Review - Vaporfection Stealth II VDS

stonemonkey55

Chief Vapor Officer
Manufacturer
OK, so I got my Vaporfection unit back about 2 weeks ago and here is my mini review. FYI, Vaporfection has now changed their name to MVP or Medical Vaporizing Products, the new website is www.mvpvaporizers.com

I had a bad experience with my first Stealth unit which I sent back, unfortunately the second unit had the same problem which was not being able to hold it's temperature properly. After every 4 or 5 hits, I would have to turn up the heat 1 or 2 degrees. Pretty annoying when you see the "set it and forget it" mantra that is posted on it's website. It sat in my closet for a year until I read another review of the Vaporfection where the author was extremely pleased with his unit. I called up the manufacturer and sent it back and they said that I had a malfunctioning thermal couple processor, when all along, they thought it was a defective heating element.

The unit uses a carbon fiber filament encapsulated in glass as the heating element. Start up time is about 2 minutes and a light comes on when it is optimal vaping temperature. After playing around with it for the last two weeks, I can honestly say that this unit is without a doubt, the best whip vaporizer I have used. I thought my SSV was the king of whips because it easily dethroned my Evolutions unit, but next to the Vaporfection, it faltered quite a bit. Here are the key areas that the Vaporfection outperformed my SSV:

1. More forgiving than the SSV, you can hit it hard, soft, slow, or fast, you get similar vapor output. In order to get comparable vapor output from the SSV, I need to milk it really slow at a higher temperature.

2. Efficiency - I will post up some pictures later, but you definitely blow out more visible vapor with the Vaporfection, than with the SSV. You would think that if you are blowing out more vapor, the temp must have been higher, but if you look at the AVB from the Vaporfection, it is noticeably lighter in color than the AVB from the SSV. This seems to defy conventional logic but for some reason, that's the way it works. I've done numerous back to back tests, with no less than 5 of my friends, and each time, the Vaporfection outperforms the SSV.

The SSV has now become my "vape on the go" Since it only takes 30 watts, I can still use it in my car. Unfortunately, the Vaporfection require a 700 watt inverter so it is a "no go" for the car. I believe the combination of the higher wattage for the heating element and the electronic thermal couple allows the Vaporfection unit to have much less fluctuation in vaping temperature which is why it produces more consistent vapor regardless of inhalation style.

Is it worth double the price of a SSV? Only you can decide on that one. Some may argue that the added electronics is just another part that can fail, and although that had happened to me, I do not think of that as a reason NOT to buy the unit. If we use the same thought process for say, a car, I would much rather have A/C or automatic windows even though it could potentially be something that could fail me in the future, it's still a nice luxury to have.

Back to the Vaporfection, it does have one minor drawback. If you are hitting it super hard, back to back to back, the light that notifies you that it is at optimal vaping temperature will turn off for about 5 seconds while the unit heats up, and then you can begin inhaling again. This only happens if you are passing the whip around between 4 or more friends and each of your are trying to outsuck the others...but just something I wanted you guys to be aware of.

Anyhow, hope you guys enjoyed reading about this vape. I think it's going to fall into the category of the Volcano. Great vape, high price, and is the high price worth the additional investment. I would say that if budget is an issue, you can definitely get something like the SSV which for all intents and purposes, would keep you extremely happy. I was and am, still a very satisfied SSV owner but given the choice, I will reach for my Vaporfection 100% of the time. For me, the additional $$ for accurate thermal control is very much worth it. I'd like my VRIP VHW to have an electronic thermal processor as well, but the amount of glass used is much greater than the glass on the heater cover for the SSV, so because of the increased thermal mass (and a higher powered heating element) it seems to maintain it's temp much better than my SSV
 
stonemonkey55,
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stonemonkey55

Chief Vapor Officer
Manufacturer
Thanks VC, I had two reasons I didn't want to title it Vaporfection v SSV:

1. I was only using the SSV to compare and contrast since it is regarded as the best whip vape and I happened to own one, if I owned a vaporbros or vaporwarez, I would have definitely tested against those units too.

2. I didn't want anyone to get on my case about comparing apples to apples, or in this case apple to oranges. Analog whip vape versus digital whip vape. I've been told that the VRIP VHW is nothing like the Herbo, even though I think they have more in common than say, the Extreme and the Volcano which always seemed to be compared to each other. I just didn't want to get into a debate with anyone about comparing a $500 dollar vape to a $250 dollar vape. Is the Vaporfection twice as good as the SSV? I don't think so, but it is maybe 25-45% better in my opinion.

Glad you liked the review, I tried to keep it as objective as possible, but sometimes it's just really difficult.
 
stonemonkey55,

vtac

vapor junkie
Staff member
Nice man, thanks for typing that up to share with us-- not much out there on the Vaporfection/MVP models. Another one for the wish list.

As good as the SSV is with just a manual rheostat, I can definitely see a microprocessor controlled element improving hit-a-bility especially for newbies, even more so combined with a more powerful element. 700 watts :o That said, I'm just wondering how hard you hit your SSV to sap the element and glass of its heat that it's become an issue for you.

Strange that it would be night and day more efficient... what are the bowl and airstream like?

It'll be interesting to see how the VDS holds up for you now that you've finally got it working right in the first place. Keep us posted!

Thanks VC, I had two reasons I didn't want to title it Vaporfection v SSV:
Pretty sure that was some dry humor- like we need more x vs y flamefests. :mad::lol:
 
vtac,

stonemonkey55

Chief Vapor Officer
Manufacturer
I wouldn't say that I am hitting my SSV super hard but I do find that the temperature fluctuates more than I would like when I have multiple people over. I was told the SSV used to use a heater that required 50+ watts, mine says 30 watts, so that could be a reason it doesn't hold it's temp as well when hitting it harder.

Also, I wouldn't say that the difference in output is night and day but the difference is noticeable enough that you do not need a watchful eye to see the vapor difference. I would say that this is a good machine when you have newbs and vets hitting it but if you know how to get fat draws with the SSV (slow and steady) you can get equal vapor hits as with the Vaporfection. At the end of the day, if you know your machine, you can control the output with the way you draw. I guess a good analogy would be the difference between whips and bag vapes, whip gives you a little more flavor and control of your vapor, while the bag gives you consistent vapor hit after hit. Except, in this case, you get flavor of the whip, with the consistency of the bag, if that makes any sense.

I tend to gravitate towards vapes with a tad bit more control. Even though I trust my ability 100% to dial in an analog vape, whenever I blow out a huge cloud of vapor, there is part of me that thinks, is it because the temp is too high, or is it because this vape is just that damn efficient?

The bowls for the SSV GG and the Vaporfection are exactly the same, although the Vaporfection is slightly thinner. I thought maybe it was because of this (kinda like how the stems on the PD are thinner) was giving me the extra efficiency, but when I put the same whip in the SSV, it just wasn't producing the same amount of vapor with the faster draws...
 
stonemonkey55,

Sullymon

Sully
Nice review indeed ... I've been eyeballing that unit for a while now and it's still a great candidate for a future purchase, to expand the collection. IMO it's a pricey unit, but you get what you pay for in many respects ... I'd buy one long before I bought a Vapezilla.
 
Sullymon,

vtac

vapor junkie
Staff member
So you have the Vaporfection Stealth II VDS or the Junior VDS? Edit, I should have known because the JR and JR digital don't have the temp controller. :)

BTW, mvpvaporizers.com is 'under construction', http://www.vaporfection.com is still up.
 
vtac,

stonemonkey55

Chief Vapor Officer
Manufacturer
VTAC, is is the Stealth VDS II, can you update the subject line to reflect which model I am reviewing?

Thanks VTAC!

Sullymon - I have opened up my Evolutions unit and seen the inside of a Vapezilla and this unit seems to have both of them beat by quite a bit. The wiring and everything is much neater and the electronics is about as far away, and shielded from the heating element. The vapor path, from what I can tell, is all glass as well. I am fairly impressed with the unit and glad that my $500 investment didn't go down the toilet
 
stonemonkey55,

vtac

vapor junkie
Staff member
So you opened it up? You should take a picture next time. :)

They say:
Separate vapor enhancing chamber contains only glass components - All electronics are separate from the vapor chamber.
How about:
Lead free vapor cooling fans provide better efficiency
Is it fan assisted when you're hitting it or what, not quite sure what that means.
 
vtac,

Clear_Dome

Vaporhead
Glass Blower
nice review man , it make a long time that I wanna know how thos vap work !!! if you can conect it to bong , please do and post up pix (dont forget the skimmed milk constest ) ....I'm still alone LOL
 
Clear_Dome,

stonemonkey55

Chief Vapor Officer
Manufacturer
stonemonkey = slow on the uptake

LOL Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This forum seriously helps me get through the work day! yall don't even know.
 
stonemonkey55,
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vaporcloud

lurking kiwi
snap and snap on that one. FC is my work day reading ... so keeping bloody posting ok :cool:
 
vaporcloud,

stickstones

Vapor concierge
Thanks a lot monkey. It's members putting up quality reviews like that that makes this forum the best.

Now you may need to update your sig graphic!
 
stickstones,

KeepCalm

Reindeer, reindeer, reindeer
Great review. Sounds like the ultimate whip vape. I really like the idea of active temperature control, especially when vaping with neophytes.

I think one of these days I'm going to rip off the Herborizer design and add in a thermocouple and connect it to some control circuitry. It'd be fun to have different custom programs for vaping wetter buds, drier buds, hash, BHO, etc. and a nice big color LCD showing what's going on.
 

SpiralArchitect

? & beyond
Very interesting.... I had never taken this vaporizer as something 'serious', I thought it was a bunch of pseudo-science, image and gimmick.... the more you know.... :D



Pictures would be great , I googled the vaporizer, but from what it looks like, it appears to be a rather small unit, is this the case? A size comparison against an SSV would be great.

Did you get the black or white?

And also, what about those lights? I notice that where you load the bowl it glows green. Can you adjust this? It might get on my nerves always having that green light on.... :uhoh:

And how about that fan in the back? Does it cause any noise? It also might seem like a tiny inconvenience because I place my VaporWarez right up against my desk wall ( I cut a hole in the wood for the power cable) and with a fan blowing out hot air, it might not be able to properly cool if the airpath is blocked.

What about dust buildup? I guess only time will tell in regards to that.

Last but not least, how are the wand materials? I noticed it's similiar to the DBV (in having a male bowl piece, instead of a female ground glass connection). I've always thought that was a sweet setup, much easier to keep clean ( no plant material being smushed between the ground glass connections, like most hands-free hand kits )
 
SpiralArchitect,
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vtac

vapor junkie
Staff member
KeepCalm said:
I think one of these days I'm going to rip off the Herborizer design and add in a thermocouple and connect it to some control circuitry. It'd be fun to have different custom programs for vaping wetter buds, drier buds, hash, BHO, etc. and a nice big color LCD showing what's going on.
Well you won't have to look far for beta testers. :D

sm55 said:
I wouldn't say that I am hitting my SSV super hard but I do find that the temperature fluctuates more than I would like when I have multiple people over.
Yep, hard back to back hits put a drain on its heat reserve. Gotta play the part of the temp controller yourself. :) Not that hard.
 
vtac,

max

Out to lunch
Glad you got finally got what you paid for sm. If you'd had a Super Vapezilla instead it would have cost you big bucks for that 'warranty repair'. Good to hear you rate Vaporfection the best of the high end digitals. I've always favored that brand even though I haven't used one. They're a lot more accessible as a company than Evolutions or Wicked Roots.

Except, in this case, you get flavor of the whip, with the consistency of the bag, if that makes any sense.
Not if you mean consistent flavor from a whip. Only a bag can even out a bowl, flavor wise.


Here's the lowdown on SSV power requirements:
"It says 52 watts on the bottom label. The heater uses 25 watts full blast and the light is about 1/4 watt. When I first started making the SSV I was told the heater was a 50 watt heater when in fact it was only 25 watts. We tell people 30 watts so we are on the safe side if they get a power converter. They are all the same- SSV and DBV. They only use 25.25 watts full blast."
 
max,

Sullymon

Sully
stonemonkey55 said:
VTAC, is is the Stealth VDS II, can you update the subject line to reflect which model I am reviewing?

Thanks VTAC!

Sullymon - I have opened up my Evolutions unit and seen the inside of a Vapezilla and this unit seems to have both of them beat by quite a bit. The wiring and everything is much neater and the electronics is about as far away, and shielded from the heating element. The vapor path, from what I can tell, is all glass as well. I am fairly impressed with the unit and glad that my $500 investment didn't go down the toilet
-Stonemonkey- dude ... you gotta take a pic of the inside of that unit for me (and everyone for that matter) ... if it's no trouble, I'd love to see it. From what you say, and what I've read, it has a unique vapor path and they did an awsome job with the internal compoments + engineering. I've been searching around the internet (to no avail) for some photos of the guts to the Vaporfection Stealth II VDS.

I've seen the inside of the "noble vapor VP600" a digital box vaporizer, which looks just like what I thought it would ... a cheaply made "chickety-china chunse machine", with wires right next to the heater cover and cheap LED chipset behind the vapor path ... which is exposed to the rest of the circuitry. What some of my ignoramus friends think, is "why buy a $500 dollar Vaporfection when you can get a unit that is almost identical on eBay for $100 bucks?" But they obviuosly don't know what the hell they are talking about, but to me there is no compairison ... not even apples to oranges. More like apples to rotten spinach.

I'm seriously interested in getting one in the near future ... so the more skinny I can get on it, the better. I'm already pretty much sold on it, but $500 is a lot to spend for a unit I've never tried out. If it works near as good as I think it does, then money well spent!

Peaceout~
 
Sullymon,

stonemonkey55

Chief Vapor Officer
Manufacturer
Here is a side comparison. Unfortunately the new one that I just got back will not be opened. I got away with opening the last one because it was the second time the unit failed on me but since this one is working fine, I'm not going to drill out the rivets. I didn't have the fore sight to take a picture the last time I opened it because it was before I was aware of the forums and my intent was to try and fix the machine. Oh well, lost chance. I guess you guys will have to take my word for it, I'll upload a picture of my Evolutions unit later.

As you can see, the Vaporfection is much bigger than the SSV. I actually think the size is quite cumbersome. The dual fans are remarkably quiet. You can hear them in a quiet room, but if the tv is on, the whir of the fans will go almost unnoticed. Its kind of puzzling thinking why I get so much more vapor out of this machine but I'm not complaining either. When I do hook it up to a water pipe, some the vapor to air ratio is lost, but at least you can take some moisture cooled vapes. I think the fans provide a constant flow that works better when you take dry vapes cause it has enough blowing power to push consistent vapor (think super slow assisted Extrene whip hits). It just doesn't have enough power to blow bubbles in my water pipe and in a way, I think it affects its abilities to control its temperature, hence thinner, whispier vapor. For this machine, I prefer taking dry vapes but I can already tell it's taking it's toll on my throat. Time to take a nice ice cooled, moisturized VRIP :brow: to close out the eveneing with some organic Jackie - O which is some variant of the jack herer but with more inica type qualities. Very tasty too.

 
stonemonkey55,

Sullymon

Sully
That certaintly is a sweeeeeet vape. Looks great in black next to the all black ssv too.:cool:
 
Sullymon,

stonemonkey55

Chief Vapor Officer
Manufacturer
Forgot to answer the question about the green light that comes on when it gets to the preset heating temperature that you choose. It actually alternates from green to blue to red, I find it slightly annoying to tell you the truth but I can always just look elsewhere and deal with it that way. I actually sent this unit back because I was going to give it to a friend of mine who promised to quit smoking if I give him a vape but now I am pretty sure that I will be keeping this one. I still want to send him vape but I don't really want to give up any of my starting rotation. The SSV is awesome when you are parked and about to go into a movie, the PD is the PD, and the Evolution has found new life. Maybe I'll get him a VHW since he doesn't want to give up his Roor either...sorry, just typing out loud now....
 
stonemonkey55,

stonemonkey55

Chief Vapor Officer
Manufacturer
Now that another week has passed, I have noticed that the light goes off less and less. Not sure if the machine is getting used to the way I am pulling or what, but it is definitely nice to have less downtime between hits. Still kinda puzzled how this thing seems to extract more vapor than the other whip units. You think that if you set it to a comparable temp as the other units, you will see comparable vapor, but for some reason the vapor from this unit is always thicker but the end product is the same color. Any guesses as to why this happens?
 
stonemonkey55,

SpiralArchitect

? & beyond
A stable temperature results in a more even cook? *shrug*

Maybe the design of the bowlpiece/handkit too....
 
SpiralArchitect,
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