I received my blemished SSV on Friday and had the weekend to put it through its paces and, more importantly, to learn how to use the device properly. Overall, I'm quite happy with the device but there have been a few issues so far:
1) I ordered the Flavor Oil Kit and replaced the heat shield with the one provided with the Oil Kit. In doing so I found the neck of the new heat shield to be wider than that of the one the unit shipped with, trying to get to the metal neck of the ceramic heater was close to impossible but I eventually was able to bend some of the metal slats but it still feels flimsy. This is particularly annoying with the very willful whip tubing, it swivels along its axis relatively easily until I mess with the slats again and form a tighter seal, but in the short time I've been using the SSV it has loosened quite quickly with use.
2) I was getting very mediocre vapage from the SSV, pics below show the ABV from a volcano bag at 6 and all I could get from my SSV cranked to the max. Hard to see but the ABV from the SSV was still quite green even after mixing it up with the pick, so I suspected insufficient heat was provided
This was with the Oil Kit heat shield and nail setup. I tried to replace the original heat shield and toy with the ceramic heater height but I just couldn't get it back on! I tried until I felt metal and glass grinding after which I immediately stopped. This is what it looks like now:
I simply can't get the original heat shield back on and that's rather annoying.
All that said, I spent most of sat and sun adjusting the oil kit heat shield and I'm in a better place than I was as far as efficiency goes; I now get a nice uniform brown after a session with the SSV. Shortly after achieving this...
3)...I must have coughed into the mouthpiece as some herb scattered and landed near the heating element and combusted. Foul, rank smoke invaded the unit and I was able to clean everything except the tubing, the burnt flavor appears here to stay. Not a big deal, I can get quality medical grade tubing easily, but this was an important lesson learned.
I intend to contact 7thFloor re: the original heatshield not fitting but first wanted to ask for any help here. I'm overall quite happy with the device, it dabs really well and I enjoyed the flavor I got before fouling it up with smoke