Imag Plus Ceramic Review
Intro:
The Imag Plus Vaporizer is an extremely discreet vaporizer which looks like an e-cigarette, functions in a similar fashion, but unlike those, this one is designed to vaporizer herbs and not combust at all, it does it's intended job, successfully.
Build:
The build quality is great, it has a nice heavy feel in the hands, but isn't so heavy that you would drop it by mistake. The inside herb chamber has a ceramic heating element and the air is pulled in mainly through the two side holes, the air-path is separated from electronics which is very nice for those of us who are health conscious. The mouth piece comes on and off easily enough from the battery. The screen screws out for cleaning or replacement. The one suggestion I have is to have a more solid clip closing design for the mouth piece(perhaps spring loaded), so that the mouth piece does not come off in your pocket, that said I have not had it come off, but I can see it happening if you walk fast or run.
Battery life is good, you can get through between four to five sessions easily with the Imag Plus. It charges in around 2-3 hours. I have had it last the whole entire day on a single charge with multiple uses!
Vapor Quality/Taste:
For this part of the review I tested it against three different vaporizers and used four different types of herbs. It puts out a nice amount of vapor, about twice the amount compared directly to the Pax, but not as much as a Vapor Genie which puts out the most out of any portable I have tried. Flavor wise it beats the Pax, it taste pure, its on par with my Vapor Brothers taste wise and beats my Vapor Genie by a tiny amount due to the wood taste that one exhibits. I find the lowest heat setting (blue) to be the best tasting, while the medium (green) setting to be the best compromise between taste and cloud amount The highest setting (red), is useful for finishing a session and it never burns but does give the biggest clouds. It does come out rather dark towards the end of burning time, which means no waste, another great a benefit. I get anywhere from 15-20 five second inhales which I find is great.
Air Flow is also good, it's less restrictive then the Pax even when packed with as much herb as possible. When you inhale, there is almost no resistance noticed, if you take longer puffs, you feel a bit of resistance; but it is never hard to vape from like some similar portables I've used.
Ease of use:
This vaporizer shines when it comes to being user friendly and has three heat settings(190c, 210c and 230c). To use it all you have to do is load it up, pack it down with the included tool, hit the button three times, to turn green, hold the button 3 seconds for each different heat settings. The led light will blink while heating up, when it is ready to use the blinking stops. The one issue I had with it is that it turns off to quickly, it has a 3 minute limit which I do hope they change to at least 5 minutes. I usually have to turn it on 2-3 times to finish a session, its a small nitpick and when you do turn it on right after it goes off it literally takes 2 seconds to catch back up to the heat setting you had it on. Speaking of that, it heats up in 20-40 seconds (dependent on heat setting) and holds about .3 to .4 grams of herb, when packed fully. Cleaning the herb chamber is very easy, all you do it slighty tap on it and the vaped herb falls out, it also comes with a pick and brush to clean out any residue that may be left over.
Verdict: 4.5/5:
Cheaper in price and better then most portables, more discreet, with very little to improve upon, this vaporizer is great and I already have two friends that used my test model and now want to buy one for portable use, one of those being a Pax owner, the hits are denser, more flavorful, and its simple to use. If you want a discreet portable, but do not want to spend hundreds of dollars right now, this is the best buy!
(Will put up some in use vids later, my cat wont allow it right now it seems...)