Discontinued FlowerMate V8.0 by Smiss
- Thread starter KeroZen
- Start date
KeroZen
Chronic vapaholic
First of all I'm sorry for the review delay, I'm not doing it on purpose to tease you. It's Saturday and I'm at the office, in the middle of a product release cycle. I managed to bring the FM8 with me in my laptop bag but apart from many empty burn-ins, I still haven't used it with anything inside the bowl.
I can nonetheless already answer most of your questions, as well as share my first impressions:
Packaging
Same kind of high end cardboard printed box as the FM5, everything tight. Again got a euro-spec charger with it, larger than the previous one. This one outputs 15V @ 1A, with the positive on the inside of the mini jack. The jack is the same format as the FM5 and Ascent, I don't have the figures at hand but 3.5mm or something, from memory.
There's a 18 pages user manual (tiny pages don't worry!), not too shabby. There's also a spare drawing straw, as well as two tools. The tools have larger handles than those of the FM5, supposedly to make them feel of higher quality, but I'm not sure this was necessary. They take more space and the previous poking/tamping tool was double ended and more useful (I use it daily to tamp my bowls in all my vapes)
Build and external aspect
The glass straws happen to have the exact same shape and diameter as the Ascent upper straw. They are just a tad longer. I expect the same kind of fragility, but it is safely retracted and stored inside the device when not in use. I understand some people are clumsy and/or unlucky with glass though, so this vaporizer might not be for you. On the other hand, like I said and as pictured below, the huge advantage is that it's 100% compatible with the Ascent glass on glass adapters:
The device shell is sturdy. The powder coating appears to be thicker than on the FM5. At first I even thought that the shell was made of hard plastic, so I could't resist to scratch it a little bit, and it revealed a shiny metal underneath, so I assume it's made of aluminium like the FM5. I don't know what material the two "shiny end caps" are made of, but I do know that like everything chrome-like, they love to catch finger prints (people having the SS version of the Indica will know what I mean!)
Build quality is pretty good, tight tolerances, it's all very precise. The device is sealed and does not appear to be user serviceable. Contrary to the FM5 there are no screws and no visible hints of any kind that it could be easily opened. This means that unless we find a non destructive way to open it, batteries will not be replaceable past their EOL.
I used my hobby-grade digital scale and tried to weight my vaporizers. Firewood 2.1 is 179g, FlowerMate 5S is 185g, DaVinci Ascent is 191g...and well ahem, the FM8 is way above 200g as it maxed my poor little scale out! So I'm sorry I don't know how much it weights but it feels lighter than what it looks like. I mean, you would expect it to be heavier when you see it, but it's not that heavy.
The form factor is kinda surprising. It looks like a big flask, not super sexy but not ugly either... but we all have different tastes and expectations. It feels good in the hand though, nice ergonomic grip, all round edges where you put your fingers. It is well balanced and able to stand on its own on both ends: you can lay it on a table between hits and it won't fall. You can lay it upside down on a table when loading it, and even with the lid opened it's stable. You can load it and use it with a single hand.
But I won't lie to you (and pictures speak for themselves) it's a rather large portable vape. It fits in the back pocket of my cargo jeans (and I can definitely notice its presence) but it will be problematic if you wear skinny slim fits! I prefer to see it as a transportable vape and/or a handy desktop-like vape for when I'm in my house.
Air and vapor path
Now we arrive at the very hot and picky subject that we FC members love to discuss: what is it made of and is it safe? First of all, out of the box, there was a lot of that trademark "new chinese electronic device" smell. So far all my vapes were smelly when I bought them, excepted for the Firewood which had strictly no smell. I already told Smiss to improve that aspect and they said they would do their best, but here we have at least two main sources of smell:
1) what I assume to be linked to the polymide probably used to enclose the heating element (it is the exact same smell I had in my FM5 and 5S, it evokes tape and glue)
2) silicone, used in various locations (ring around the bowl + ring around the glass filter of the bottom lid, both needed to create an air-tight mating, as well as a larger chunk inside the "air tunnel" and to hold the upper glass straw, and finally the straw end-cap which is also silicone)
The polymide smell took at least two entire charges worth of empty burn-ins at max temperature to lower to an acceptable level on my two FM5's, while sitting in a well ventilated room and/or while blowing a lot of air through the mouthpiece. I expect it to go away in a similar fashion in the FM8 but beware that by blowing/honking inside the device while the bottom lid is closed, you can overheat the lid easily. I managed to create a really hot spot right in front of the bowl in no time, so you need to do it with the lid opened (it's not designed to be blown by the way, so it is perfectly normal and expected, hot air will never flow in that direction during normal use)
The silicone smells better than what my Ascent did. In the Ascent it was rather a foul smell at first, here it's a more classic rubber smell. I also expect it to go away after a few days.
Now let's have a look again at the air/vapor path picture Smiss sent me and detail it:
When I unboxed the FM8 I was completely perplex: I opened the bottom lid, saw the little glass filter (4) facing the bowl (I thought it was transparent plastic at first though, but they wrote "glass filter" on the above picture) and then I looked everywhere and couldn't find any air intake! The bottom shiny rotating lid is completely sealed! But air has to come from somewhere right? Smiss engineers being surely skilled couldn't have made such a dramatic mistake... and of course they did not!
What they did instead is pretty clever: air is sucked by the holes in (1), in the process it is pre-heated by traveling close to the heating element, it then flows trough the hinge (2) then inside the lid (3), through the glass filter (4) and silicone mating, then through the ceramic bowl (5) and the bowl bottom screen (like the FM5 probably nickel or nickel alloy, but with larger holes this time) Then what happens afterwards is less clear...
There seems to be some obstruction after (5) then it goes through a first glass straw (6) inside the "air tunnel" (silicone I assume, need to confirm) which is mated to the external glass straw (7) and your mouth.
Now I don't know to what amount the air is pre-heated in (1) and if it's enough in practice to create a mix of convection and conduction heating. We will see when I do the practical tests.
(croped due to size limitation)
I can nonetheless already answer most of your questions, as well as share my first impressions:
Packaging
Same kind of high end cardboard printed box as the FM5, everything tight. Again got a euro-spec charger with it, larger than the previous one. This one outputs 15V @ 1A, with the positive on the inside of the mini jack. The jack is the same format as the FM5 and Ascent, I don't have the figures at hand but 3.5mm or something, from memory.
There's a 18 pages user manual (tiny pages don't worry!), not too shabby. There's also a spare drawing straw, as well as two tools. The tools have larger handles than those of the FM5, supposedly to make them feel of higher quality, but I'm not sure this was necessary. They take more space and the previous poking/tamping tool was double ended and more useful (I use it daily to tamp my bowls in all my vapes)
Build and external aspect
The glass straws happen to have the exact same shape and diameter as the Ascent upper straw. They are just a tad longer. I expect the same kind of fragility, but it is safely retracted and stored inside the device when not in use. I understand some people are clumsy and/or unlucky with glass though, so this vaporizer might not be for you. On the other hand, like I said and as pictured below, the huge advantage is that it's 100% compatible with the Ascent glass on glass adapters:
The device shell is sturdy. The powder coating appears to be thicker than on the FM5. At first I even thought that the shell was made of hard plastic, so I could't resist to scratch it a little bit, and it revealed a shiny metal underneath, so I assume it's made of aluminium like the FM5. I don't know what material the two "shiny end caps" are made of, but I do know that like everything chrome-like, they love to catch finger prints (people having the SS version of the Indica will know what I mean!)
Build quality is pretty good, tight tolerances, it's all very precise. The device is sealed and does not appear to be user serviceable. Contrary to the FM5 there are no screws and no visible hints of any kind that it could be easily opened. This means that unless we find a non destructive way to open it, batteries will not be replaceable past their EOL.
I used my hobby-grade digital scale and tried to weight my vaporizers. Firewood 2.1 is 179g, FlowerMate 5S is 185g, DaVinci Ascent is 191g...and well ahem, the FM8 is way above 200g as it maxed my poor little scale out! So I'm sorry I don't know how much it weights but it feels lighter than what it looks like. I mean, you would expect it to be heavier when you see it, but it's not that heavy.
The form factor is kinda surprising. It looks like a big flask, not super sexy but not ugly either... but we all have different tastes and expectations. It feels good in the hand though, nice ergonomic grip, all round edges where you put your fingers. It is well balanced and able to stand on its own on both ends: you can lay it on a table between hits and it won't fall. You can lay it upside down on a table when loading it, and even with the lid opened it's stable. You can load it and use it with a single hand.
But I won't lie to you (and pictures speak for themselves) it's a rather large portable vape. It fits in the back pocket of my cargo jeans (and I can definitely notice its presence) but it will be problematic if you wear skinny slim fits! I prefer to see it as a transportable vape and/or a handy desktop-like vape for when I'm in my house.
Air and vapor path
Now we arrive at the very hot and picky subject that we FC members love to discuss: what is it made of and is it safe? First of all, out of the box, there was a lot of that trademark "new chinese electronic device" smell. So far all my vapes were smelly when I bought them, excepted for the Firewood which had strictly no smell. I already told Smiss to improve that aspect and they said they would do their best, but here we have at least two main sources of smell:
1) what I assume to be linked to the polymide probably used to enclose the heating element (it is the exact same smell I had in my FM5 and 5S, it evokes tape and glue)
2) silicone, used in various locations (ring around the bowl + ring around the glass filter of the bottom lid, both needed to create an air-tight mating, as well as a larger chunk inside the "air tunnel" and to hold the upper glass straw, and finally the straw end-cap which is also silicone)
The polymide smell took at least two entire charges worth of empty burn-ins at max temperature to lower to an acceptable level on my two FM5's, while sitting in a well ventilated room and/or while blowing a lot of air through the mouthpiece. I expect it to go away in a similar fashion in the FM8 but beware that by blowing/honking inside the device while the bottom lid is closed, you can overheat the lid easily. I managed to create a really hot spot right in front of the bowl in no time, so you need to do it with the lid opened (it's not designed to be blown by the way, so it is perfectly normal and expected, hot air will never flow in that direction during normal use)
The silicone smells better than what my Ascent did. In the Ascent it was rather a foul smell at first, here it's a more classic rubber smell. I also expect it to go away after a few days.
Now let's have a look again at the air/vapor path picture Smiss sent me and detail it:
When I unboxed the FM8 I was completely perplex: I opened the bottom lid, saw the little glass filter (4) facing the bowl (I thought it was transparent plastic at first though, but they wrote "glass filter" on the above picture) and then I looked everywhere and couldn't find any air intake! The bottom shiny rotating lid is completely sealed! But air has to come from somewhere right? Smiss engineers being surely skilled couldn't have made such a dramatic mistake... and of course they did not!
What they did instead is pretty clever: air is sucked by the holes in (1), in the process it is pre-heated by traveling close to the heating element, it then flows trough the hinge (2) then inside the lid (3), through the glass filter (4) and silicone mating, then through the ceramic bowl (5) and the bowl bottom screen (like the FM5 probably nickel or nickel alloy, but with larger holes this time) Then what happens afterwards is less clear...
There seems to be some obstruction after (5) then it goes through a first glass straw (6) inside the "air tunnel" (silicone I assume, need to confirm) which is mated to the external glass straw (7) and your mouth.
Now I don't know to what amount the air is pre-heated in (1) and if it's enough in practice to create a mix of convection and conduction heating. We will see when I do the practical tests.
(croped due to size limitation)
Last edited:
KeroZen
Chronic vapaholic
The good and the less good
Again keep in mind this is a beta unit and changes will be made before it goes into production. Here are in no particular order my initial remarks:
1) I thought it was so similar to the Ascent that they would face the same kind of problems and they would fall into the same traps. It appears that for some aspects they did pretty well and for some they did not so good.
2) The lid/hinge is the weak point of this device *but* it will not be the main failure point of the device like it is for the Ascent for several reasons (see below). As is it, there is some slight play but otherwise it feels solid, but clearly if I had to find the achille's heel it would be it: after the glass straw it's about the only thing you could break here.
3) They did not make the same mistake of putting the charger jack and IC, the bowl and the temp sensor inside the bottom part like in the Ascent. This is great because it means there are no wires going through the hinge and hence no possibility of mechanical failure due to rotational stress on the solders, like we unfortunately see often in the Ascent thread. In fact you could break and remove the lid completely and just use another kind of lid to close the bowl and it would work. Charger jack is located on the top, it might feeel awkward when using it while plugged, but believe me it was the right decision to make, really.
4) The mating between the lid and bowl is not 100% air-tight, but contrary to the Ascent, this is not important. Let me explain: in the Ascent they had to issue a revision with a small silicone "lip" around the bowl because fresh air could be sucked in while drawing and it affected the vapor/air ratio. But in the Ascent, air was sucked from above the bowl, so it diluted the vapor drawn from below with fresh air from the exterior. Here even if extra fresh air can be sucked from the exterior, it is always before going through the load and the bowl, meaning it does not affect the vapor/air ratio at all, you just get more air intake.
5) Like in the Ascent beta version, there is no stopper on the lid to prevent you from trying to rotate it in the wrong direction. They will need to fix that otherwise I foresee people trying to force it open and possibly breaking it. Some kind of post+groove mechanism could work but it will make the shell harder to produce.
6) Like in the Ascent the two glass straws in the air tunnel have a loose mating, due to glass tolerances being way higher than other materials. In the Ascent we discovered with dismay that this loose mating allowed to draw air from the electronics section due to several design problems. Fixes have been proposed (and also possibly implemented in the latest revisions) but this was a very annoying problem. I contacted Smiss to clarify that part and they told me several things:
A) Production versions will likely have a stainless steel internal straw instead of glass because they can't find any glass maker that can meet their tolerances requirements.
B) They told me to rest assured that there was no possibility to draw air from the electronics section and that it was properly isolated.
This brings me to my only real concern with the device so far. While not really a show stopper, I immediatly thought it would be problematic: maintainance and cleaning.
1) The bowl screen is not removable and will need to be cleaned in place like for the FM5
2) The obstruction after the bowl and before the internal glass straw will be virtually impossible to clean
3) The internal straw is not removable and will need to be cleaned in place (so in a way it's better if it's stainless steel because it won't break, but it kinda defeats the glass vapor path idea)
4) The internal straw diameter is too small for a regular Q-tip and it's too long, so unless you can completely soak this area in ISO alcoohol, it will be hard to clean
Q/A
You sir are going to have troubles! I wouldn't venture too much in that direction, it's too much of a troll-bait! haha
Sorry mate, I live in prohibition land with very low tolerance, a video is not going to happen...
I can only compare to the vapes I tried and/or have so far (Ascent, FW, FM, volcano, pax) anything else would be pure speculation.
It means it can heat faster but also that it can recover and counter any temperature drop better. As I said heating time is incredibly fast. It has active temperature control (sensor+PID) and when it uses 100% throttle it can output up to 120W to counter any loss.
I wondered why they selected only 2000mAh batteries and didn't use the same 2600mAh they use in the FM5. Weight could be a reason but I suspect it's also because there aren't that many high capacity batteries with a high enough discharge C rate, and the FM8 is quite taxing on the batteries. The OLED has the set point and the sensor temperatures displayed at all times. When heating up you can litterally see the voltage sag as the charge icon loses one bar when the throttle is at 100% (first phase) and as soon as it slows down near the set temp, the charge icon bar comes back.
Now I don't know if like in the Ascent they freeze the sensor display when around the set point, but when I did the burn-ins, I was really honking inside the device and I never ever could see the sensor displayed temperature drop. So it will have to be confirmed but the FM8 could possibly be able to handle giant rips without bulging.
So actually it's a bit more, as it's an integral part of the air path.
We will see if there is more convection in this one or not when I manage to test it for real. Battery life seems to be good but they seem to have maximized available heating power vs run time (it's always a matter of trade-offs)
I would really wait until they get everything fixed and perfect before getting one. I don't know if you can leave it plugged all the time but it's usually not good with li-ion batteries to keep them maxed out for a long time. Ideally you must use them right after charging and never let them sit full (or depleted) for too long.
Yeah it's insane hehe! A real power monster!
The FM5 is honnestly not that iffy, or rather let's say we have seen way worse! With this one they don't claim all-glass air path like the Ascent, and we also get some silicone. It's a bit too early to say though, someone would have to gut it to be sure.
Yes you can use it with the straw only partly retracted.
The bowl appears to be the same ceramic one as the FM5. Same size but no LED this time. Manual says it can hold 0.6g.
Yes it's like the FM5S (3 temps version) it goes to sleep after 5 minutes then you have to hold the power button for a few seconds and it restarts.
--
Alright folks, I hope this proved useful, thank you for reading!
Again keep in mind this is a beta unit and changes will be made before it goes into production. Here are in no particular order my initial remarks:
1) I thought it was so similar to the Ascent that they would face the same kind of problems and they would fall into the same traps. It appears that for some aspects they did pretty well and for some they did not so good.
2) The lid/hinge is the weak point of this device *but* it will not be the main failure point of the device like it is for the Ascent for several reasons (see below). As is it, there is some slight play but otherwise it feels solid, but clearly if I had to find the achille's heel it would be it: after the glass straw it's about the only thing you could break here.
3) They did not make the same mistake of putting the charger jack and IC, the bowl and the temp sensor inside the bottom part like in the Ascent. This is great because it means there are no wires going through the hinge and hence no possibility of mechanical failure due to rotational stress on the solders, like we unfortunately see often in the Ascent thread. In fact you could break and remove the lid completely and just use another kind of lid to close the bowl and it would work. Charger jack is located on the top, it might feeel awkward when using it while plugged, but believe me it was the right decision to make, really.
4) The mating between the lid and bowl is not 100% air-tight, but contrary to the Ascent, this is not important. Let me explain: in the Ascent they had to issue a revision with a small silicone "lip" around the bowl because fresh air could be sucked in while drawing and it affected the vapor/air ratio. But in the Ascent, air was sucked from above the bowl, so it diluted the vapor drawn from below with fresh air from the exterior. Here even if extra fresh air can be sucked from the exterior, it is always before going through the load and the bowl, meaning it does not affect the vapor/air ratio at all, you just get more air intake.
5) Like in the Ascent beta version, there is no stopper on the lid to prevent you from trying to rotate it in the wrong direction. They will need to fix that otherwise I foresee people trying to force it open and possibly breaking it. Some kind of post+groove mechanism could work but it will make the shell harder to produce.
6) Like in the Ascent the two glass straws in the air tunnel have a loose mating, due to glass tolerances being way higher than other materials. In the Ascent we discovered with dismay that this loose mating allowed to draw air from the electronics section due to several design problems. Fixes have been proposed (and also possibly implemented in the latest revisions) but this was a very annoying problem. I contacted Smiss to clarify that part and they told me several things:
A) Production versions will likely have a stainless steel internal straw instead of glass because they can't find any glass maker that can meet their tolerances requirements.
B) They told me to rest assured that there was no possibility to draw air from the electronics section and that it was properly isolated.
This brings me to my only real concern with the device so far. While not really a show stopper, I immediatly thought it would be problematic: maintainance and cleaning.
1) The bowl screen is not removable and will need to be cleaned in place like for the FM5
2) The obstruction after the bowl and before the internal glass straw will be virtually impossible to clean
3) The internal straw is not removable and will need to be cleaned in place (so in a way it's better if it's stainless steel because it won't break, but it kinda defeats the glass vapor path idea)
4) The internal straw diameter is too small for a regular Q-tip and it's too long, so unless you can completely soak this area in ISO alcoohol, it will be hard to clean
Q/A
You sir are going to have troubles! I wouldn't venture too much in that direction, it's too much of a troll-bait! haha
Sorry mate, I live in prohibition land with very low tolerance, a video is not going to happen...
I can only compare to the vapes I tried and/or have so far (Ascent, FW, FM, volcano, pax) anything else would be pure speculation.
It means it can heat faster but also that it can recover and counter any temperature drop better. As I said heating time is incredibly fast. It has active temperature control (sensor+PID) and when it uses 100% throttle it can output up to 120W to counter any loss.
I wondered why they selected only 2000mAh batteries and didn't use the same 2600mAh they use in the FM5. Weight could be a reason but I suspect it's also because there aren't that many high capacity batteries with a high enough discharge C rate, and the FM8 is quite taxing on the batteries. The OLED has the set point and the sensor temperatures displayed at all times. When heating up you can litterally see the voltage sag as the charge icon loses one bar when the throttle is at 100% (first phase) and as soon as it slows down near the set temp, the charge icon bar comes back.
Now I don't know if like in the Ascent they freeze the sensor display when around the set point, but when I did the burn-ins, I was really honking inside the device and I never ever could see the sensor displayed temperature drop. So it will have to be confirmed but the FM8 could possibly be able to handle giant rips without bulging.
So actually it's a bit more, as it's an integral part of the air path.
We will see if there is more convection in this one or not when I manage to test it for real. Battery life seems to be good but they seem to have maximized available heating power vs run time (it's always a matter of trade-offs)
I would really wait until they get everything fixed and perfect before getting one. I don't know if you can leave it plugged all the time but it's usually not good with li-ion batteries to keep them maxed out for a long time. Ideally you must use them right after charging and never let them sit full (or depleted) for too long.
Yeah it's insane hehe! A real power monster!
The FM5 is honnestly not that iffy, or rather let's say we have seen way worse! With this one they don't claim all-glass air path like the Ascent, and we also get some silicone. It's a bit too early to say though, someone would have to gut it to be sure.
Yes you can use it with the straw only partly retracted.
The bowl appears to be the same ceramic one as the FM5. Same size but no LED this time. Manual says it can hold 0.6g.
Yes it's like the FM5S (3 temps version) it goes to sleep after 5 minutes then you have to hold the power button for a few seconds and it restarts.
--
Alright folks, I hope this proved useful, thank you for reading!
max
Out to lunch
Nobody does yet, including the eBay sellers taking preorders. There aren't even any listings on alibaba yet. If Smiss uses their previous marketing plan, it'll be sold in Europe first.
They really don't need it, and I wouldn't give it to 'em.
Jack Sprat
Well-Known Member
virtualpurple
Well-Known Member
Hopefully today I hear more back from TNT. I had told them via email that I was pretty hesitant to give out my SSN.
virtualpurple
Well-Known Member
I share that same concern. Here is a snippet of what TNT is asking for:
Peter
I really apologized for the inconveniences but you are right our phone and computer system was not working properly yesterday.
Dear Consignee:
This is regarding the shipment currently held by Customs at LAX.
If you HAVE OR WANT your own broker to clear it please provide broker information to create the Authority to make Entry through Customs.\
Please be advised that to turn over docs to your own broker there will be an additional fees of $ 100.00, and disregard below cargo info if you want to use your own broker.
First, I need the following cargo information:
1) Your company’s name and tax id number (EIN#) or SS# if for individual
See link on why we require this for customs:https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/314
2) If shipment is for an individual will collect payment up-front via credit card (fees to be determined) once the breakdown fees are ready I will send you credit card along with it. . ( IF WE USE SSN# )
3.) (– see invoice) attached
4) Need end user statement or final cargo use statement ?
5.- Need to know if this E- cig. (product ) has a liquid or it is battery only?
If the product has liquid in it we will need the following FDA info:
a) Export License ( must be provide it by shipper)
b) Certificate of Analysis ( must be provide it by shipper)
If this is only Battery we don't need a & b cargo info
FYI
***Note: All shipments that are held customs need to be cleared within 15 days of arrival. If shipment is not cleared within the 15 day time frame, it will be sent to Government Order warehouse (GO) and will accumulate monthly storage charges starting from $344.80 storage fees for 1 through 100 Pounds and must be paid in order to move shipment out of GO warehouse. Please ensure you provide all completed documents and information required for clearance and allow 48hrs to customs processing before the scheduled GO date to avoid shipment being sent to GO Warehouse. (Government Warehouse)
GO Date for this shipment is: 11/12/2014
Your prompt response will be appreciate it
Thank you
Blanca Bolanos
C/S Brokerage Dept.
TNT USA INC
T: 310-242-9714
F: 310-410-0218
blanca.bolanos@tnt.com
8500 Osage Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90045
USAwww.tnt.com
TNT sure we can
From: Peter Harvey <eightofjane@hotmail.com>
To: "blanca.bolanos@tnt.com" <blanca.bolanos@tnt.com>,
Date: 10/31/2014 03:38 AM
Subject: Shipment number xxxxxxxx
Hello Blanca,
I received a message from you yesterday regarding the above shipment number, but I am not sure if the reception was bad because I was not able to understand the questions regarding the package, except that it is currently with customs. Can you clarify for me what information is needed on my end?
Thank you,
Peter
I told them in a separate email I'd like clarification why they need my SSN, as I'm pretty reserved about handing that out.
I also can't tell if they want money out of me, but we'll see . Hopefully I get a response in the next few hours from someone.
G Hog
Member
Nice Job on the pre-review @KeroZen! Can't wait to hear how she handles.
My interest is definitely piqued by this vape. I like the idea of a large, powerful handheld vape for home use. You can pack it up and then take it wherever you want: head off to watch TV, settle down with the cat in the living room, have it close at hand while cooking in the kitchen.
This vape strikes me as something of an Everyman's Mighty (at least close enough for those of us on a budget) and if it's under 200 bucks retail I am full in.
My interest is definitely piqued by this vape. I like the idea of a large, powerful handheld vape for home use. You can pack it up and then take it wherever you want: head off to watch TV, settle down with the cat in the living room, have it close at hand while cooking in the kitchen.
This vape strikes me as something of an Everyman's Mighty (at least close enough for those of us on a budget) and if it's under 200 bucks retail I am full in.
Quetzalcoatl
DEADY GUERRERO/DIRT COBAIN/GEORGE KUSH
Social refers to "Social Security Number" (or SSN). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_number
dopefiend
Well-Known Member
You'll be waiting a bit longer I'm afraid!
Smiss also sent me one for use in our Best Portable Vapes video, but in end we couldn't include it as it was clearly not intended to be used. I encountered the same problems the OP did with burn in never ending and hideous smells, took it up with Smiss, and was told that, as this was a production sample, the engineer had used glue to fix some of the components, and the strange smell/taste was that of glue burning. They said that this wouldn't be an issue in the final release.
Obviously we decided not to use this unit in the video as it would give an unfairly bad impression of an unfinished product. But I think there might be some other issues that would have also counted against it, and these have all been pointed out above.
KeroZen
Chronic vapaholic
Sorry for the lack of updates guys, as I said I was in the midst of a product release at work. What happened with the FM8 in between? I did some back and forth e-mail exchanges with my contact @ Smiss. I also continued the burn-ins somewhat but thought it was still too soon to test it because of the glue-like smell, which reminded me of the polymide of my FM5S. Well, not glue, but rather the glue found on scotch tape or the like...
Then a few days ago a friend came at home and saw the device. He bugged me so much to test it even if it was too early... that I said ok, let's test it! He loaded a small bowl but without tamping it. We powered the device and he started taking hits and made a funny face... The taste was just horrible and on top of that the vapor was pretty wispy at first. I took a hit too and soon regreted it, ewww! Seeing the faces we were doing, another friend who was present declined the offer to test it haha.
I expected the taste to be bad given how strong the new device smell was, but I didn't expect the vapor to be wispy. So I opened the lid and tamped the load inside the bowl like I do in the FM5 and in the Ascent, and bingo! Instant thicker vapor. We were still at 175°C though, so it was not very visible. I upped to 195°C and we got good vapor... Of course I just inhaled with (and in) my mouth and exhaled it instantly as I didn't want to risk vaporizing any nasty stuff. This means I was able to take only moderately large hits compared to a real lung inhalation. There was vapor in direct relation with the duration of my draws and it seemed to be able to hold large hits. I hope someone will be able to test it with watertools.
Afterwards I kept doing many many empty burn-ins, while blowing a lot of air through the device. At some point I grew tired and placed the device in front of a large fan blowing directly on the opened bowl (device upside down) I came back every 5 minutes to turn it back on until the battery died. It must be two charges worth of burn-ins and while the smell is clearly vanishing slowly, it's still lingering.
This time I took note of how many sessions I did since the last full charge: 20 sessions at max temperature while blowing a lot of air, and including some cooling down and re-heating when I forgot to come back to turn it on in time. So that's 100 minutes of intense use, I think it should be good for 2 hours with a normal usage pattern, not bad at all.
At this point I don't know what to think. The three FM5 I had all had a new device smell and needed burn-ins. My Ascent also required a lot and the silicone smell was there for a long time. I imagined it would be the same with this one but what @dopefiend said above leaves me perplex. If glue there is I don't know where it is, and the smell comes from around the bowl mostly (as well as the silicone, but it's less displeasant) I just know I will not test it again until the smell is down to acceptable levels (ie barely noticeable)
Then a few days ago a friend came at home and saw the device. He bugged me so much to test it even if it was too early... that I said ok, let's test it! He loaded a small bowl but without tamping it. We powered the device and he started taking hits and made a funny face... The taste was just horrible and on top of that the vapor was pretty wispy at first. I took a hit too and soon regreted it, ewww! Seeing the faces we were doing, another friend who was present declined the offer to test it haha.
I expected the taste to be bad given how strong the new device smell was, but I didn't expect the vapor to be wispy. So I opened the lid and tamped the load inside the bowl like I do in the FM5 and in the Ascent, and bingo! Instant thicker vapor. We were still at 175°C though, so it was not very visible. I upped to 195°C and we got good vapor... Of course I just inhaled with (and in) my mouth and exhaled it instantly as I didn't want to risk vaporizing any nasty stuff. This means I was able to take only moderately large hits compared to a real lung inhalation. There was vapor in direct relation with the duration of my draws and it seemed to be able to hold large hits. I hope someone will be able to test it with watertools.
Afterwards I kept doing many many empty burn-ins, while blowing a lot of air through the device. At some point I grew tired and placed the device in front of a large fan blowing directly on the opened bowl (device upside down) I came back every 5 minutes to turn it back on until the battery died. It must be two charges worth of burn-ins and while the smell is clearly vanishing slowly, it's still lingering.
This time I took note of how many sessions I did since the last full charge: 20 sessions at max temperature while blowing a lot of air, and including some cooling down and re-heating when I forgot to come back to turn it on in time. So that's 100 minutes of intense use, I think it should be good for 2 hours with a normal usage pattern, not bad at all.
At this point I don't know what to think. The three FM5 I had all had a new device smell and needed burn-ins. My Ascent also required a lot and the silicone smell was there for a long time. I imagined it would be the same with this one but what @dopefiend said above leaves me perplex. If glue there is I don't know where it is, and the smell comes from around the bowl mostly (as well as the silicone, but it's less displeasant) I just know I will not test it again until the smell is down to acceptable levels (ie barely noticeable)
max
Out to lunch
Very disappointing that they would send out even a single unit with glue in it. A production sample, by definition, should be a working product. Why send out a vaporizer that you can't or shouldn't use? In fact, if they want to do it right, they should do a burn in during QC to make sure any manufacturing byproducts have been eliminated. I'm sure that's not gonna happen though. It would slow down their production rate too much.
![:\](/i/s/hmm.gif "Hmm :\")
KeroZen
Chronic vapaholic
In their defense they told me they do at least two empty burn-ins at the factory for the FM5, to test that the batteries and device are ok. They said they can't do more though as it would indeed be too costly and time consuming.
It's strange because my contact told me the sample was delayed precisely because someone from QC had been hand testing all betas to make sure they were perfect. But apparently many testers reported the bad smells because they were well aware of the problem.
It's strange because my contact told me the sample was delayed precisely because someone from QC had been hand testing all betas to make sure they were perfect. But apparently many testers reported the bad smells because they were well aware of the problem.
max
Out to lunch
$82.70 with shipping. $77.70 if 20 buyers commit.
weenstoned
Well-Known Member
Kinda tempting, would be nice to have an actual usage review first though.
stark1
Lonesome Planet
Agreed. I've learned to strike while the iron is hot, however, as I've missed a few other drops. At this price point, I think I can miss a few (ugh) Red Robin burgers.
If it turns out to be a poor investment, I will just have to add it to my other (sic) addiction, my stable of bikes.....
Actually, thanks to @max, my V5 is an up and up schwe-et!
Winner!
If it turns out to be a poor investment, I will just have to add it to my other (sic) addiction, my stable of bikes.....
Actually, thanks to @max, my V5 is an up and up schwe-et!
Winner!