That?s a good question, since you said that you aren?t a glass purist, now I have a better perspective to answer your question. About 3-4 months ago, when I got my SSV and hooked it up to my 7th floor hand bubbler, I pretty proclaimed that it was ?almost? as good as the Herbo, the only drawback was the hose. The Herbo?s heating element is also ceramic but then encapsulated in stainless steel, in theory, it should hold it?s temperature better than the naked ceramic on the SSV. If you were to judge which one is better based on the ?thickness? or ?size? of the hit (with all things being equal, draw speed, draw quantity, etc etc) then I would say they are on par with each other.
Where the Herbo takes the lead is being a bit more forgiving on draw speed. What I mean by this is when I hit my SSV super hard, I can cool off the heating element enough where I get whispy vapors, whereas the Herbo seems to hold it?s heat better and can give you similar thickness despite the speed that you hit it. Some people like the fact that you can adjust the type of vapor you get based on speed, but I prefer to know that my vapor is staying constant regardless of the inhale speed I am using.
Performance issues aside, if you want to get the Herbo cause it looks cool, you definitely won?t be disappointed either. But if you have a whip based vape already, it?d be nice to have a different type of vape, just to get a different feel. Although I have my favorites, I still like to cycle through my different vapes for variety. I guess it?s kinda like, if you already have a sports car (whip vape) do you want another similar sports car or do you want a motorcycle instead (any other vape). I'd rather have a sports car and motorcycle, but that's just me. Some people are sports car enthusiasts and just want sports cars too...