Can I ask if most of you, Io's owners, are thinking this new iteration is trully better enough to justify the cost?
Could you confirm me there is no ways to "upgrade" one or both of my Og GHs to Io?
TIA
To justify the cost is completely arbitrary in a world where money is nearly meaningless and skewed well out of proportion. For me it is easily justifiable, and even has paid for itself in some ways, ie. by herb reduction or in lifestyle appreciation. The cost and value for me are way out of line, I would pay a little more still. The Mighty for me in Aus is still more expensive for example, that was what I would have got if I didn't pre-order a GH in 2015, I made the decision based on the warranty history of S&B at the time and the realities of the design of the unit. It is worth far less than the asking price, which I will never pay.
To answer the question of upgrade worthiness, yes, I think the io is truly better and indifferent enough to justify the tactics involved in it's creation, and a good test of this is using the various forms of perfect legacy hoppers I have had access to in direct comparison.
I own a perfectly robust HT Ti legacy which has remained flawless since early 2018. It does everything it ever claimed to, which is a great thing. However 210 C is too low for me, as my above post indicates I am a heavy hit chaser and I find anything less is a partial and less satisfying experience.
The alternative legacy perfection is high power output, which I only rarely experienced with my own devices
(3 purchases - plain Ti (2-5 substantial replacements via RMA), blue Ti (1-6 substantial replacements via RMA [no real info given, but I at least did receive the plain Ti as a second complete body holding both at once], and finally a HT Ti which is the ideal experience of just buying something and it works without hassle), hot temps beyond the specified 210 (my very first 2016 unit managed to combust so was hitting 240+ at times) was awesome, but also catastrophic as it is over stepping the design specifications.
Compared to the legacy the io is designed to deliver an ideal high power output for our intents and purposes here.
My SS io goes beyond the specification and as a result has melted part of the chamber edge. But I really prefer this extreme use case potential and so I have settled to be happy with using it still, and know better how to do so too.
I have also requested a similar dialled up Ti version replacement, which HL seemed happy to do without them saying much in their reply that I waited a few days for. It will take a few days before I know anything more, but it's nice even having the option.
I have tried using the legacy back-end on the io and vice versa. It's better to use the io back-end with the legacy, although it works the other way around too, the io uses more power, which can generate heat in the older inferior design V1-V5 back-end.
The io might look the same, and it is largely the same thing. This is like a new car model made with a similar shell with minimal aesthetic improvement, as nothing was needed beyond the tweaks made to the build materials and only minor stylisation choices, yet under the hood things are much improved and the driving experience is more direct and care-free but intense with stupid ease, kind of like a Taycan.
I guess the history of this device is a little convoluted being that it has taken many forms without that ever being very obvious.
The current device state is something that is particularly awesome. It always was awesome IMO, but it was so flawed. The current unit may not be flawless, what is, but it's many, many levels closer and seemingly on par with normal market realities. It is completely redesigned and the fundamental component (3D formed metal heat exchanger) is now an in-house fabrication.
As a device it uses all the technology it can to do a particular job, and I really appreciate the types of engineering technology it focuses on, has patently innovated, and largely represents - compared to the typical imagination of people who are willing to deliver a product, there is no app, no bullshit other than an unfortunately overly ambitious past.
The older devices can be perfect, and then there is no room for improvement unless in some particular measure. But the io has a hugely greater chance of being robust, with the benefit of an even simpler user experience and it's very hard to think how anything could be improved on any further, once you have the thing plugged into the wall with endless power.
For reference I use a Mean Well LRS-150-12 power supply for the io, it looks a bit ghetto (ideally needs an enclosure, 3D printed or the likes), but it has more than enough grunt to run the io at full potential.
I've been meaning to purchase a 4.2V supply to try and rig up another adapter with a different take on dummy battery (gold pogo pins on assembly), I think it should be possible to simplify the set up and remove an in-line transformer.
I've begun playing around with extending the cable length of the existing mains adapter design and have found some interesting things, with the one and only long lead I've soldered up to try now being considered a 'terp attachment' as it does some interesting things to the vapour output
Sorry, could be a touchy subject, but had to. And I've watched you handle your HL issues with grace and patience, so thought you'd take is as intended.
