My gf is away and my Firewood is momentarily out of order, so I borrowed her FlowerMate and have got the opportunity to spend some very intimate quality time with it...
I've been using it as my alternating daily driver back to back with my Ascent (as I need at least two fully charged portables per day, and most of the time I do a few quick charges during the day, if I can, to top them off, otherwise I end down out of juice and can be tempted to combust as a last resort)
I also had the opportunity to share it with several of my friends who tested it for the first time, and most had little experience with vaporizers, so their impressions were interesting.
Overall I like how easy this vape is: easy to load, easy to use, easy to clean, easy to carry. But all people agreed: the taste deteriorates starting from the first puff! In fact, and more precisely, the ABV taste becomes ever more present with each hit until you're left only with it (and that happens pretty fast)
At first people thought it was hitting way harder than the Ascent and produced bigger clouds, but that was because I presented them the Ascent in "low temp terpene paradise" mode (the one at which the Ascent excels clearly, pure low temp goodness taste!)
So I loaded the Ascent with the same quantity, and started directly at 200°C (392°F) and got the same lung-busting amount of vapor, yet it was cooler (due to the longest vapor path) and the taste was better (ABV taste was noticeable but not as overwhelming) I'm not sure if glass is the only reason for the taste difference though, hard to tell.
The FM might be running slightly hotter than that temperature, as the ABV ends darker overall. Your mileage might vary...
I'm concerned by the silicone above the bowl and the exposed LED. By the way, after one week of daily use I realized the light looked way less bright than before, I thought it was strange and hoped it didn't start melting, but thanksfully not, it's just gunked up with oil (made the light yellowish and dimmed)
That being said, there was an "incident" once: it was during a long outdoor session and we were having a passionate talk, so the device was left running for a long time (the auto shut off engaged twice, so it was the third session in a row with no interruption) at which point the taste became very awful, like disgustingly filthy old ABV concentrate, almost platicy...
I'll never know if it was just because we insisted too much on a dead bowl or if with time, something didn't start melting in there...
I'm concerned that if the 5S can do even higher temps we might be near the "limit"... The lower temp setting on the other hand will be more than welcome! Any ETA from Smiss for the 5S?