I placed my order (blue) on Nov 2nd and received it (US East Coast) on the 18th. I am a daily vaper usually vaping between.2 and .3 g per session. For the past 2 years I have been grinding with the MFFG and vaping with the Wispr 2 daily and have been ok with the result thus far. I started to look at the IQ as a means of upgrading to a more controllable and pleasurable means of medicating. After having tried the PAX and a few other portables they were just not what I was looking for in terms of preferences and user experience.
The unboxing of the IQ made me feel like I spent $280 and I was pleased with the packaging and all of the accessories that it came with, very practical and useful accessory kit. I don’t know if it is the same with other colors but the carry can is the same color as my IQ, very thoughtful and a nice touch. Construction materials used and the design are all top notch, the form factor and feel of the IQ is indicative of its price tag. I am specifically pleased with the design and feel of both the oven door and vapor path door, they feel durable and those magnets will never wear out the way a latch would.
Knowing that I would usually be vaping less than a full chamber I gave unthreading the pearl a try. I agree that initially it did pose a bit of resistance but if you keep turning (in the correct direction) you can see that the pearl is actually traveling down the threaded post. The resistance is still there slightly and you can feel the post flexing. At no point did I feel like it would break. The good feature of this is that the pearl will stay in the location that you set and not migrate up and down the threads while in transit. I had a little trouble connecting to the app at first but I uninstalled / reinstalled the app and had no troubles connecting or using the app after that.
On my initial trial I prepped .25g of material and used a Cali Crusher 2pc grinder. I will note that the grind was fine but not as fine as with the MFFG. I believe that for the IQ the MFFG would be too fine but I have yet to try. I loaded in my material and tamped. With the unit off I took a pull to test the draw resistance. It was a little too tight for my liking so I used the pick tool to completely loosen the pack and tamped a bit lighter, success. I must also add that the pearl did not appear to be making contact with the material. I turned the vape on and used smart path 2. I waited until the IQ vibrated and took my first pull. The taste was there but there was little vapor, which in my experience is the case with conv vapes on the first couple pulls. The vapor volume increased by the 2nd or 3rd pull in I was getting good clouds, and I must say great flavor and no harshness what so ever throughout the session.
One thing that I did notice was towards the end of the 10 minute session the unit did start to get hot almost to the point of being uncomfortable. I don’t have a problem with this as it was still able to be held and hit from easily but, by the time I noticed it, the session was over and the unit shut off. I wanted to see if I could take a few more pulls out of it so I turned the unit back on and used the boost feature to get it back up to temp. I was able to get about 3 more clouds out before vapor volume and flavor quality started to diminish. At that point I put the vape away. Definitely more efficient than my previous vape
The next day, I opened the oven and noticed that my material was fully spent and had a medium to dark brown color, perfect in my book. The material was packed into a perfect disk which easily broke up and poured out, after a quick brush the oven looked perfectly clean with no residue.
I did try using a lesser amount of material, about 2 small pinches using the same fine but not too find grind. I tamped to the same level that I was happy with as before and I used smart path 3. I noticed that I was getting a small amount of vapor which would increase if I extended the time between hits and used the boost option but still not huge. I checked the oven and the material was still a little green, I concluded that I didn’t have enough in there so I added 1 more pinch and lightly tamped. I then continued my session using SP3 with boost on every draw. I did see an increase in vapor but again not huge. After inspecting the oven I noticed that all of the material was the same medium brown color.
I would say that this is an area where a screen insert might want to be considered as an area for personal customization but is but is by no means detraction from the IQ’s intended function. If microdosing or ‘one hitting’ on the IQ is of interest to you, another method might be to pack more material and use a more mid-level flat heat profile so all of the material does not get spent in one session. With this you might be able to produce 3 or 4 small clouds rather than 1 big one and achieve the same effects.
Overall I am immensely satisfied with this vape on all levels of performance, build, design and user interface. I was happy that I did not need to experiment with it night after night to get the expected results. Thanks to all of the people contributing to this thread and giving me a head start. I also think that by design this vape is very user friendly right out of the box. Thanks to @DFavinci_vaporizer for being active in this thread.
As far as the QC issues that they have been going through, it’s understandable and to be expected. As long as Davinci stands by its warranty and either replaces or refunds its customers for failed units.
IMO There are 3 key elements that need to be considered in making the IQ perform above and beyond expectations:
Grind level – fine but not too fine
Level of dankness – I did not mention this but, the cure level of my material is best described as “ a crispy outside with an ever so slight stickiness on the inside”. In my past experience anything more than this will not produce big clouds and will take longer to vape. In the past I have found that if I let a bud sit outside of its container overnight I would get twice as much vapor as I did straight out of the container, it makes it easier to grind as well.
Tamping - not tight not loose but firm (Especially on smaller loads).
Extremely happy with the IQ and would recommend it to anyone looking for a portable vape.
