get rid of their cheaper plastic parts that become brittle with cleaning and use, and abandon the threaded glass stem. I also find the LCD on the pro versions to be useless outdoors. I would almost prefer a single multi-colored LED with a few set temps.

If there are models out there with similar capabilities that really outlast what I’ve described, I’m all ears.


Thanks to all the earnest participants in forums like this. You make dork-life on the web a true pleasure!

-PH

 

[Kins]

I usually go by the warranty pre-purchase. It's something to be considered because usually once the products warranty expires that's when you get problems. Also I look to see what parts are user replaceable before ordering which may help you once the warranty expires. I haven't been vaping very long though.

 

[ginolicious]

I enjoy my Flowermate cap freebie from time to time. I had a V5 nano that I won here. It broke and they wouldn’t honour warranty cause I won it. Wasn’t happy about that by any means.

 

[TheThriftDrifter]

@PissedHippie welcome to FC.

Not sure if your into butane vapes, but a Dynavap will last a long, long time, add an induction heater if you don't like torches.

 

[PissedHippie]

@PissedHippie welcome to FC.

Not sure if your into butane vapes, but a Dynavap will last a long, long time, add an induction heater if you don't like torches.

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't seen induction heaters before, but they look pretty cool. It kinda disrupts my habits of porch vaping. Same goes for torches. I'd feel weird firing up a torch on my front porch.

I guess I'm most curious about the other models in the $100-$200 price range and their longevity. Kins made a good suggestion about warranty checking just to get a feel for how long the manufacturer is betting it will last. Good advice for all sorts of products, really.

Thanks for all the great feedback. I hope others can chime in as well.

 

[Polarbearboy]

I've been vaping exclusively for about five years; smoked for 50! before that. Burned through a bunch of vapes including two Boundless CFs, Firefly2 and Arizer EQ. Things burn out, get clogged, non-replaceable battery, get broken, etc. Also we want new better toys. That said, my current core vapes are both just outstanding: Healthy Rips Fury2 and S-B Crafty. I also have several gorgeous Vapcaps and my favorite gets used once or twice a week when I want a quick strong flower high. Lately I've been zooming down to Mass and getting more and more into concentrates--shatter, wax, rosin, crystals--and that has its own fun appliances. My Fury2 has been used probably 5 out of 7 days a week, week after week, for going on three years. Still running strong and still heats up amazingly quick. The Crafty is probably my most used device. It too is going on three years of near daily use. The Crafty just gives the coolest cleanest vapor of any vaporizer I'm aware of, which is important to my aged breathing apparatus. Unfortunately its becoming slower and slower on the heat up, and I'm going to try replacing the battery. I have found the Crafty and Fury 2 exceeded my expectations, in part because I'm an outdoorsy type and find having dosing capsules essential to reloading a vape in the windy wild cold places I love, and these two vapes support dosing caps.

If I were you, given you're vaping style, I'd take a look at the Arizer Solo or Air and the Healthy Rips Edge. Not much more $ than the FMs but a big step up in quality and flavor. And do yourself a favor: Pick up the cheapest Vapcap and a lighter for those special occasions. Its just an awful lot of fun.

 

[PissedHippie]

I've been vaping exclusively for about five years; smoked for 50! before that. Burned through a bunch of vapes including two Boundless CFs, Firefly2 and Arizer EQ. Things burn out, get clogged, non-replaceable battery, get broken, etc. Also we want new better toys. That said, my current core vapes are both just outstanding: Healthy Rips Fury2 and S-B Crafty. I also have several gorgeous Vapcaps and my favorite gets used once or twice a week when I want a quick strong flower high. Lately I've been zooming down to Mass and getting more and more into concentrates--shatter, wax, rosin, crystals--and that has its own fun appliances. My Fury2 has been used probably 5 out of 7 days a week, week after week, for going on three years. Still running strong and still heats up amazingly quick. The Crafty is probably my most used device. It too is going on three years of near daily use. The Crafty just gives the coolest cleanest vapor of any vaporizer I'm aware of, which is important to my aged breathing apparatus. Unfortunately its becoming slower and slower on the heat up, and I'm going to try replacing the battery. I have found the Crafty and Fury 2 exceeded my expectations, in part because I'm an outdoorsy type and find having dosing capsules essential to reloading a vape in the windy wild cold places I love, and these two vapes support dosing caps.

If I were you, given you're vaping style, I'd take a look at the Arizer Solo or Air and the Healthy Rips Edge. Not much more $ than the FMs but a big step up in quality and flavor. And do yourself a favor: Pick up the cheapest Vapcap and a lighter for those special occasions. Its just an awful lot of fun.

Hear, hear!

This is the kinda stuff I was hoping to read. I will dig into everything in your reply studiously. It definitely sounds like a vapcap is something I need to have around. I keep a couple of bat boxes squirreled away for the same reason, but always regret the terrible, lingering aftertaste that was only cool in my youth.

Thankya, brother

 

[Vaporware]

Apart from Dynavap stuff I don’t get much into the sub-$200 range, but on the longevity question all of my dry herb vaporizers apart from my first (DaVinci Ascent) are well designed, well built devices that should outlast my body.

VapCaps are very tough (especially the titanium versions), and while the thin steel of the caps themselves could eventually break and o-rings certainly will at some point, a few extras should last a lifetime if you’re reasonably careful. Torches can draw some attention, but an induction heater or other non-flame heater can be pretty discreet.

My FlowerPots (especially the ShowerHead since it doesn’t have a separate SiC dish) are titanium and I’d have to try hard to even really damage them.

The Nomad is more breakable since it’s mostly wood, but being an unregulated device with no electronics to worry about it should still last many many years and be pretty user-serviceable.

I guess my main point is I’d rather have something great for 10, 20, 50+ years if I’m still around and I want to use it than to have a good-but-not-great new device every couple of years and worry about or be annoyed by the materials, bad design choices and corners cut in every one.

To me buying a great $300-500 setup that I can use for a number of years and then keep using, store, or sell (which could recover a good portion of the money I spent) knowing it’s still got many years left in it is far more appealing than spending $100-200 every couple of years to be left with nothing but a pile of broken plastic in the end.

I also hate wasting materials, labor and everything else that goes into producing these things, so if the best vaporizer in the world only lasted a year or two I probably still wouldn’t buy it.

I’m glad that some people have more to say about what you asked for, but I still think it’s worth hearing a different perspective.

 

[PissedHippie]

Thanks VW!

I have a question about the Vapcap style hitters. Are they quick about getting you where you need to be, or are they like most noncombustible vapes? About 95% of the time, I treat my sessions like my granddad used to with his tobacco pipes. I like to take my time and enjoy the toke. Another reason why dry herb vaping is so appealing to me. It feels more like pulmonary relaxation therapy, but way better. The other 5%, I'm more in a hurry. This is when I'll pull out the old-school bic lighter and torch my lungs on a ceramic one-hitter. I also keep an oil cartridge disposable around for those instances, but I hate those too.

I'm still amazed by how many folks still burn their bud regularly.

 

[ginolicious]

You need a convection vape for your line up. Nothing beats a pure convection. Tons of options out there. Tinymight is what everyone is using lately. Firefly 2+ is also amazing. Great flavour. Easy to use and maintain. Or you can even go the Milana route as well.

 

[Vaporware]

Thanks VW!

I have a question about the Vapcap style hitters. Are they quick about getting you where you need to be, or are they like most noncombustible vapes? About 95% of the time, I treat my sessions like my granddad used to with his tobacco pipes. I like to take my time and enjoy the toke. Another reason why dry herb vaping is so appealing to me. It feels more like pulmonary relaxation therapy, but way better. The other 5%, I'm more in a hurry. This is when I'll pull out the old-school bic lighter and torch my lungs on a ceramic one-hitter. I also keep an oil cartridge disposable around for those instances, but I hate those too.

I'm still amazed by how many folks still burn their bud regularly.

I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking, but VapCaps are a little hard to pin down...

Some people don’t get them and can’t find a way to get good results from them, others absolutely love them. I’ve used them a few different ways and I’m generally happy with them, but they do have some drawbacks.

You should look through the thread about them here if you’re interested, or just try one, but here are a few important facts about them to start with:

1. Because there are so many ways you can heat and hit it you can get a variety of results from large vapor clouds down to small and almost invisible.

You can fully extract a load in just a couple of heat cycles (maybe even one through water), or you can stretch it out to a half dozen or more. I think most people get somewhere around 3-4, and within each heat cycle you can generally get 1 long slow draw or 2-3 smaller ones, especially if you use a “mouth to lung” technique where you briefly suck on it like a straw (or a cigarette from what I hear?) and then inhale what you sucked into your mouth.

The main drawback in this area is that while you can accelerate the cool down by sticking the cap on a magent or something else that wil pull out heat, and you can re-heat a little to keep vapor going without waiting for the cool down click and reheating, in general there is a window (about the length of one long, slow draw if you’re actively hitting it, a bit longer if you’re not) where the tip and cap will be hot enough to vaporize. If you let it sit very long during that time you’re cooking away your flower and losing at least some of the vapor as it escapes or re-condenses.

This is one of the things that an “on-demand convection vaporizer” is better at since you can add and remove heat quickly at any time, but a VapCap does give you more time and control over the session than most conduction-based heaters.

2. The load size is fairly small, and you can put an even smaller amount in if you want, but it is not made for stuffing a lot of flower into.

Still, a lot of people are surprised by how effective it can be with the small amount you put in it. It’s also possible to put in just a little, keep the temp low and not have it hit very hard if that’s what you’re looking for.

3. Flavor is a bit of a mixed bag here. Conduction heaters (these are hybrids but primarily conduction) tend to have good flavor at first and then...less good later in the bowl.

If you only heat to a low temp you can stretch the good flavor out a bit and it rarely gets too bad for me, but this is another area where convection is significantly better in my opinion.

It may sound like I’m trying to steer you away from VapCaps, and overall I do prefer on-demand convection devices, but I actually do like VapCaps too and they can be fun to use, convenient to carry, and for most people they can get the job done. The titanium Omnivap XL is my favorite, but the cheaper configurations are still a pretty similar experience and you can get some of them so cheap I think it’s hard to justify *not* trying one.

I’m sure I left out a lot I could have said, but I hope that answers your question and gives you a decent idea of what they’re like.

 

[TheThriftDrifter]

Just want to reiterate what VW was saying regarding the Dynavaps.

You can hit them hard and hot and be done quick or you can take your time, enjoy the ritual and temp step your way to get where you need.

They do have a learning curve that can throw some people, but as VW said they can be fun, and quite affordable.

 

[PissedHippie]

Well, I’m afraid that my follow up to this thread might disappoint those of you that offered your most generous responses. I went with yet another Flowermate product and have been using the Nano for the last few weeks. Initially I thought I might be able to give a decent review of the product despite a few of the new design’s shortcomings. But after using it regularly, my final verdict is that it sucks, and so does Flowermate. I know everyone has their distinct preferences and requirements, but Flowermate seems bent on spreading their good design ideas across their various products, peppered with absolutely stupid ones. The Nano hits great and does not require a tightly packed chamber like their Mini Pro does, and the new display is much easier to read in bright sunlight. It also has a replaceable battery and haptic feedback. All new features to me. But they absolutely fucked up the most important part, the mouthpiece. It makes me so angry whenever I think about it. It’s as if the design team challenged themselves with the task of burning fingers and breaking glass. You can’t unscrew it while it’s hot since the glass part just spins loosely inside the plastic threaded part. You also have to somehow get it back into the built-in storage compartment by dropping it in with the cool side down since you can only store it one way. That’s fucking fun! Oh, and to really rub it in your face, they include a little funnel for loading the chamber that snaps into the same threaded opening magnetically! WHY NOT MAKE THE MOUTHPIECE MAGNETIC TOO?



I could go on and on about how dumb and insulting this product is, but frankly it’s not worth any more of my time. I will go back over this thread and investigate some of the recommendations, but I wanted to report back. This Pissed Hippie is a Flowermate Fanboy no longer.

 

[ginolicious]

I did not mind my v5 nano. I did enjoy the bowl. Was not happy when it broke 6 months in and not covered under warranty as it was a giveaway product.

 

[bossman]

I've never owned a Flowermate portable and reading your experience I likely never will.

My portables primer: fuck all these old, underpowered electric session vapes for someone who vapes throughout the day. You can watch all the Troy clips and get confused about the relative merits of each but they all share some negative attributes and none provide the flavor, power, versatility, or speed of modern on demand convection vapes.

The new hotness these days is the Tinymight. Costs $258 shipped to the US (you don't need extra accessories) and runs on a single 18650 (I like a VTC6 from Liionwholesale.com like the one cell it comes with). The Tinymight fits in a pocket, heats from cold to clouds in five seconds, and extracts evenly at a range of regulated temps with just a tiny dial on the bottom (mine has a useful range from 3.5 to 8.5).

510 devices like my personal favorite the Splinter Z (now discontinued) are also a great option. You can follow along at the Splinter threads if and when you try a used one on r/entexchange maybe. Better flavor than a Tinymight and a bigger heater, plus it's less expensive and you'll have the option to use two or even three cell mods to spend less time charging or swapping cells. There are more portable 510 options too like the dreamwood Glow.

The Tetra P80 from Lamart is another top-tier on demand portable. It stands astride the first two options as its another custom heater with a ground glass joint like the Splinter but the mod (a Wismec P80) is permanently built in as the brains and display of the device. This allows the single cell Tetra to have a side by side configuration making it less tall and awkward than a Splinter Z, which tends to look like a Harry Potter wizard wand once you stack the mod, Z and cooling stem.

You have to be careful with ground glass joint vapes like the Tetra P80 and Splinter and in most cases you'll have to carry the stem and the vape separately. Lamart has designed some lower profile cooling stems like the new "tank" stem that minimize the risk of breaking the glass inside the unit but It's still best to think of these glass joint vapes as coffee table portables and not pocket portables. I swear by on demand convection but still have a little Fury Edge for vaping out. I'd consider the Tinymight for a hike but it'd be more of a drop risk.

Both the P80 and the Tinymight will average four to six weeks of waiting depending on when you order as they are one man shops overseas.

No conversation about heavy hitting portables for home use is complete without a tip of the cap to the og Sticky Brick or the Runt. Chef's kiss vapor quality, excellent flavor, a great ritual and the most rapid extraction potential of any portable I've used. The og provides tons of cooling with no water with its huge glass mouthpiece. It's not a great options for going from room as it won't fit in any kind of pocket. Still a hit from an og Brick is like a smooth bong rip without water or smoke. Again you can visit the device thread for more info.

These are the podium portables for me in 2020. On demand convection is CIVILIZED. You take one hit of any size or temperature when you want it and then you put the device down for two seconds or two hours with no warm up and no pressure to finish a bowl with ten wispy hits in a five minute window.

Finally a word about vapcaps: sure vapcaps are great. They're affordable, super efficient, and very durable. You gotta reheat them for each hit though and they offer very little in terms of flavor. Vapcaps also ask you to change how you draw since they work best if you mouth pull like you're taking the most enormous drag from a cigarette. One big vapcap hit for me is like three or four firing squad drags inhaling each segment in the same breath, which is admittedly a bit odd.

The thing that unlocked vapcaps for me was the Flux Deluxe portable induction heater. It really improved the ritual for me not taking a torch to the cap for each hit.

 

[Vaporware]

That sucks. Even though I was one of the people recommending something else, I’d rather be proven wrong than have a bunch of people unhappy with these things (especially the ones who just go back to smoking), and a lot more wasted time and materials.

Good luck, I hope you find what you need. Just make sure you know what you’re getting before you buy because even some very good ones have design choices that I don’t like.

The GonG connection of the RBT Milaana/Splinter/etc. for example makes it easy to pull the stem out to reload, etc. but if you turn it upside down you may be picking up pieces of your glass stem off the floor.

That works fine for a lot of people, but I much prefer the more secure stem holding features of the Nomad, Imp, TinyMight, etc.

The point is, I think it’s worth buying a more expensive, more reliable, all around better vaporizer after reading enough here to make sure it doesn’t have features or flaws that would annoy you too much.

 

[PissedHippie]

You folks are all badasses! I love hearing about everyone's unique ritual. It's like ass-wiping. Everybody has to figure it out on their own. I do not endorse that kind of sharing of technique here though.

I prefer a more slow and easy kind of ritual mostly. More on the Gandalf side of the spectrum, than constantly fucking around with a lighter or torch. And my bong days are behind me, as fun as those things are. I like something I can load a small amount and run higher temps until the timeout period ends and then shake out the spent bud onto the ground and then back on the charger till next time. I really miss being able to blow out the burnt bud from the back side of the Flowermate Mini Pro. Another reason I prefer a loosely packed chamber. It's about the only reason I didn't get another Mini Pro is that you really have to keep the herb packed tight for some reason. There is some other brand that I've seen with a magnetic stir stick attached to the side, but I can't recall which one. Glass stem is fine with me. I wish there was a more durable material available for mouthpieces that was 100% safe. And, for duck's sake, the mouth piece shouldn't be dangerous and awkward to store, etc.

I don't really care about haptic feedback or display really. I simple color changing light or button was always good for me in older tech.

Oh! and, Why aren't all chambers illuminated? That is such a nice feature.

Shit! I'm really rambling. Sorry.

Fire off anything that comes to mind, fellow enthusiasts.

 

[BrianTL]

I've never owned a Flowermate portable and reading your experience I likely never will.

My portables primer: fuck all these old, underpowered electric session vapes for someone who vapes throughout the day. You can watch all the Troy clips and get confused about the relative merits of each but they all share some negative attributes and none provide the flavor, power, versatility, or speed of modern on demand convection vapes.

The new hotness these days is the Tinymight. Costs $258 shipped to the US (you don't need extra accessories) and runs on a single 18650 (I like a VTC6 from Liionwholesale.com like the one cell it comes with). The Tinymight fits in a pocket, heats from cold to clouds in five seconds, and extracts evenly at a range of regulated temps with just a tiny dial on the bottom (mine has a useful range from 3.5 to 8.5).

510 devices like my personal favorite the Splinter Z (now discontinued) are also a great option. You can follow along at the Splinter threads if and when you try a used one on r/entexchange maybe. Better flavor than a Tinymight and a bigger heater, plus it's less expensive and you'll have the option to use two or even three cell mods to spend less time charging or swapping cells. There are more portable 510 options too like the dreamwood Glow.

The Tetra P80 from Lamart is another top-tier on demand portable. It stands astride the first two options as its another custom heater with a ground glass joint like the Splinter but the mod (a Wismec P80) is permanently built in as the brains and display of the device. This allows the single cell Tetra to have a side by side configuration making it less tall and awkward than a Splinter Z, which tends to look like a Harry Potter wizard wand once you stack the mod, Z and cooling stem.

You have to be careful with ground glass joint vapes like the Tetra P80 and Splinter and in most cases you'll have to carry the stem and the vape separately. Lamart has designed some lower profile cooling stems like the new "tank" stem that minimize the risk of breaking the glass inside the unit but It's still best to think of these glass joint vapes as coffee table portables and not pocket portables. I swear by on demand convection but still have a little Fury Edge for vaping out. I'd consider the Tinymight for a hike but it'd be more of a drop risk.

Both the P80 and the Tinymight will average four to six weeks of waiting depending on when you order as they are one man shops overseas.

No conversation about heavy hitting portables for home use is complete without a tip of the cap to the og Sticky Brick or the Runt. Chef's kiss vapor quality, excellent flavor, a great ritual and the most rapid extraction potential of any portable I've used. The og provides tons of cooling with no water with its huge glass mouthpiece. It's not a great options for going from room as it won't fit in any kind of pocket. Still a hit from an og Brick is like a smooth bong rip without water or smoke. Again you can visit the device thread for more info.

These are the podium portables for me in 2020. On demand convection is CIVILIZED. You take one hit of any size or temperature when you want it and then you put the device down for two seconds or two hours with no warm up and no pressure to finish a bowl with ten wispy hits in a five minute window.

Finally a word about vapcaps: sure vapcaps are great. They're affordable, super efficient, and very durable. You gotta reheat them for each hit though and they offer very little in terms of flavor. Vapcaps also ask you to change how you draw since they work best if you mouth pull like you're taking the most enormous drag from a cigarette. One big vapcap hit for me is like three or four firing squad drags inhaling each segment in the same breath, which is admittedly a bit odd.

The thing that unlocked vapcaps for me was the Flux Deluxe portable induction heater. It really improved the ritual for me not taking a torch to the cap for each hit.

This post nailed it...should be a sticky. The biggest thing keeping me away from something like a splinter Z (or any other mod based vape really) is the harry potter wand looking set up. I like to think of myself primarily as a function over form kind of guy, but if I dont like the form at all, its hard for me to get to the function. I need that initial eye-catch to get me otherwise, I'm like meh. I would try it, I just dont know if I would buy it.

But yeah, similar to my vape progress, I started with an electric conduction session style vape, jumped pretty quickly to the TinyMight, and kept going from there. Sticky Brick Runt, Milaana 3, Underdog log. They're all different, and I can still say I use them all regularly, EXCEPT my IQ2. I keep telling myself I need to get back to it, experiment with my improved vape knowledge, trying different grinds and methods etc, but I haven't actually made that effort yet. I really dont think that the session-conduction style thing is really for me, save a couple of occasions I could see it being useful.

The Tetra P80 I believe will be my next one, drop & purchase success dependent of course. If not that, VapBong.

Also @bossman, I like the comparison of Coffee table portable vs pocket portable. Definitely a difference. I'm actually using my TM as my pocket portable, thats the only one that leaves the house for me. I've been meaning to pick up a Fury Edge or something for a more "comfortable" pocket portable option. Although I've never had a close call with the TM, I would be pretty upset if I dropped it while out and about...

 

[bossman]

I've been meaning to pick up a Fury Edge or something for a more "comfortable" pocket portable option. Although I've never had a close call with the TM, I would be..

Yeah, my Edge still gets zero use at home anymore. It's just there for occasional outdoor use when true portability is the priority.

You'd likely do well to sell your IQ2 and replace it with an Edge for your ultra-portable and sharing with beginner friends needs. I've never used any DaVinci vapes but the Edge does have nice open draw resistance, quick heat-up, and decent battery life.