The Cera thread has a rough start. There was a massive amount of initial interest and it took a long time for more than a few people to get their hands on it, so "popular consensus" jumped to conclusions based on few users' reports. I'll try to do some summarizing here.
Disclaimer: I only have the LL cart. I'm the (only?) guy around here who paid $300 for a Cera only intending to use it with herbs and I'm still happy 9 months later!
The heat thing makes sense when you step back and look at what exactly the LL cart is doing. It's delivering true convective heating, which means there is a heat exchanger inside which air is drawn through in order to be heated to vaporizing temperatures and then moved through your herbs. For that to work the actual heater has to get to temperatures even higher than vaping temps. I've heard >1000ºF quoted before.
But, we're doing this in a portable, something you're holding! So you have to be shielded from that heat somehow. What they've done is made the entire thing out of ceramic zirconia, which is a great insulator! But this means that while the outside takes a noticeably long time to heat up, considering the amount of heat on the inside, it also takes a noticeably long time to cool down.
With that said, once you get the technique down it's easy to get heavy dosing done before it gets too hot to put to your lips, and even then you can throw on a silicone heat shield to keep puffing for a bit longer, or switch to using it with a bong. And while getting vapor as fast as you can from a cold start takes learning but is eminently possible, pulling vapor from a steaming hot Cera is easy as pie.
After that, as a mostly-solo vaporist, I find the Cera is always cool and ready to go by the time I want any more. I always take the battery out after a session so it doesn't stay heated inside while the Cera's cooling down. Not necessary, but maybe helpful for long-term battery life? Chicken soup
It is rollable and breakable. The ceramic is
really fancy stuff, they aren't lying when they say it's far stronger than a ceramic coffee mug, but it's not by any means indestructible. You'll want to treat it with respect, like a smartphone.
And speaking of the ceramic, I personally find the vape stunning in person, dildo-minded folks be damned.
I don't find the switch placement that awkward in practice, though I admit it seems strange at first glance, and I also admit I have large hands. I've heard others in the Cera thread say they've grown comfortable with it as well, but ymmv. Some creative folks have come up with some simple mods to make it latch in the on position if you want. You can find those on the
Vaporpedia page.
The bit about the LL cart not working well is bunk, but it seems that some have had trouble learning how to harness its power. It requires a bit of technique like any other manual vape (MFLB, FlashVape…). Some have chosen to modify their mouthpiece to maximize airflow. This will give you a freer draw but may lead to more throat irritation and coughing. Something like the Solo's stock stem vs PVHES I think. I personally haven't done this, I love it just the way it is!
As for the overpriced part, I don't see it but that is a subjective judgement.
A $300 CLL setup gets you what is IMO an outstanding portable vape that is one of the few examples of convection-dominant vaporization in the portable market right now.
It's ridiculously cleanable, whether you're looking at how fast and easy it is to wipe clean routinely or how intensely you can clean it prior to traveling with it.
The UFO mouthpiece does an incredible job cooling the vapor; I have not once thought "I wish I had a water tool to run this vapor through" whereas the MFLB had previously prompted me to buy a bubbler that later broke.
With that said, the design allows it to mate with a GonG joint very easily. Nice for the oil cart I'm quite sure!
The convective power combined with the ceramic bowl design make it a top contender for portable bubble hash vaping.
The battery life is good, competitive with the Persei owing to its lower voltage. And the batteries are removable and replaceable thank goodness, built-in batteries bug me to no end.
And of course, for a mere $100 more you've now got CEO and LLC.
For a vaporist that is usually rolling solo, I think it is a real monster. Group settings are where I can see heat buildup possibly becoming frustrating, for someone in the group at least. Though, if somehow everyone in the group was an LLC expert, I think you might do just fine!
If you can't tell, I really love this vape. I hope some of my glowing ramble helped condense some info for you. I find it easy to get carried away…
As for a definitive verdict on Cera vs Persei, I can't offer any such thing. I've never used a Persei though I have been following the buzz around the SR71 and I think it looks great, a real competitor to the CEO for performance it seems. All I can do is offer up what I do know, and that is a lot about the LLC. And I think this little cart is the real wildcard when comparing Persei to Cera. Hope I've shed some light on what's what with the thing so you can better decide what's what for you.