Discontinued FlowerMate V8.0 by Smiss

[stark1]

Nice thought, but don't get your hopes up just yet, here is a partial of their email :

"Great news group! The vendor has let us know that the group's order was picked up and is on its way to our warehouse now. Based on the tracking provided these are scheduled to come in tomorrow. Our warehouse team has been forwarded tracking info and will be standing by, ready to get these packed up and turned around as soon as they come in......"

 

[weenstoned]

I think they're just covering their ass on the odd chance it doesn't arrive. Better to add a line and avoid a ton of potential e-mails from customers.

Guess I will probably know if this was worth it or not before I even get this as all you Americos will get yours before me in Canada.

 

[KeroZen]

The good news is: massdrop hasn't received the shipment, thus the shipment comes from the factory, meaning you guys will get production units as expected!

I've been busy again and didn't get much time to use the FM8. You know, I'm kind of a creature of "habits" so I need time to include this newcomer in my daily routines, seeing it already took me some time to get a good balance with my Ascent+FM5 combo.

I've used it a few more times I think. Tobacco taste is almost gone, I begin enjoying it. It's still too soon to say if taste is closer to Ascent or FM5... it's safe to say it's at least in between. Vapor is definitely cooler than FM5 and maybe slightly cooler than Ascent (there's a long vapor path and even the upper glass straw is longer than the Ascent one)

Some of the sessions I did left me with the impression that vapor density could be better though. So I tried to analyze what was going on. First of all, it works better if you make a hard flat puck in the bowl, exactly like the FM5 and Ascent (and most conduction vapes in fact, if not all of them) The problem is: the bowl being upside down, if you shake the device too much during use, the puck can move and lose contact with the bowl walls. I imagine the goboof Alpha has the same problem but they kinda improved the situation by having this "spike" inside the bowl.

Then I realized that I had to concentrate when taking hits with the FM8. If I did it out of habit, like say with the FM5, then I was sometimes left with the impression it wasn't very dense. This is where the strange part begins: as someone noted earlier, it seems there's little difference in restriction and vapor output if you leave the lid opened or closed.

My theory for now is that you have to take larger inhalations because you need to clear all that big vapor path space before it can reach your mouth (and now that the internal glass straw is gone it means a larger volume) By the way my contact confirmed that the 'air tunnel' is now made of stainless steel. The vapor path is: ceramic bowl, (nickel?) screen, unknown junction, stainless steel, glass.

When you take large hits, you get good vapor. When you sip it, it feels a bit wispy. I guess, like many vapes out there, it has a learning curve and in a few days I should get used to it.

I'll try to do a proper conclusion with bullet points pros+cons later on.

 

[stark1]

If I blink,will those promised pictures morf

 

[KeroZen]

@stark1 : what exactly would you like to see? I think the picture @ominosity posted covers the updated air tunnel. I can show the updated bottom lid screen but that's about it...

 

[stark1]

A coupla pages back @KeroZen said I'll post some pictures so I figgur I'd remind him

I am a sucker 4 picturs

 

[Accuphase]

Just received mail from MD

"Your Flowermate V8 has shipped and should be arriving soon".

I was the 64th participant in the drop so they probably shipped them all today.
But since shipping to the EU will take awhile, I'm looking forward to read some more reviews
here.

 

[stark1]

Ditto. Could mean Monday, could mean Friday. Saturday. Mailed from our side of the pond. Jersey, I believe.

Quien sabe.

 

[Accuphase]

I can show the updated bottom lid screen

I'd like to see some pictures of the lid screen and the lid itself.

Also, could you tell me if the Wall Charger is specificated to be working with 110-230V or just 110V?

 

[KatFeith]

We are about to see a shit load of reviews / pics in the upcoming days.

I'll have mine by Tuesday.

 

[NickDlow]

Mine is scheduled for delivery Tuesday also but said its early supposedly today. I doubt it though.

Yea once everyone gets their MD shipment we will be flooded with reviews.

 

[stark1]

Whoa! Tuesday it is.

However, I rather believe it will be Mondaze since it arrived in Springfield, Ma Saturday Morning.

A hop, skip, and a jump.

& Walla! Chicken.

My fav rav, my large brick!

No smokie. No smelly, I hope-y.

 

[NickDlow]

My V8 has arrived at my house but I won't be home till Thursday night nd then I can play a little bit with it and post my opinion/review. I'm sure others will before me if everyone is recieving their MD order soon

 

[stark1]

Mine, too, arrived today, but we got a NorEaster going thru, till tomorrow. So it is tomorrow before I pick it up.

Ironically, my MD Ascent also arrived at the PO today. Drop ended a week or so after the V8. Same story.

So, tomorrow I get to get them both, and charge them up while @ work. After work, I will be packing two new toyz!

 

[NickDlow]

I hear u I'm in DE n have to drive to RI hopefully it's cleared up by Thursday

 

[stark1]

At least it ain't SNOW! It's been pouring bouquets, here!

 

[fake name]

Oh snap, UPS just dropped mine off. Review and pics coming

 

[stark1]

You are the man, Dude.

 

[fixintodye]

I received mine today, after charging I turned it on and immediately noticed a strong plastic/electronics smell in the herb chamber. I did about 5 or 6 burn ins then my buddy said we should just try it and that the herbs would prob cover up the electronic smell. So we started at 355 and tasted pretty good went up to 375 still decent taste, went up to 400 and was overwhelmed by the electronic/plastic grossness. Been continuing burn ins with bottom lid open in front of a fan. Anyone else notice a strong plasticy smell?

 

[fake name]

All right, doing burn-offs now. Nothing striking me as a glue smell, just the initial "new vape" smell that a lot of vapes have and a rubbery smell. I'm assuming from the rubber between the opening to the heating chamber and the plastic body. After a few runs ( cools down after 5 minutes) the new vape smell is dissipating but the rubbery smell remains. after trying to pull through it, there is a bit of a rubbery flavor.

It comes packed very well. The box is very nice, branded and with a high quality feeling to the packaging. The device is large, but not larger than I expected. It is a bit heaver than I expected, with a nice heft to it. It feels good in my hand, though I do have large hands. It is very nice looking right out of the box. I'd say it's one of the better looking vapes I've used. After taking out the unit and the foam padding, there is another dividing piece of packaging to the charger, cleaning brush, stirring tool, and spare glass mouth piece in its own box. The first mouth piece was in the unit under the rubber lid at the top. Charge port is on the top at the other end from the mouth piece. The bottom part spins out away from the lcd side and stops at 90 and 180 degrees. Buttons on the side feel good.

The heating chamber is a good size, large but not too large. I'd say it's a bit larger than the chamber in the stem for the Solo. It turns on with 5 quick presses of the power button. As has already been said, this thing heats up stupidly quick. If the LED display is to believed, it goes from the slightly already warmed up 50 c to 229 c in 23.246 seconds (by my stop watch). The rate of heating seemed consistent until about 205, then it slowed down a bit. One weird note about the temp settings, they seem to be modular, if you press the increase temp button when at 230 c (the highest temp it goes to) it goes back to 40 c (the lowest temp it sets to). Also, when it auto cools after five minutes if you press the power button once, or either of the temp buttons, the led will display but it will continue to cool. To run the burn offs I've been shutting it down in full (5 clicks) and turning it back on.

So far I can say I'm very pleased with it aesthetically and I like the size of it. It is heavier and larger than other portables, but has a pleasant heft in the hand. More of a coat pocket than pants pocket type device. Rubbery smell and taste, but nothing hitting me as "glue smell." Heating time is very impressive, which makes up for the short 5 minute auto cool down. I'd gladly get a couple others experience, particularly in regards to the smell and taste. I'm no super-taster. I plan on giving it burn offs until the battery dies then giving it a go tomoro. I'll throw a few pics up once i find my phone charger and figure out how to post pics.

Edit: Pics (thanks Stu)

A couple with some of the family for scale:

In the hand:

And the heating chamber:

 

[Stu]

I'll throw a few pics up once i find my phone charger and figure out how to post pics.

http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/how-to-post-pictures.155/

 

[fake name]

All right, threw a few quick pics up on the last post. Anything in particular people want to see? I'm figuring y'all want to see vapor production, but that'll have to wait until morning. I'll get a few cloud pics and a usage review up then, I'll try to make a vid but no promises there.

 

[KeroZen]

@fake name : when the time-out timer expires and the OLED screen turn off, clicking the button once will turn the screen back on, but then you need to hold the button for 3 to 5 seconds and the heater will engage again, no need to power cycle the device on and off.

I'm glad you don't have any weird smell. Do you have another tube inside the air tunnel or is it empty and shiny?

I had a slight rubber smell at first but nowhere as bad as with my Ascent. You should try to clean the silicone parts with ISO + qtip to make sure. Otherwise venting during burn-ins is the key.

@fixintodye : I hope your device is not defective. But all 3 FM5 I got in my hands needed a lot of burn-ins to get rid of the new vape smells. It smelled more like tape than electronics though. Do you see any visible fumes when doing empty burn-ins?

 

[fake name]

@fake name : when the time-out timer expires and the OLED screen turn off, clicking the button once will turn the screen back on, but then you need to hold the button for 3 to 5 seconds and the heater will engage again, no need to power cycle the device on and off.

I'm glad you don't have any weird smell. Do you have another tube inside the air tunnel or is it empty and shiny?

I had a slight rubber smell at first but nowhere as bad as with my Ascent. You should try to clean the silicone parts with ISO + qtip to make sure. Otherwise venting during burn-ins is the key.

Thanks for the tip about the holding the button. much more convenient

The air path has the removable glass stem. removing that, it looks dark inside.

With stem:

Pathway without stem:

 

[fixintodye]

@KeroZen there are no visible fumes with the burn ins, this is my first electronic vape so I'm not sure exactly what the smell is. When I got up this morning the smell was less prevalent so I decided to try another bowl. Kept the temp at 356 and the first few hits were very tasty, but then the plasticy taste started overwhelming again so I'm doing more burn ins.