Help needed to recommend my brother a portable!

VanCough

Environmentalist
hi all,

My little brother wants to purchase a vape to use with his girlfriend to get high. Currently he smokes cannabis in a Sherlock style pipe.

I have a Mighty which I like a lot and I've told him about the vapcap but at the moment he's interested in the firefly 2 (for £309/$380!!!!) and the pax 3 which I think look like shit for the cost but I haven't tried myself.

He wants it to be portable for use out and about and camping etc. And preferably able to get him and his gf high without having to refill the bowl/stem.

Suggestions?
 
VanCough,

yogoshio

Annoying Libertarian
I have the Firefly 2 and while I love it, it may not be the best for multi people sessions, not without stirring or refilling. But that might have more to do with tolerance as well.

The Pax will be much more suitable for two to use IME. And the wife doesn't use the FF2 often enough to know how to get the best performance out of it, but in terms of my experience, the FF2 is the better if not for the not so great for multi person bowls.

We loved the Pax, but the flavor and efficiency of the FF2 is just something else.
 

HD Springer

Well-Known Member
I would suggest the Vivant Alternat I believe is what it's called. It is very reasonably priced. And I have heard wonderful things about it. He could get almost 3 of them for the price of one ff 2.
 
HD Springer,
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little maggie

Well-Known Member
The problem with the vivant, given what his brother wants, is it has a small bowl so that it will need refilling. It's great for microdosing.
Not my favorite vape (I prefer the vivant) but a lot of people like the boundless. It has a good sized bowl and I think would be easy to share. It's also reasonably priced.
 

Mr. Me2

Well-Known Member
Sounds like he wants a session vape to share.

And if the Mighty isn't right, I'm a pax fan. The pax2 is still available with a reduced price now. Although the pax3 has faster heat up and some "smart" features, the pax2 is solid, reliable, easy to use, and great battery life.

I haven't tried it, but the davinci IQ is getting good buzz. There does seem to be some reliability and sc issues that pax doesn't have.

Your brother could get a pax2 and dynavap (which is butane powered and PERFECT for camping) would be the same or less $$$ than the ff2.

I also have a ff1 and have read that the ff2 did not completely resolve all of its issues. Both need stirring, and it still needs some amount of technique (though improved over the ff1).

If he hasn't, your brother may want to check out Buzz Danklin's site (vaporizerwizard.com). Thoughtful and thorough reviews and helpful rankings.

Hope this helps!
 

little maggie

Well-Known Member
It does seem like he's not that concerned about cost. The Buzz Dankin site describes the boundless as similar to the mighty but much less expensive and given the cost not as good. But very good for the price. (He doesn't review some of the popular ones here especially the butane ones.) The pax 2 will meet your brother's needs. The differences between that and the 3 don't seem significant enough given the price difference.
 
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little maggie,

VanCough

Environmentalist
I hadn't heard of the alternate before, thanks for the recommendation. They're not heavy users only getting recreationally high about once a week so perhaps the alternate will be a fine size without needing to be refilled? Even if it did it looks too good to pass up. A crafty killer!! Love the variable air flow, the removable batteries (perfect for camping as he can take spares) and the ease of updating firmware. Just hope they release a water pipe adapter asap. Due to being in the uk is it sensible to order from DHgate as the warranty would be a nightmare to arrange from the uk anyway? It's so cheap on DHgate if it broke then it would probably be cheaper to buy a new one than to pay for shipping back to America and any possible import taxes...
 

little maggie

Well-Known Member
Quite a few people in the vivant threat ordered from China. I worried about that and got mine from PIU but it's probably too new for cloning. The CF or CFX still might be better for your brother because they hold quite a bit of flower- more than I use in several days. And it comes with a water adapter. I don't know how shipping would be but the water pipe adapter from ratchet on this board works well with the vivant. You might ask on the vivant thread how much it holds but I don't think it's adequate for 2 people without refilling. There probably are others who have a different perspective.
 
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HD Springer

Well-Known Member
That Alternate just sounds like vape we've been waiting to see the Chinese finally bring to market. Everyone has been saying the Chinese market will eventually get it right and produce a real good vaporizer. If it's not this one then when they finally do get it right look out US marketplace. It's hard to beat an on demand/session vape with swappable batteries at or under $70 through DHgate
 
HD Springer,

Doktor Dub

Well-Known Member
Your Brother should perhaps try out and test your Mighty???

I think it s a great Beginner Vape (if you don t mind the Price) and meets the Criterias mentioned.

  • No (or very small) learning Curve
  • Session Vape
  • Bowl big enough
  • Battery Life enough to get two Persons where they want to be...
  • Spare parts etc. easily accessible
If there is something he does not like about the Mighty, we could go from there, but i think the Mighty is still the King of portable and easy to use Session Vapes.

If he is intersted in the Firefly or Pax - these are two VERY different Vapes...
 

C No Ego

Well-Known Member
Haze V3 with a Ed's wooden tnt WPA ( water pipe adaptor) and it is quite the portable power house. the wood wpa stays on the vape full time when I vape even as just the native mouthpiece
 

little maggie

Well-Known Member
Haze V3 with a Ed's wooden tnt WPA ( water pipe adaptor) and it is quite the portable power house. the wood wpa stays on the vape full time when I vape even as just the native mouthpiece
If your brother does any camping the Haze v3 is a great idea especially because they can prepack the herb to take with them.
 

VanCough

Environmentalist
He considers the mighty to be too big and not discrete enough.

He's 21 and still lives at home so he will be doing most of his vaping out and about.

I think he's moving towards a crafty or a davinci IQ but are they both worth the big money (~£225/$280) in comparison to the vivant alternate.

You can get the alternate off of DHgate for $59.15/£48.50! Cheaper if you bought in bulk!

That's such a steal that if you had any money lying around you could buy them in bulk for $40/unit and sell them for more than double that and still be cheaper than the vivant! DHgate is crazy. I've no interest in doing that though.

I just want to know if this is the 'crafty killer', as some people are calling it, and whether this deal on DHgate is the bargain of the vaping century; if these are genuinely from the same factory and different in no way.

This is vivant's first product because the company is so new, and the vape looks identical (including the packaging and additional grinder/filling tool etc.) surely the device couldn't have been cloned this quickly? So it must be real?

I imagine it's a small window of opportunity before vivant find some legal way to shut the seller down via DHgate if it's legit. Or, the clones begin to flood the market making it impossible to know if the one you buy is legit.

Trying to sort my brother out as best I can. He's a student, he's poor... so am I :lol:
 
VanCough,

VanCough

Environmentalist
I've never like the look of the haze, just seems gimmicky to me, but I also haven't used it to be fair.

I was under the impression it was marketed as being good for concentrates and average for dry herb. And, again it's pretty expensive!
 
VanCough,

ginolicious

Well-Known Member
Haze is better on dry herb. Yeah looks weird. I thought so. But give it a go it's epic.
 
ginolicious,

VanCough

Environmentalist
What's up with the tiny straw though? And why do you need two bowls instead of one bigger one?
 
VanCough,

ginolicious

Well-Known Member
The stem isn't that tiny. It's actually pretty free flowing. No draw resistance. I had a lung issue so free flowing was a big deal to me on my desktop and haze v3 for portable. The bowls pack a nice .2-.3.

Yes it is smaller sessions. But sometimes all you need is 1 smal bowl. Unless you blazing 5 people you'll want a bigger bowl or have to use both.
 

Prolusio

Well-Known Member
I just got my Alternate this week and so far I'm really liking it. I can't say whether it's a crafty killer as I have not tried that vape, but the Alternate is definitely well worth the price imo. I was surprised at how small it is when I got it in hand as well! for some reason I didn't realize it from the pictures but it's only ~11cmX5cm! (~4.25" x 2") So if being discreet is a concern this is a good vape to consider I think. Easy to pocket. Also for stealth you don't need to leave the vape itself out to charge since you can remove the batteries.
 

ginolicious

Well-Known Member
Watch some reviews. 10 year warranty. You can get it on good sale prices. They go as low as $210 CDN. 2 batteries. 2 stems. Pre pack cans. Order a few more if you do. It falls cheaper than the most discussed in this thread.
 
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blackstone

Well-Known Member
To add a few opinions about Alternate and DHgate,
@little maggie had a good point that it's almost too new to have clones of it out yet. And I wonder how long that will last, there's no way to know.
Another point is that it might be too well priced to have clones of it.
But that's only an idea too, and as Vivant said there's no way to know if they are real.

You also have an interesting point @VanCough , that you can approach such a low price that warranty wouldn't even matter and it's cheaper/less hassle to buy a new replacement! That's an amazing concept for the future too!
But as Vivant pointed out, they pay for their returns now.
And I've had warranty replacements elsewhere before where I didn't have to send things back.

I bought a clone of a common vape once, and first my concerns were things like warranty. But when the rubber oven seal seemed to be seeping its contents into the oven and smoldering, I was then more worried about the taste and inhaling the heated results!
Also I think there was a metallic taste from it, and I read on here at the time about immoral blends of stainless steel containing things like lead.

You might get a real one, but I don't think that company uses serial numbers so you may never know.
Because you're heating these units and inhaling, I think my outlook on it now is, it's nice to have someone sort of responsible for the device within 2000 miles!?
And I think the general FC consensus is, "DHgate... hmm, maybe the glass items would be safe from there?...but we're not even too sure about that!"

Also, the Vivant will likely be available in Europe very soon as I know at least one seller that is starting testing and evaluation of the vape shortly!
And it will be still very well priced for what it is?, and it will be real!, maybe safer than dhg??? and have a nice warranty in case it does annoy you and you like a form of reasonable compensation for being annoyed!

You can also do the BAM, and BAM! that @C No Ego talked about, with capsules in Crafty or Mighty! (I do lately, it's fun!)
They might need a powerbank for camping with Crafty, and I'd recommend Mighty as it's meant to be more splashproof and better battery life. Or maybe something like Vapium Summit(+) for wet weather camping, can be got for good prices too.
Maybe hold out for new Arizer, new Haze or reconsider the PAX.
 

Mr. Me2

Well-Known Member
Fair enough, hadn't considered it. I'll tell him to include it in his short list. Thanks for the advice.
I don't have the IQ, but I follow the thread. It's a new release and seems to have new vape bugs. And cs doesn't seem to be running smoothly. The vape is winner but personally, I'd wait to get this one.

The Alternate seems like great bang for the buck. But basically no warranty unless bought from them or an authorized seller. DHGate isn't one. So more money but seems to be worth it.

And I'll repeat myself to help with the possible short list; pax2 and Dynavap.
 
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