Pax vs Starry?

[leanpubpackage]

I think pure conduction is underrated and want to get a little sipper for the road. Anyone have experience with either and care to share their thoughts?

Looking to get a pax 3 or the new starry v4.

 

[LeftBased]

I think pure conduction is underrated and want to get a little sipper for the road. Anyone have experience with either and care to share their thoughts?

Looking to get a pax 3 or the new starry v4.

Choose the Starry 4,

I have a pax mini the default flat mouthpiece sucks, raised opens up airflow, and doesn't feel too hot at all as I am vaping, however with pax you need to make bricks or do a tight pack, it's annoying sometimes, I can't say I hate portability. Also just one session in pax makes the body very hot. Can't do back to back sessions unless you wanna almost burn your hands.

Xmax makes good devices, starry 3.0 and 4.0 still use a ceramic bowl, and ceramics are good at heat radiance, retaining heat, plus efficient with the battery, they improved the heating system or fine tuned it plus you can adjust airfoe of the starry 4. And there's a dosing capsule.

If I could go back in time id just buy a starry 4.0. now I have to take a loss on my pax mini purchase, the good news I got it on sale, the bad news it's going to be shelved when I get the starry 4 as my conduction vape.

Conductions aren't bad I feel I get more cannabinoids from them. While my hybrids are close, my convection is further away but has the best flavor. Hybrids are in between good flavor and cannabinoids.

Conductions just give me a full cook, used to use an MFLB as a daily driver and would feel what the flower gave me even though taste would die out a little over half way through, the rest of vapor was just cannabinoid resin, if you ever tasted wax as its vaping you will know...

Conduction is efficient at cooking out the resin and hashish. Convection is more for longer flavor sessions, some convections let you get flavor and cannabinoids but it's like an overtime thing and something to do with radiant heat as it fluctuates sort of temp stepping if that makes sense.

Hybrids depending on how heater is tuned and bowl material and other factors like draw speed and your botanicals can effect overall vape quality, I used same batch of herb to test differences between my pax mini, fury edge, xlux roffu. And I conclude the pax mini gets me more stoned in terms of other cannabinoids. While my hybrid does get me stoned but it's different levels it's not bad it's close to the pax but it all depends on the temps used. My convection gets me close but it has more flavor forward and takes longer due to getting the bowl heat soaked.

So my conclusion is that for a balance hybrids are the way and sessions are shorter, while conduction gives you the sleepy cannabinoids great for night cap. However depending on the conduction vape results may vary however it's excellent for CBD flower. You can still enjoy good ol THC in a conduction vape.

 

[hinglemccringleberry]

Choose the Starry 4,

I have a pax mini the default flat mouthpiece sucks, raised opens up airflow

Weird, that's exactly the opposite of what I experienced on my Pax 2. The flat mouthpiece has slightly more open airflow than the raised one. Which isn't saying much. The draw resistance was horrible even with the flat mouthpiece, even with a Newvape 3D screen. The vented oven lid is supposed to improve that but I've never tried it.

Personally I would hold out for the Starry 4. If it fixes the issues the Starry 3 had, it will be killer at $100. Or bend over and get a Pax 3 for twice that.

 

[LeftBased]

Weird, that's exactly the opposite of what I experienced on my Pax 2. The flat mouthpiece has slightly more open airflow than the raised one. Which isn't saying much. The draw resistance was horrible even with the flat mouthpiece, even with a Newvape 3D screen. The vented oven lid is supposed to improve that but I've never tried it.

Personally I would hold out for the Starry 4. If it fixes the issues the Starry 3 had, it will be killer at $100. Or bend over and get a Pax 3 for twice that.

I gave the flat mouthpiece another try on the pax mini and I am conflicted I think it's the design flaw because it wasn't seated right or something, because now I am starting to get better airflow, I think they should improve the flat mouthpiece, because if it's either installed to tight kills air flow slightly, its tricky, the raised mouthpiece sits nice and tight and airflow is wider. the flat mouthpiece when seated right flows okay. when cleaning device and using flat mouthpiece I have to make sure the airflow is proper.

Flat mouthpiece does work right when seated properly, when mis-aligned slightly there is odd restriction.
It's difficult to convey, if you were trying it out you would feel how restrictive it feels, however if you reset the flat mouthpiece you can get airflow back, it's just how you put your lips to it, I notice when hitting flat piece at an angle I can get decent airflow. I think it's the design, they should have gave us a flat / raised mouthpiece hybrid, however there is aftermarket pieces, flat mouthpiece does work when properly installed carefully, and hitting it at a certain angle.

Raised mouthpiece just works good.

I still think Starry 4 is a better value due to the fact it has swappable battery, full temp control oled screen, a dosage capsule that could be used for flower / hashish sandwiching. Can do well without a tight pack. and cheaper than the PAX devices. I did get the pax mini on sale and at first had my gripes, but it's not a bad device, just the quirks once figured out it does work but for the price it should be cheaper, due to the fact non swappable 18650. Eventually the device will become a paperweight in future.

At least with STARRY 4.0 I can keep using it and using till the batteries die out and swap for new batteries.

 

[LeftBased]

I re-used my Pax Mini after doing another go at it, and my opinion has changed the reason why because I used other accessories, I lost my 3D Screen because it fell in trash into some lard / bio waste. I ended up ordering some pax metal screens, recleaned the pax mini, slapped in the pax metal screens, repacked a bowl under the max capacity about 0.1g or so and pressed in the herb with a waffle pusher that came with the kit. and I made sure it was a tight pack this time, and holy crap the vapor quality was decent, surprised at the vapor production and air flow, yes the body of the device got warm, the only thing that I'd say was close to burning me when I was dumping the ABV and I tipped the oven screen on my hand practically burning me for a few seconds.

Despite that the dumped out abv maintained it's brick form. I examined the ABV, I figure I could do another stir but it seemed the trichomes melted the Chlorophyll in the botanicals were darker but not BLACK, I am sure if I gave it more time it would get darker, however I was tasting the popcorn flavor coming up so decided to dump the ABV.

My experience with the Pax Mini after smashing the contents into brick form, it's premium quality, however dumping ABV isn't stoner friendly because that OVEN lid burns like a mofo. However despite that it's not bad.

I never owned the PAX 2 or PAX 3, I've felt a PAX 2 in my hands before when a smoke shop was demoing it for me (without botanicals). I'd say the PAX MINI feels like a PAX 2, the bowl can easily be vaped with 0.1g if you brick it.
I am shocked that 0.1g worked in the PAX MINI. It's rated at 0.25 g or something.

To be honest though I used older flower about 1.5 ~ 2 year cured flower (Found it mixed in with some old clothes that I was going through to donate. Forgot I had an 8th pack in an old sweater. But surprisingly the Mylar bag kept the herb fresh just well cured. Still was sticky and loud aroma. Anyways pressed the brick in the pax mini, and did the test to see if it would fall out by turning it upside and doing a lil shake, nothing came out so that's good, tested airflow before turning device on.

So far my opinions have changed slightly regarding PAX, if you properly pack the botanical in your device, literally make tiny bricks, this device works wonders, but just packing solo with no tool sucks balls, I had good vapor coverage but sometimes it would be crappy, again you can say USER ERROR, in ways it is user error, however PAX LABS should have included a Tool to press the botanicals into bricks in the oven. Because I used the back of the Pen before till I got my pack tool. the pen method works sort of... just not perfect.

Having a proper pack tool really does wonders for the PAX MINI. I pressed a 0.1g brick in the oven. I could have added more herb to press into the brick. but decided to do 0.1g as a test and the vapor I got was tasty just as good as a FURY EDGE maybe even more smoother if that makes sense? It's amazing, the vapor production was quick in under 22 seconds I was able to get vapor, big clouds, it was like wtf?

So my opinions have changed I still feel the device is OVERPRICED due to the lack of pack tool, maybe a few extra screens, I lost the 3d screen sadly ended up getting a regular screen. The regular screen works great in the PAX MINI and the air flow is good, I don't see why people had problems with old screen, only cons I see it's tough to pop em out, other than that my method is to go through mouth hole and it pops the screen off.

I still feel STARRY 4.0 beats the PAX MINI in terms of ease of use, I seen reviewers pack a bowl not like a brick, and they were able to get their ABV - DARK because TEMP CONTROL. and they liked the vapor quality for a conduction.

I am not saying Pax Mini can't achieve darker abv, again it's about the pack, BRICKing your botanicals really does work, thats how I feel the pax should have been used, make sure to pack tight as possible and "perfect", so the heat can radiate through the flower, some botanicals can suck and produce popcorn flavor fast. sometimes it could be other reasons there is herb out there that taste of buttered popcorn or something so who knows weird terp ratios.

 

[maremaresing]

Tough to say on the starry 4 since it's really not in a lot of peoples hands. The 3 was solid for the $60 I paid but no way I'd pay 100 for the 4.0 if it's in any way similar. We shall see.

I'm a big fan of the Pax2. Great airflow, great vapor, great flavor, and a very sleek device that is fun to hold and use. Also it has one important thing that the starry doesn't:

Ability to clean the airpath. Like seriously what is wrong with people.

That being said, the new starry is bound to be a solid contender, and I like the changes to the vapor path and stem. I'd probably go with it for the reasons others mentioned. But if I was thinking about spending $100 on a starry, I'd spend a bit extra for a roffu.

Again, nobody really has the 4.0 in hand but a few reviewers, so hard to know how it stacks up against any of the established vapes, or what problems it might have.

 

[hinglemccringleberry]

Tough to say on the starry 4 since it's really not in a lot of peoples hands. The 3 was solid for the $60 I paid but no way I'd pay 100 for the 4.0 if it's in any way similar. We shall see.

I'm a big fan of the Pax2. Great airflow, great vapor, great flavor, and a very sleek device that is fun to hold and use. Also it has one important thing that the starry doesn't:

Ability to clean the airpath. Like seriously what is wrong with people.

That being said, the new starry is bound to be a solid contender, and I like the changes to the vapor path and stem. I'd probably go with it for the reasons others mentioned. But if I was thinking about spending $100 on a starry, I'd spend a bit extra for a roffu.

Again, nobody really has the 4.0 in hand but a few reviewers, so hard to know how it stacks up against any of the established vapes, or what problems it might have.

Which part of the Starry airpath is not cleanable?
My Pax 2 airpath is filthy after 3 bowls no matter what screen I'm using, and it actually takes awhile to clean every last bit of resin and crumbs out of the tunnel, even with a iso-soaked pipe cleaner. Those crumbs can be stubborn. So even though it's easy to clean it's still kind of a hassle, being that it has to be done like every 2 days.

I couldn't imagine waiting 7-8 bowls to clean the Pax. That would take longer to clean than my Airvape Legacy Pro.

 

[vapviking]

Tough to say on the starry 4 since it's really not in a lot of peoples hands. The 3 was solid for the $60 I paid but no way I'd pay 100 for the 4.0 if it's in any way similar. We shall see.

I'm a big fan of the Pax2. Great airflow, great vapor, great flavor, and a very sleek device that is fun to hold and use. Also it has one important thing that the starry doesn't:

Ability to clean the airpath. Like seriously what is wrong with people.

That being said, the new starry is bound to be a solid contender, and I like the changes to the vapor path and stem. I'd probably go with it for the reasons others mentioned. But if I was thinking about spending $100 on a starry, I'd spend a bit extra for a roffu.

Again, nobody really has the 4.0 in hand but a few reviewers, so hard to know how it stacks up against any of the established vapes, or what problems it might have.

Which part of the Starry airpath is not cleanable?
My Pax 2 airpath is completely filthy after 3 sessions no matter what screen I'm using, and it actually takes awhile to clean every last bit of resin and crumbs out of the tunnel, even with a iso-soaked pipe cleaner. Those crumbs can be stubborn. So even though it's easy to clean it's still kind of a hassle, being that it has to be done like every 2 days.

It can be helpful in discussion to distinguish;
Usally when we talk about the airpath, it is the place where fresh air enters the device, and the route followed on its way to the chamber.
Then, from the chanber to the user is the vapor path.
More and more we see cpnsumers wanting both of these to be isolated from components in the device, like wiring and solder and stuff.

And btw, I really didn't like the Pax cleaning ritual either!
But the Pax airpath is almost non-existent, such a short distance...straight to the chamber.

 

[maremaresing]

I don't understand the people who say the pax is hard to clean. You take the little brush ramrod it comes with (or is easily available), dip it in iso, and run it in and out of the tube a few times. Then wipe everything else off with an iso cloth and you are done. 30 seconds tops and you are ready to go again.

 

[nicknobody]

I had a pax 3 that I used heavily. Had it on my lap and hopped out of the truck sending it to the ground several times. Left it in the truck over summer where it gets 130 degrees inside when parked. It was my beater.

Never skipped a beat.

Great clouds. Nice effects, decent airflow with FLAT mouth piece… super durable, didn’t set off metal detectors at events.

Flavor was meh. Cleaning was a pain.

Currently on an DaVinci IQC for my conduction which I also find important to have in my kit. It’s also a pain to clean but in every other aspect it’s better than pax imo

Flavor is fantastic. Cleaner materials. Replaceable battery. Overall a clear winner over the pax…

Edit: I also got mine new using a code for like $130 thru davinci. It’s easy to find the code. Shout out vapor wizard. Sorry if ^ breaks any forum rules…

 

[leanpubpackage]

Thanks all. Ended up with a pax 3 due to form factor and ease of cleaning of the airpath. Not disappointed one bit so far. Perfect for dog walks and hikes

 

[LeftBased]

I own a starry 4 now, between starry 4 and pax mini, I can say that the starry 4 is less as hot in body compared to the pax mini, using a dosage capsules even helps to get more out of herb and keep cu unit cleaning.

It's tough because I tried starry 4 with a loose pack, semi firm pack. Compared to Pax Mini, the starry likes either pack (loose or firm) it just works, adjustable airflow which pax mini does not have.

So far cleaning process can be annoying if you do not use the included poker tool, without dose cap, what gets dirty is the filter in the mouth piece gets resin and little bits of scooby snacks.

However other then that sometimes bits of herb get under screen inside ceramic bowl, it pops out with poker tool so you can brush the crumbs out of chamber, uhh I don't hate it, good vapor production with slow 5 to 10 second inhales very flavorful and somewhat smooth.

I don't hate the pax mini, however with my pax mini I always have to do firmish packs, too firm and airflow is killed, too loose and not enough efficiency in vaping, there is a certain firmness to achieve once you get it the vapor efficiency is premium.

I'd say for ease of extraction and efficiency that goes to Starry 4, the fact you get a dosing capsule helps a lot at lower temps it seems to cool down quick when taken out of oven compared to the fury edge dose caps.

Starry 4 likes slow draws from the zirconia mouthpiece. Using a dose cap keeps cu clean except for the vapor resin will get sticky that's just the nature of all devices.

Using included toker poker to pop screen off to brush oven from kief/particles. And using toker poker to clean the pop out filter in mouthpiece.

Cleaning isn't bad with the starry 4.
Between pax mini it's tough call, I've gotten used to cleaning the pax mini, a dab of iso on brush or pipe cleaner helps.

Starry has full temp control, I did use temp stepping and I like what it can do.

Used 360, 370, 383f range (15 total puffs roughly) and got excellent flavors, even finished a session a minute earlier, also used the dosing capsule packed 0.15g abv came out like medium ish dark brown.

Only cons there was some metal dust when I was cleaning the dose cap when it was brand new. The metal dust is gone after an iso dip n clean.

It would be better if pax kept the stainless steel airpath and used a ceramic glass lined bowl while having a small OLED display that tracks your puffs, session time, shows battery in percentage. And allows pass through USBC charging. The IQC and iq2 have premium features and smartphone apps.

 

[hinglemccringleberry]

I don't understand the people who say the pax is hard to clean. You take the little brush ramrod it comes with (or is easily available), dip it in iso, and run it in and out of the tube a few times. Then wipe everything else off with an iso cloth and you are done. 30 seconds tops and you are ready to go again.

I never said it's hard, just time consuming to scrub the tunnel spotless. I run a iso-dipped pipe cleaner through it, but "a few times" isn't cutting it. Then have to follow up with a dry one to get the last remaining bits unstuck from the tunnel, because the wet pipe cleaner couldn't get it all. Its not hard, just time consuming

 

[LeftBased]

I never said it's hard, just time consuming to scrub the tunnel spotless. I run a iso-dipped pipe cleaner through it, but "a few times" isn't cutting it. Then have to follow up with a dry one to get the last remaining bits unstuck from the tunnel, because the wet pipe cleaner couldn't get it all. Its not hard, just time consuming

Same. I do like the pax mini, wish pax labs would innovate maybe give us a ceramic oven, and better filter for airpath. Like a small cu that's removable for cleaning. Maybe a small OLED for session time, tracking puffs / track sessions, removable 18650 battery.

 

[maremaresing]

I think the pax mini is a failure built to a price point. Everything I've heard about it tells me it's way behind a pax2. Shame, because the 2 is so good they could have just kept making that at the lower price point. I only have the pax2 from that company, but I just really like it. Smooth cool vapor, lots of vapor, easy use. Plus I'm a sucker for the form factor and how it fits in the hand.

I get that the starry4 is made to a price point and feature point to be sold to stoners at a head shop who don't know any better, but not making it able to be cleaned is something that seriously shouldn't be forgivable these years. The IQ series and Pax manage it just fine. Heck, the goboof alfa managed it.

If you are going to plop a heater on top of a battery and screen and call it a day the very least you could do is isolate it and provide an access door.

 

[frankmissing]

Choose the Starry 4,

I have a pax mini the default flat mouthpiece sucks, raised opens up airflow, and doesn't feel too hot at all as I am vaping, however with pax you need to make bricks or do a tight pack, it's annoying sometimes, I can't say I hate portability. Also just one session in pax makes the body very hot. Can't do back to back sessions unless you wanna almost burn your hands.

Xmax makes good devices, starry 3.0 and 4.0 still use a ceramic bowl, and ceramics are good at heat radiance, retaining heat, plus efficient with the battery, they improved the heating system or fine tuned it plus you can adjust airfoe of the starry 4. And there's a dosing capsule.

If I could go back in time id just buy a starry 4.0. now I have to take a loss on my pax mini purchase, the good news I got it on sale, the bad news it's going to be shelved when I get the starry 4 as my conduction vape.

Conductions aren't bad I feel I get more cannabinoids from them. While my hybrids are close, my convection is further away but has the best flavor. Hybrids are in between good flavor and cannabinoids.

Conductions just give me a full cook, used to use an MFLB as a daily driver and would feel what the flower gave me even though taste would die out a little over half way through, the rest of vapor was just cannabinoid resin, if you ever tasted wax as its vaping you will know...

Conduction is efficient at cooking out the resin and hashish. Convection is more for longer flavor sessions, some convections let you get flavor and cannabinoids but it's like an overtime thing and something to do with radiant heat as it fluctuates sort of temp stepping if that makes sense.

Hybrids depending on how heater is tuned and bowl material and other factors like draw speed and your botanicals can effect overall vape quality, I used same batch of herb to test differences between my pax mini, fury edge, xlux roffu. And I conclude the pax mini gets me more stoned in terms of other cannabinoids. While my hybrid does get me stoned but it's different levels it's not bad it's close to the pax but it all depends on the temps used. My convection gets me close but it has more flavor forward and takes longer due to getting the bowl heat soaked.

So my conclusion is that for a balance hybrids are the way and sessions are shorter, while conduction gives you the sleepy cannabinoids great for night cap. However depending on the conduction vape results may vary however it's excellent for CBD flower. You can still enjoy good ol THC in a conduction vape.

I also like Xmax for its price and functionality! And the convenience is just fine!