Discontinued Loto Labs Lux (formerly Evoke)

[grokit]

I thought I would be in the first 15

I ordered a "Early Bird Evoke (Loose Leaf)" on June 11, 2014 for $79 USD.

If they're going by order date, I should've been contacted along with the first 15. But they haven't communicated anything to me this year yet. I'm guessing that it's the "loose leaf" part that made them decide to skip me over. They could have at least reached out and told me .

 

[t-dub]

I'm guessing that it's the "loose leaf" part that made them decide to skip me over. They could have at least reached out and told me

My first order was a loose leaf version also. What is your order ID# on indiegogo?

Interestingly enough Neeraj just called me on the phone. We had a nice chat, he seems like a cool guy. He is sending me a prepaid FedEx label so I can send my unit back to have the firmware updated. Just to clarify, you do NOT need an iPhone to do this, you need a Macintosh computer running MacOS 10.10 (Yosemite) or higher that has Blue Tooth capability.

 

[Jill NYC]

Wow @grokit . I assumed they would have notified all of the “loose leaf” backers already, at the very least the early bird ones, that they weren’t producing them. That’s pretty terrible professionalism. I feel for you!

 

[grokit]

I wouldn't have known that I was indeed in the first 15 if @t-dub hadn't posted. Because his reported order date was June 12, and mine was on June 11. I assume we're going by indiegogo "contribution" date.

My indiegogo order ID is 37.

 

[Razor]

If you ordered off indiegogo, you can find out your number by asking him there or emailing him. I did this a while back and found out I was number 450.

 

[Krazy]

I'm 1409 so no earlybird here.

At this point I'm viewing it as a buy in to watch the worlds most horrific never ending train wreck. Anyone remember Jason Stathams character in the bad comedy Spy?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3079380/?ref_=tt_ch


Rick Ford : Nothing kills me. I'm immune to 179 different types of poison. I know because I ingested them all at once when I was deep undercover in an underground poison-ingesting crime ring.


Rick Ford : You really think you're ready for the field? I once used defibrillators on myself. I put shards of glass in my fuckin' eye. I've jumped from a high-rise building using only a raincoat as a parachute and broke both legs upon landing; I still had to pretend I was in a fucking Cirque du Soleil show! I've swallowed enough microchips and shit them back out again to make a computer. This arm has been ripped off completely and re-attached with *this* fuckin' arm.

Susan Cooper : I don't know that that's possible... I mean medically...

Rick Ford : During the threat of an assassination attempt, I appeared convincingly in front of congress as Barack Obama.

Susan Cooper : In black-face? That's not appropriate.

Rick Ford : I watched the woman I love get tossed from a plane and hit by another plane mid-air. I drove a car off a freeway on top of a train while it was on fire. Not the car, *I* was on fire.

 

[t-dub]

ok . . . unit received. First pics and observations while charging the battery.

First look with supplied charger.

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Second pic is the unit with the supplied capsules and susceptors. Looks like the susceptor needs another piece to hold it properly in place within the capsule.

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A closer look at the capsule and susceptor setup. The materials are definitely magnetic, which they need to be, but I am interested in why the susceptor has this "woven" texture. I can only assume it is to enhance surface area and vaping performance from the energy coming in and going out.

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Here is the induction coil looking a little off centered after shipping. It quickly righted itself after playing with the vape for a few minutes.

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This is an inside shot of the case and innards. As you can see, this unit is mainly made of metal. If its cast aluminum or a zinc alloy, I can not tell at this point, but because of the induction coil it cannot be magnetic. HOWEVER this unit is BEEFY in weight. The battery cover itself weighs in at about 74 grams and the whole unit comes in at a heavy 308 grams with battery. The wood panels seem real as they smell like wood but its hard to confirm. If they are real wood they are very small and thin which goes against one of the reasons I supported this project in the first place, but, this thing will be robust against incidental damage for sure. If dropped, the mouthpiece and battery cover may disconnect because they are attached by magnets.

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Here is a detailed shot of the basic guts, not a lot to see here since I won't be disassembling THIS unit.

So that's it so far, the battery is charging and I am going to hit this bitch and then send it back to Neeraj to get the firmware updated. I will give a first hit impression maybe later . . .

 

[PPN]

Thanks for the pics @t-dub ! Why do you need to send it back for upgrade? Do you know if we'll have to send our units back also (I hope not since I'm in Europe)?

Just checked my orders n° on IG and they are both early bird in fact, first one is n°44 and second is n°274... so I can expect to get one (or two if shipped together) soon.

Don't understand why it's so difficult to get it to work with flowers, the combo Pipes induction heater+vapcap works so well! Maybe the Lux will be usable as an induction heater for the Vapcap....

 

[Razor]

Probably would've worked better with flower if they made the glass body metal instead. Then they could have heated up the metal chamber instead of the metal inside.

 

[t-dub]

Why do you need to send it back for upgrade?

Because the first 15 sent out have a feature that shuts the vape down when the inside reaches 50 C. The temp sensor is on the circuit board. This has been fixed so it will not be an issue moving forward. Loto Labs did not intend for this feature to be on the units. If I had access to a Mac computer running the proper version of MacOs I could do it myself, but alas I do not.

Notes to self:

I was correct in assuming the "woven" texture of the susceptor was for increased efficiency in heat transfer BUT it also is shaped like this so it can be a wick. Please note that the flared end of the tube the susceptor goes in MUST be on the BOTTOM of the glass capsule, see pic below. This is also for wicking purposes. The idea is you smear your concentrate on the susceptor or if you can handle it with your hands put it kabob style on there then load the capsule and let it rip. Of course with heat your concentrate will migrate to the bottom of the glass capsule and that is where the flared end of the tube comes in as it helps the wicking process. The capsule has the ability to hold a lot of medicine.

I was correct about the body composition it was confirmed to me that it is a zinc alloy.

You must power the unit for a bit before hitting so things have time to come up to temperature.

After my experiments I checked the charge level on the battery and it was lower than I expected. I believe the power consumption on this device is up there so extra batteries may be advised.

Probably would've worked better with flower if they made the glass body metal instead. Then they could have heated up the metal chamber instead of the metal inside.

The capsule actually touches the coil physically so I'm not sure if a metal capsule is a good idea.

This is the proper configuration of the susceptor and tube in the glass capsule:

 

[Razor]

Yeah I meant a metal capsule instead of the whole metal rod inside all together. The design of the vape would probably need to be changed for it anyways. I'm not sure what they were testing all these years to all of a sudden decide herb wasnt working after they were already supposed to be ready to ship.

 

[SameOldTim]

It's YUGE!

Couple questions, is that the battery they included?

Any way to clean the inside when it inevitably leaks?

Is the rivit is supposed to be in the capsule?

Is the metal body consistent thickness? The picture looking into the coil looks like the body has a lot of variance.

Can you tell if there's any RF leak? Like does it make interference sounds on a radio or cellphone?

Last, can you tell if the induction coil is cooled in any way, like a fan or air pump pushing air through the coil?

Cheers!

 

[nosmoking]

It looks like a neatly packaged skelator without the glass capsule. I am not sure what they are thinking or what they have tested in regards to the capsules but they are going to allow concentrate into the induction coils and all over that white material! What is the white material by the way? Is the induction coil surrounded by plastic or is it ceramic at least?

 

[t-dub]

Couple questions, is that the battery they included?

Yes.

Any way to clean the inside when it inevitably leaks?

Not sure it will smear the inside, but if it does, yes, very cleanable.

Is the rivit is supposed to be in the capsule?

I have no idea what you are asking, please reapply.

Is the metal body consistent thickness? The picture looking into the coil looks like the body has a lot of variance.

Never measured it but it looks like a zinc alloy casting which would mean the metal would be evenly distributed.

What is the white material by the way?

I'm assuming its PTFE or Delrin. I have no way of knowing at this point.

 

[Krazy]

Concentrate only: %$#^ it!!!!
Thin wood veneer: %$#^ it!!!!
Hefty construction: I like that actually. A lot.
Firmware issues: Ain't no big thang to me.

 

[t-dub]

Can you tell if there's any RF leak? Like does it make interference sounds on a radio or cellphone?

It did not interfere with my cell phone at all. I did not have an AM radio on at the time however.

Last, can you tell if the induction coil is cooled in any way, like a fan or air pump pushing air through the coil?

There is no such cooling solution in place.

 

[PPN]

Hi @t-dub no vape use report? did you tested it?

Will get one (or maybe both since I'm in EU they might decide to send me both units together) next week or more cause shipping delays but I'm very low in concentrates for now ... I have to work on rosin or a bho run but I don't get a lot of time, ahhh! if they were some dispensaries around like for you US guys!

I'll try to vape flowers only and keep my last dabs for Lux testing but it might be difficult since the QQ taste so good!

 

[t-dub]

Hi @t-dub no vape use report? did you tested it?

To be fair to everyone involved I was going to wait on that until I get my firmware re-flashed and the vape sent back to me. If you must know right now I can say that I hit the temp limit once which killed my first session. However, at this time I had the tube the susceptor goes in upside down so this wouldn't be a fair test. Once I got things in the capsule righted the Lux produced clean tasty vapor. Capsule #2 went well but I was not holding the power button down, and waiting, for things to heat up so the session was weak. The third capsule really started to rip since I had all the pieces properly in place and was experimenting with some preheat time. Thicker vapor with great taste was the result. By this time I was pretty baked so I had to stop.

So that is the first experience. ALL the mistakes I made and the temp limit MUST be taken into fair consideration here. I'm sure when I get my Lux back next week that more serious testing will be happening, and if I can get some help, a video may emerge.

 

[PPN]

Thank you!

 

[PPN]

Sorry for the double post but I suddely have a thought, do you think it's usable to vape concentrates like haschich or kief?

I think yes since susceptors and capsules are totally cleanable, it might be a great selling point cause most concentrate vaporizers can't handle that properly.

 

[t-dub]

Sorry for the double post but I suddely have a thought, do you think it's usable to vape concentrates like haschich or kief?

When I was speaking with Neeraj on the phone he told me that "the Lux will vape anything you put in it."

Personally, if loading kief I would load it into the tube the susceptor goes in for a start and the rest just down on top. Hash you can mold "kabob" style right onto the susceptor itself.

The capsules are capable of holding a lot of medicine, it will be interesting to see how large capsule loads will be handled by the Lux, and of course cleaning. Speaking of cleaning, ISO is perfect for the capsules and parts. A good soak and possibly a small brush are all you should need.

Edit: Looks like my Lux is already on its way back to me, I will have it tomorrow morning . . .

 

[t-dub]

First Hit Report . . .

Got my Lux back and had to try it out . .. .

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Next was putting my medicine "kabob" style on the susceptor and loading the capsule. As you can see I put a lot on there . ..

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The video is here. Its raw I admit, one thing I want to make sure everyone understands is this vape needs heat-up time. I had done 2 outtakes before this final cut so the Lux had plenty of time to get up to OP Temp.

This is the ending shot of the capsule after the test. As you can see, medicine has wicked up all the way up the susceptor with a small reservoir left in the bottom of the capsule.

End First Hit Report . . .

 

[Razor]

Looks like a good device for concentrates so far. 79 dollars possibly well spent

 

[InterestingTheory]

Nice to see it finally after all these years, though I feel like a major misunderstanding seems to keep coming up in this thread re: induction heating. The concentrate/contents are NOT heated by induction. Only the induction core, a piece of metal is heated by induction (only metals can be heated by induction, not concentrate, not flower). That piece of metal is the heating element and this is a CONDUCTION vaporizer that powers it’s heater with induction. They are selling a bunch of bs when they market it as an induction vape as they are sending the message that the material is cooked using induction. They know this is not the case, and yet they continue to mislead people.

t-dub you mentioned in your video that the induction heating gives it good vapor quality. This is definitely, 100% not the case. Whether that heater is heated by a wire or induction, the resulting vapour is produced by conductive heat. This is an indisputable fact and anyone who says otherwise is misinformed (or in the case of LotoLabs, just straight up lying to you).

 

[Cheesequake]

Honestly it looks like an extremely mediocre conduction vape for concentrates. I'd pick cotton/hemp fiber + convection vape any day of the week over something like this.

Edit: Main reason I think designs like this are awful is because even if you use a tiny amount it won't use every bit of it in one hit, and if it doesn't all get vaped in one hit it will taste progressively worse every hit after. All the terps and goodies get vaped off almost immediately while the rest of it just kinda bakes and gets grosser and grosser. Never been a fan of this kind of design for concenrates. Reminds me of my Vaporblunt 2.0 from ~2010.