Very interesting entry into the vape space.
Firstly I want to point out that anyone saying this vape shouldn't be taken seriously due to using old tech must not take the SSV43 very seriously either... At this point in the vape industry I find this argument to be pretty silly, as there are only so many variations on producing heat and delivering it to flower. The execution is where the differences lie.
I had been thinking about the cheapest possible execution of the heating rod + heat sink/diffuser (beads or whatnot) vape since these started getting talked about more, and aside from a diy solution that stuck the ssv ceramic heater + cover onto a block of wood, this is pretty close to it without making enormous compromises. I hadn't realized that soldering irons use this same tech so good on the producer for connecting those dots.
A lot of the problems are pretty apparent and have been talked about. It's awkward to use with the cord facing the opposite way from the heating element, one or the other should be 90°. Between this and the hot spotting problem, I think the heater assembly should be redesigned to be 90°, and I wonder if using a threaded cap over the beads rather than a c-clamp directly in the air path would help with the hot spotting.
I was surprised that the soldering iron doesn't have a finer control over temperature given that it's digital. I suppose they are limited by the offerings in the wholesale soldering iron market here.
Many people are still debating using borosilicate beads for this application, we'll have to see if any melting or glass dust issues come up.
Other than that, I find this to be a pretty impressive offering for the price. Cheaper than the ELV8ER + enail and from what I can see it can offer similar performance. I don't see it usurping any of the other 'heavies' but someone has to come in and offer a bottom-of-the-market safe and reliable product in this space. I have a feeling they will be successful here.
