I bought a w9tech hercules and a puffco plus last month heres my opinion on them

[Opiniondevice]

I dont work work for either one of these companies .When I was shopping around for these I was having alot of trouble finding a review that seemed legit.

So ill start with the Hercules from w9 tech .I researched this cartridge for about a month before i pulled the trigger and emailed back and fourth with Sam from w9. The customer service is legit . However the Hercules in my opinion is a very flawed device especially since its 120 usd for a cartridge . The outside cover is cheap plastic as well as the mouth piece . The main thing that makes this device a loser is some of the worst air flow i have ever encountered in any dabbing device . I am a collector and i own one of most everything on the market for electronic dabs . I have a ton of devices to compare this horrendously crappy airflow to and its the worst in this department for sure . Its like when you first get a milkshake and your trying to take those first few labored sips but this never gets any better . I think draw strength you have to use is what makes the mouthpiece completely fill with reclaim almost immediately to the point of now you have reclaimed teeth . Gross!!!! Now up till a couple months ago i had never heard of w9tech and now every post i see about any kind of dab device has a w9 shill trying to pump their mediocre products . They are trying to act like they are some kind of industry leader and one of the first which may be true but it only counts if any body bought your shit . The herc is a huge waste if money for sure . All the reviews on their site are 5 stars . Even the best device is gonna have some folks who give a less than 5 star review so you know you cant trust their process.Now I'm sure Some one who works for them or gets frees swag from them will comment and say I'm using the Hercules wrong and I'm simply uneducated on all its splendor . Don't be fooled even the devices creator told me the bad airflow is in this devices nature i believe he said ..


The puffco plus i tried to get first but it has been sold out on and off . I had heard mixed reviews . Mostly good though . I have never been completely satisfied with a dab pen until this little guy . The flavor is on point it conserves well and i dont worry about throwing my best earl inside the chamber like before for fear of wasting my faves on nasty tasting coil dabs . Only lame thing was the shipping is ten bucks and takes longer than usps about 7 days . Im not a big fan of ups .sesh mode is something i did not think i would use but i use it almost exclusively its awesome . At ten bucks cheaper than that other hunk of crap this is a great value .super easy to clean just take a q tip while its hot and give it a quick wipe . I do it after every use but i want my chamber to last as long as possible and it seems to be doing very well still . No issues. . I thought the puffco pro was nothing special and i wasnt expecting anything special from the plus but im really happy with it . Its just really simple to use . Again not a shill i was just elated to get a device thats works well after my bad experience with that overpriced over hyped hercules cartridge . Not trying to offend anyone with a different opinion. Hope anyone thinking about wasting their money on a hercules reads this first because i could not find much independant info as i had mentioned prior

 

[PPN]

The sr-74 is not easy to use, there is a learning curve but it hits like an e-nail while properly assembled, loaded and used. It shines about taste and clouds and it's designed for an heavy duty usage!

 

[Eatrocks]

Yea im with u on the airflow from the herc cart. I bought one 3-4 months ago. Used 1 or 2 times then never again. Airflow is terrible, i guess they had to have it that way to keep too much from leaking out...but its like a mcdonalds milkshake

 

[Bad Ocelot]

I love the DT attys for load as you go, but was thinking about trying a herc for groups/away from the house. The price tag obviously made me a bit reticent & these issues were things I was worried about. Thanks for posting the review!

 

[getsoutalive]

Remove the screen in the mouthpiece, opens up nicely.

 

[herbivore21]

The word shill is so heavily overused in this post lol

Is it so hard to believe that some people like w9 products, especially given you only focus on the herc which even the man who designed it will tell you is more challenging to use and not for everybody!?

The Herc is an idiosyncratic device. It works for the tinkerer who wants to dump a large amount of oil and not reload. It is very finicky. I would never recommend it to somebody who wasn't a tinkerer.

However, w9 pens using the KISS carts and such are still the best pens I've ever used.

All this being said, I don't like pens. They are a PITA to clean and over time you're cooking gunk caught in the coils and they are useless for concentrates that don't fully melt (and even useless for full melt hashes too!). I don't use pens at all.

Instead, I use an omnivap with an SS coil over the screen. Very simple to use, can load a much larger load than any pen except the herc - tastes great when you get temp dialled in and gives huge clouds when you want them! Otherwise, I'll stick to dabbing.

 

[Eatrocks]

The w9 510 dual TI/ceramic carts are the best imo for flavor in a load as u go

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

However the Hercules in my opinion is a very flawed device especially since its 120 usd for a cartridge . The outside cover is cheap plastic as well as the mouth piece . The main thing that makes this device a loser is some of the worst air flow i have ever encountered in any dabbing device .

Sorry you're having a hard time with it, and hope you'll keep at it. Are you doing cool-down hits? That seems to be what keeps oil from solidifying and clogging the air holes. Even so, it's not an easy draw. Also had trouble with titanium wick movement (needs to be "roughened" a bit to stay seated around the rod) and mouthpiece sticking. It's a fussy but unique device. Worth the effort, IMO.

That said, while the herc seemed to perform as advertised, haven't used it lately. Needs more oil than is readily available and it's not especially stealthy. For mobile use, prefer e-juice.

 

[AnthoFranco]

I use an omnivap with an SS coil over the screen. Very simple to use, can load a much larger load than any pen

i would love to see photo's of a video of this,please. there are a lot of positive vibes over at the Dynavap thread.

 

[Bad Ocelot]

I use an omnivap with an SS coil over the screen. Very simple to use, can load a much larger load than any pen except the herc - tastes great when you get temp dialled in and gives huge clouds when you want them! Otherwise, I'll stick to dabbing.

I thought you were using w9's titanium screens? I actually picked up one for use in my vapcap as well. Waiting on some ceramic rods before I set it up like that. Been using a piece of an SS liquid pad from S&B for the time being and it works pretty well.

I'd like to give some w9 products a spin sometime (love the Nibbler designs! Wish it would fit a DT atty) but the time commitment for maintenance & the price tags have put me off it for the time being.

 

[herbivore21]

I thought you were using w9's titanium screens? I actually picked up one for use in my vapcap as well. Waiting on some ceramic rods before I set it up like that. Been using a piece of an SS liquid pad from S&B for the time being and it works pretty well.

I'd like to give some w9 products a spin sometime (love the Nibbler designs! Wish it would fit a DT atty) but the time commitment for maintenance & the price tags have put me off it for the time being.

Nope, I was never using w9 pens I never used the ti coils from w9 pens. I use the S & B one. I do not recommend using a coil with a hole in the centre - that is not helpful for keeping a large load of concentrate from melting through it (especially if your first heat-up is a bit on the cool side) I could imagine a big blob of melted full melt getting sucked into my condenser through that setup lol

The major problem with the w9 screen setup that was shared in the dynavap thread for my needs is that I tend to wanna pack a nice full bowl of hash over a small SS pad and hit on that for the entire day (often that'll be most of my medicating done!). The w9 screen setup that was shared requires multiple screens/ceramic part etc which are not all firmly touching the sides of the dynavap bowl (and therefore not conducting heat as efficiently), and also fills out a lot of the bowl's space so that you can't load a large load. Would be good for load as you go dabs I'm sure, but for a large chunk of full melt, doubtful.

I am using the same as what you have. S&B pad piece resized carefully to fit the omnivap. Put the load in, stick a standard fine mesh SS pipe screen over the top to sandwich the concentrate in place.

Someone else posted the pictures of the w9 coils in the dynavap thread after I posted about using S & B pads. I prefer SS to ti in this case - I want more conduction on the metal coil and more heat retention inside the vape for sustained clouds. The solventless material I'm hitting tastes outstanding when used this way and even if ever so slightly less tasty than the first hit on a clean w9 cart, you can still clean it up to as new whereas a w9 cart will never get quite that clean (and is out of the question for full melt, gunk buildup under coils is nasty!).

I've used most w9 products and IME they have some of the best pens out there. I just don't think pens are ideal, broadly speaking. Gimme a dynavap vape with an appropriate SS coil or an enail anyday! I have used ti wool and not noticed any flavor improvement either btw. The key is replacing the SS pad/coil when it is too gunked - this takes care of flavor the most IME!

@AnthoFranco I probably won't be able to do a video anytime soon. Perhaps somebody else can though? I know a lot of my buddies in the dynavap/vapcap thread are using these for concentrates now, hopefully one of them can help us out

mod note: Edited for clarity, by request of the author

 

[blizingerbs]

As soon as you called the plastic used in the Hercules cheap I knew you actually have no understanding of the device; and in my mind lost all credit. For one, the "plastic" is actually PFTE and of the highest medical quality. Using such quality materials are why it's a little pricey. Clearly you're just eager to hate on it. It's not perfect but it's pretty good

 

[zor]

I would love to do a meet n greet with you guys, to try out your go-tos and see what I might be missing. I'm genuinely curious, hopefully with the passing of Question 4 (fingers crossed) in MA there will be more proliferation and more opportunities to do so locally.

After getting the Yocan Evolve Plus I can't see myself using anything else EXCEPT some kind of a tank based device for specific scenarios. The LAYG pens provide the best flavor for me and I can dose most effectively, so a pen like the Evolve Plus which has a built in stash container is a godsend! I've gifted several to friends who doubted the existence of a good way pen and they've agreed. We met up this weekend and had an impromptu stony round table (hehe) to discuss what would make it better, the only thing we could come up with is a way to autoload set amounts without needing to open the device to load the coil. This tastes as good as my quartz banger and is far, far easier to prep and hit, the only difference is I get smaller clouds but that's fine as I find exhaling large clouds to be silly and wasteful for my usage.

I enjoy seeing the variety of options for all kinds of vaping fun but can't find any compelling reason to switch from the Evolve Plus, it has flavor, great battery life, great design, is super easy to maintain and clean, and it is (was?) cheap (~$25). Then again, ignorance is bliss, so what do I really know?

 

[Eatrocks]

I would love to do a meet n greet with you guys, to try out your go-tos and see what I might be missing. I'm genuinely curious, hopefully with the passing of Question 4 (fingers crossed) in MA there will be more proliferation and more opportunities to do so locally.

After getting the Yocan Evolve Plus I can't see myself using anything else EXCEPT some kind of a tank based device for specific scenarios. The LAYG pens provide the best flavor for me and I can dose most effectively, so a pen like the Evolve Plus which has a built in stash container is a godsend! I've gifted several to friends who doubted the existence of a good way pen and they've agreed. We met up this weekend and had an impromptu stony round table (hehe) to discuss what would make it better, the only thing we could come up with is a way to autoload set amounts without needing to open the device to load the coil. This tastes as good as my quartz banger and is far, far easier to prep and hit, the only difference is I get smaller clouds but that's fine as I find exhaling large clouds to be silly and wasteful for my usage.

I enjoy seeing the variety of options for all kinds of vaping fun but can't find any compelling reason to switch from the Evolve Plus, it has flavor, great battery life, great design, is super easy to maintain and clean, and it is (was?) cheap (~$25). Then again, ignorance is bliss, so what do I really know?

I use the evolve plus on ecog batterys and adjust the power how i like. I found the stock plus battery VERY puny. The smaller evolve fired hotter for some reason.

 

[zor]

Huh, interesting @Eatrocks, I've tried the coils on an istick 30w and found no preference, the stock battery will give me a nice hit each time, and if I don't pulse the power I easily burn the shatter.

 

[PPN]

The 510 base I received for my hercule make it usable with my Evic. It's an awesome combo and the Hercule never deceived me! I used one+persei for 2 years before the actual configuration I use.

It's definitly not stealth but can't be beat by any other wax pens I tried yet. The airflow doesn't seems too restricted for me except when the unit is cold.

 

[PoopMachine]

I need to order one of these. I just want to know if its that much better than the Siaonara.

 

[waxdab23]

I need to order one of these. I just want to know if its that much better than the Siaonara.

I have both and taste wise, it's not even fair to compare. The Herc though, requires a lot more technique than the Sai, which is basically effortless. But, because it uses a non porous wick (quartz) the flavor degrades and the coil gets gunked up very quickly.

 

[AVENTUS]

Even with the screen removed, the airflow on the herc is not great. Plus it's gigantic, and requires a big ugly mod to fire properly. Reddit's waxpen section is dominated by people sticking up almost exclusively for one company, a firm which is a force for good, and a force which makes other firms improve their standards practices, but whose line I feel could use a few new products, utilizing that same material quality.

The puffco plus also has very restrictive airflow I feel. But I love so much else about the pen, since the heat issue was solved. Sesh mode and the dart are both winners. I do hope they increase airflow on next gen atomizer (but in the mean time my drilled atomizers will do fine) and I hope they add a fourth lower temperature to next gen batteries. But many other innovative features on it are very very welcome, and it is a massive step in the right direction.

 

[kakoon]

When properly used Hercules gives big clouds even though air-flow is sure somewhat limited.

Add a Nibbler XL to it and you get best of both or even 3 worlds: good draws, excellent flavor and water filtration on top. Plus all of it with high quality materials, on the go and with around 1g loading chamber.

 

[AVENTUS]

I have never been completely satisfied with a dab pen until this little guy . The flavor is on point it conserves well and i dont worry about throwing my best earl inside the chamber like before for fear of wasting my faves on nasty tasting coil dabs . I thought the puffco pro was nothing special and i wasnt expecting anything special from the plus but im really happy with it . Its just really simple to use . Again not a shill i was just elated to get a device thats works well after my bad experience with that overpriced over hyped hercules cartridge.

are you still happy with your puffco plus, and still dissapointed with your Hercules, OD ?

Have you tried either the Linx Hypnos Zero or the Kandypens Mini or Kandypens ELITE ?

 

[HippieHitman]

Puffco Vs Evolve Plus? I vote Evolve and I have owned them both but I want your opinion TC

 

[AVENTUS]

Shich

Puffco Vs Evolve Plus? I vote Evolve and I have owned them both but I want your opinion TC

Which puffco did you own, the original or the new plus ?

 

[slozukimc]

The biggest benefit of the Hercules is the cost. It seems expensive at first. Buy a few attys for any other pen and you are well over the cost of the Herc in a short time.
You can overload the Herc and make it draw oil into the mouthpiece screen. A gram at a time is too much! When the flavor tapers off add another pea sized dab. COOLDOWNS ARE CRITICAL AND NEED TO BE EXCESSIVE! I mean you really need to sit and sip on the Herc after getting a hit to thicken your oil. It may take several minutes for it to cool enough depending on ambient temperature and consistency of your product. The Herc is also the only model I have found that you can completely clean and collect your reclaim without fear of damaging tiny wires or flimsy ceramic disks.
The Herc is finicky, it requires patience and the desire to "tinker" now and then to keep it clean and adjusted properly.
Myself, I prefer the SR-71 over the newer versions because of the friction fit pin rather than the finicky spring loaded design. There really is no reason for the spring loaded pin if the 71 pin is tightened properly.
I cannot deny the Herc has faults and if you like big airflow with light tokes then it may not be for you. If you don't mind fiddling occasionally and want tokes that taste great and will rip your head off then try out a Herc with Nibbler XL on 23w.

Just my $.02. I don't work for them or receive any perks. I got my Herc used as I thought they were too pricey at first. I would have saved hundreds on trying out every other pen on the market first if I had just ponied up and bought the Herc first.

Mike

 

[foothilla]

I bought a ton of W9tech gear a couple years ago, much of which I haven't even used. Now I see that it doesn't even look like they are making their flagship Persei, and many of their other pens. Anything know what's going on with them? Are they going out of business?

I can't decide if I want to use my Herc, or sell it unused. Is there anything like it that is considerably better these days?