OK so I composed myself first, but I wanted to give my impressions. A tiny bit of background: I owned Pax and Pax 2. I really enjoyed Pax, and even made sure to keep the mouthpiece lubricated so it didn't stick. It worked well for me, but I was looking forward to Pax 2. Pax 2 still got more love than my firefly 2 mainly because of the inconsistent results I got with firefly. When it worked well, it worked REALLY well, and the flavor of convection is WONDERFUL.* (*when it works)
THIS THING IS AWESOME!! Thanks Paxlabs!
Pax 3 Impressions and Comparison
I ordered the Pax 3 in black. Packaging as usual is top notch and feels like an Apple product. The accesories look nice, and I appreciate that they include 3 extra screens and the multi-tool. Honestly, I grabbed the charger and the Pax 3 and left the rest in the box for now.
Hardware
Charged it up, noticing that the charging dock is a bit more magnetized this time than the Pax 2, but my old Pax 2 charging dock 'cradle' I bought aftermarket will work with this one too. The finish is shiny. Like REALLY shiny. The first time I had it in my pocket with the charging cable, I got a tiny scratch on it. I sorta wish I could put my red Pax 2 casing on my Pax 3 guts.
Looks awesome, just worried about durability. Looks and feels just like Pax 2 size and dimension wise.
App
The app works nicely. My unit was updated before I could even connect to it the first time. I like the color themes... I went with Mars since it's got a cool blink between red and green around the LED petals. I like the fine tuning available, and I haven't really messed with the games or other features of the app yet.
Compared to Firefly's app, this one is more visually appealing, intuitive and connects much more quickly and reliably.
Usage
The heat-up time is truly 15 seconds. It's a nice upgrade over the Pax 2. I am someone who leaves my Pax on the lower end of the temperature spectrum (370-374), and I chose the "Flavor" profile to enhance cool down and maintain maximum flavor. The haptic feedback was useful as well; maybe because of my setting (Flavor), but I noticed lots of haptic feedback, I guess every time it heats back up you get the buzz (LOL).
If you know how to pack a Pax or Pax 2, you know how to pack this one. Tight pack, fine grind. Flavor is a bit improved, but it's still a conduction vape. Again, a nice and noticeable upgrade. I noticed that the flavor stayed much more consistent throughout the session and didn't drop off the way it would after a bit with the Pax 2. Draws are much easier with less back pressure and resistance than the Pax 2. Whatever they changed about how the screen sits in the bottom definitely worked.
Overall, does it feel like the Pax 2? Yes... but with noticable upgrades that keep Pax quite comparable and competitive with the "smart vapes" that are coming out these days. This one will be my main vape, and I don't regret the upgrade.