Disclaimer: I have no vested interest in this company and didn't receive any compensation from them apart from the free sample. I'm not a pro reviewer, I don't have any website to promote. I got my sample because I participated to the Herbstick Deluxe beta test and Ludo enjoyed the feedback I provided. I'll do my best to be as unbiased as possible.
I received my sample unit from Ludo some days ago, along two other pen vapes from other brands. I'll try to do a comparative review at some point, but for now the little time I have to test vapes has been spent on the Zion, which to me seemed to be a higher priority.
The Herbstick Eco (HE) is indeed better looking than on the pictures. It's a nicely made object and the build quality looks better than the Herbstick Deluxe (more solid) They seem to enjoy the "bling bling" luxury aspect, as the HD has a false diamond, this one has some kind of silverish decorative ring... but it's not bad really. I like the design because the whole thing doesn't look like a dildo. It's big to pass as an e-cig but I hold it like a cigar instead and it looks cooler this way!
The only button available might be large but it also feels very solid. It acts as a light guide for the multi-color LED below and is able to display the charge level and the temperature setting. The LED colors are vivid. The button is reactive and doesn't seem to miss triggers like on the X-Max V2 Pro I received.
The packaging is on par with all Chinese vapes I received, with thick cardboard, metallic printing, faux-velvet inside. Accessories are similar to the HD. I still don't know what the woman nails file tool is for, and the pipe cleaners are not really necessary here (contrary to the HD) because the vapor path is so short. There are as noted earlier two extra mouthpieces. Don't know if they are meant to be thrown away often or if it's just to help you when you lose them... but it's a nice touch.
There is a micro USB charging cable but no wall outlet adapter. Not a big deal as I got plenty from other electronic devices and vapes. There is a 12 pages manual included, color printed. English is not the best but it's readable.
Now before I continue any further, I need to set something straight: this is a very cheaply priced vaporizer designed to fit the entry level. You need to keep that in mind when doing comparisons. Ludo told me that the wholesale price will be under $18! This is incredibly low, yet I think this vaporizer offers a pretty high value for that little money. As
@mrweed said, it's perfect to introduce someone to vaporization without breaking the wallet. You could buy one yearly and throw it away if needed or get one during a travel trip etc. (but don't do that, it's absolutely not eco-friendly nor sustainable!!!)
In fact I'm positively suprised by the overall quality and features for such a cheap device. But I haven't even used it, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I'm describing what I see, not how it performs.
The manual says it has a "cutting edge chipset to ensure the temp" yet the temperature levels are listed as ranges instead of points, and those ranges are pretty large (9°C/16°F) So I don't know how well the regulation works in practice. But at least there are plenty of levels and the low temps are covered. For the high end it might be a tad low for some people, but to me it's adequate. Here are the settings:
Cyan: less than 169°C/336.2°F
Blue: 170-179°C/338-354.2°F
Green: 180-189°C/356-372.2°F
Purple: 190-199°C/374-390.2°F
Yellow: 200-209°C/392-408.2°F
Red: above 210°C/410°F
Manual says the bowl is 0.2g to 0.3g. It also says "do not overpack" but I intend to tamp my load like in all my conduction vapes anyway. The battery is 2200mAh high discharge and they claim 1.5h of use on highest setting. Finally the manual says the device needs a 1A USB port for charging. I don't know if it's a typo, because with USB2 usually devices only get up to 0.5A. I charged it with a 0.5A wall wart but the adaptor was getting a bit hot. To be safe I swapped it with another wall wart (the one from the HD) rated up to 1.5A.
This leads me to the first negative point: they were so close! Why didn't they make the battery cell removable? It's beyond me! You take the device and you look at it and it's clear the bottom part could be unscrewable like in the X-Max V2 Pro but no, it's like glued in place! Why? Come on Bauway/Ciggo! If they did it for the X-Max there's no reason you can't! Just say clearly in the manual what the minimum discharge C rate should be for the cell (or alternatively what the HE max continuous amp draw is) and users could swap batteries easily and extend the device service life!
I know this could lead to dangerous situations and it could be a warranty nightmare. When an e-cig explodes it's bad for the entire industry. But if you educate your users it shouldn't be a problem, especially with IMR cells that are overall safer (but one could alternatively use high discharge protected cells)
Now to conclude this pre-review, the second issue I had was that the device reeks like a new car. The box faux velvet stinks a lot, but the device itself has a strong smell. I can recognize the silicone smell but I think there is also the now widely used polyimide insulation tape and its bloody glue. This should surely dissipate with a lot of burn-ins, like on the FlowerMate 5 etc, but it's not something I like.
I'll report back when said burn-ins are complete and all smells are gone. Ah, last but not least, the mouthpiece body is made of some plastic, possibly Delrin? I'm not a fan of having that in my vapor path. There is also another plastic piece touching the top of the bowl (the mouthpiece holder) I hope this will not lead to melting issues after several sessions on highest setting like in the PNP.
The bowl is a shiny metal, more shiny than in the HD. I hope it's not aluminium. Anyways I'm not a big fan of metal bowls, but that's a personal taste. I'll ask Ludo what it is made of.
These issues aside, and given the very low price, so far the impression is rather positive and I think buying this is less risky than buying the Titan 1/2 because those have a lot of fake clones in circulation. I just wish the mouthpiece base and mouthpiece holder were not made of plastic. I'll report back when I use the device.
