Discontinued The Firefly Vaporizer

[StonedPerk]

Y

I was having bad issues with my FF and just got my new battery and that has got it working again so that's good news, the bad news is they sent me a 750 battery after telling me I needed to buy a new battery that will last twice as long as the old one, the 770 I assume, so I'm not happy about that at all.

Just if forum peeps could definitely make it clear so I know for sure, do the new batteries say 770 on the back?

Yes they say 770 on the back to be exact 7.4V 770Mah 5.7Wh . I dont know if anybody knows this but FireFly is the only portable dryherb 100% convection running at 50 watts its a beastly vaporizer the mighty is only 39 watts and its 400 bucks lol. FF and its new 770 batterys are worth it trust me you will see how much faster it heats up and lights up and last 30% longer especially if you know exactly how to use the button . Happy Vapor surfing. WavyVaporizers

 

[vapin baby boomer]

Y

Yes they say 770 on the back to be exact 7.4V 770Mah 5.7Wh . I dont know if anybody knows this but FireFly is the only portable dryherb 100% convection running at 50 watts its a beastly vaporizer the mighty is only 39 watts and its 400 bucks lol. FF and its new 770 batterys are worth it trust me you will see how much faster it heats up and lights up and last 30% longer especially if you know exactly how to use the button . Happy Vapor surfing. WavyVaporizers

Despite the fantastic flavor and excellent customer service, I am no longer using my fly. I had the learning curve pretty much down. My first unit tended to combust fairly often and finally after about 6 months just stopped working altogether. The replacement unit seemed to work okay, although never seeming to get quite hot enough and the battery life was far worse than my original unit. It got to the point where it was a 50-50 chance if I would get any vapor or not. I decided that I needed something more consistent, so I ordered a Vapium Summit from vapeworld. Wow! Hi-Tec but durable looking, 8 temperature settings. Unlike the FF, only needed to clean it once in about 3 weeks. Consistent good vapor every single time with little or no technique or learning curve required. Simple to use, no drama. Does it taste as good as that first hit from the FF? No and no other vape probably ever will. That being said, I'm not sure the FF is worth the aggravation, though I have not given up completely on it, is currently in it's box, in a drawer.

 

[nacho257]

That's my best tip! Cold or cool glass. Took me a while to discover it, but one day, duh, I just set a very hot FF on our glass coffee table, and was surprised to feel it cool within seconds. I recommend carrying a glass table top with you wherever you go.



Does the light stay green and the bowl stops heating? Or do you get a fast red light?

If the latter, toggle off and on again and see if that fixes it for a full cycle. If it's the former, you probably have a dead heating coil...it's happened twice to me. FF will replace the unit for you in that case. Good luck!

Major discovery! You reference carrying a glass table top with you. Well, we do! Set the FF on an ipad (or most phones) and it cools off wonderfully between hits! I've done more testing on the ipad, it definitely seems a little more effective, but both work great. Not sure if others are doing this

 

[*plainlazy*]

Despite the fantastic flavor and excellent customer service, I am no longer using my fly. I had the learning curve pretty much down. My first unit tended to combust fairly often and finally after about 6 months just stopped working altogether. The replacement unit seemed to work okay, although never seeming to get quite hot enough and the battery life was far worse than my original unit. It got to the point where it was a 50-50 chance if I would get any vapor or not. I decided that I needed something more consistent, so I ordered a Vapium Summit from vapeworld. Wow! Hi-Tec but durable looking, 8 temperature settings. Unlike the FF, only needed to clean it once in about 3 weeks. Consistent good vapor every single time with little or no technique or learning curve required. Simple to use, no drama. Does it taste as good as that first hit from the FF? No and no other vape probably ever will. That being said, I'm not sure the FF is worth the aggravation, though I have not given up completely on it, is currently in it's box, in a drawer.

Ive been lurking here for ages looking for a premium cordless/portable vape. And have talked myself in and out of getting a FF more times than I remember. The members post I have quoted hits the nail on the head for me. The backwards and forwards with battery's and faulty units would drive me mad. It can't be that good. With so many other vapes that work all the time why put your self through it. I'm keeping an eye on the summit/crafty/grasshopper shame the first two havnt made their creations with replaceable battery's I think that is a major miss understanding of the market. Who wants to be with out their vape while it goes back to the manufacturers for a battery change.

So many vapes out there but still no perfect vape. Even the FF can't boast that.

These firefly's have been around a long time and if they havnt got their tech down by now is there hope.

I'll keep an eye on the ff2 but won't be a first day purchaser.

Maybe I'm wrong and I'm a FF owner will correct me

 

[mitchgo61]

. I'm keeping an eye on the summit/crafty/grasshopper shame the first two havnt made their creations with replaceable battery's I think that is a major miss understanding of the market.

Not that it's applicable to the FF topic, but while I agree that user replaceable batteries would be preferable in most circumstances, I'm not sure it's really a "major misunderstanding" of the market. Pax is probably the best selling vape of all time at over half a million units moved. The Pax2, without a replaceable battery, is off to a very good start sales-wise. I think you are right that many folks want replaceable batteries, but not all users would enjoy dealing with the exigencies of such a feature, as is obvious by the brisk Pax sales.

So many vapes out there but still no perfect vape. Even the FF can't boast that.

These firefly's have been around a long time and if they havnt got their tech down by now is there hope.

No one ever claimed it was perfect. And it's not really been around a long time...less than 18 months on the market, still on V1, and most of their issues have been QC problems with manufacturing, so saying they haven't gotten their "tech down" is not really accurate. Yes, to the user, who cares where the failures start...it's still a hassle. But the FF, for a first gen portable, has about an average stability and an average or better failure rate (around 1%). You cannot extrapolate the failure rate from FC posts....I've had three fail for every one that hasn't, so far, but that's nowhere near the failure rate overall, obviously. If I have a huge jar of colored marbles, and I pull out one red and one green, can I extrapolate that the jar is half green and half red? I could, but I'd be stunningly wrong.

If you don't have the stomach to deal with first gen issues, I agree, avoid it. The FF2 will likely be more stable than the FF1, god willing. But the vapor the FF delivers is second to none, something you have to experience to understand and enjoy. And if you let the perfect be the enemy of the good (or in the FF case, the awesome! ) you will go to your grave waiting for a perfect vape.

 

[hi_there]

So many vapes out there but still no perfect vape

I would say go for the Arizer Air, it has great taste, easily adapts for a bubbler, portable, quality, etc...

I also wanted a FF pretty badly but I could never be happy with all the drama of battery and heating problems and a learning curve

 

[Marctraider]

The result after the initial learning curve is one of the strong points of this vape when you got used to it.
So at the end you have supreme control over the vapour quality. Compared to other vapors with 'preset' temperature control, with the FF you basically have extreme fine control.


As for all the users with battery problems, it is simply a matter of old battery vs new battery.
If you buy a FF now, and are unlucky to get a device which was still floating around in some storage for months, if not a year, then yeah. You're simply unlucky.

I bought my FF on a local webshop here in europe, and we all know how long it takes before new devices actually ship to europe. So it was pretty certain when i bought my FF a few months ago it was a brand new unit with the new bat.

Also, keep in mind that alot of people that come on these forums actually are people which either have questions, or problems with the device. So it gives a very bad overall indication on how well most FF's do.

There are only a very few people that come here (like me) which have no real issue with the device at all, and just want to talk about it or tell others how great the device actually is.

Imho this is THE best vape out there atm.

Cheers!

 

[Shit Snacks]

The value of on demand hits without having to session if you don't want to easily makes up for learning curve imo. And stronger effects, just plain fun. Also never seem to have trouble passing with people, combusters love it.

Battery life is a downer (and I'd love temp control) but I already had several vapes (including Elevape) so I'm never dependent on it, plus I do have a spare. I've since sold my Air and Solo as well

The below method has still been working really well with my replacement FF (still have to stir regularly, but really enjoying using it for whole nugs as well as crumbled or coursely grinded).

I also recently cleaned it, removing the upside down basket screen for the first time to iso it too. There was some fine grind blackened on the metal plate (I knew I shouldve cleaned this part sooner...), so after cleaning I out a fine ff screen back there before reinstalling the basket screen for extra protection. I also concaved the basket screen a bit more so it is like a bowl on the bottom with more volume and closer to the heat than before when I wrote this:

So my second firefly has been hitting harsher and hotter than my last, with a hotspot so more stirring required as well. As such I began experimenting, and now i think ive come up with anibteresting solution to avoid overcooking or scorching spots and preserve flavor better.

I removed my screen and noticed a lot of herb trapped underneath, likely from using the whole nugs method, as I broke them up with a color stay (see below) in the bowl sometimes. They were also in the area between the glass bowl and steel plate, like in the sides. This had me thinking about something I did in my Imag+ Ceramic...

I took a fine Indica screen and molded it around an Underdog stem (non gong end of gong stem) then trimmed the excess for a wide shallow (maybe cm? less?) basket screen. I then put the basket screen in the FF bowl upside down (concave part facing up) and pushed it in. Now there is some space above the steel plate of the bowl, making sure no herb is stuck in the sides of the bowl or under the screen thanks to the basket edges covering them.

This also makes the bowl a little smaller some I'm conserving herb (bowl is still decent size though) but not missing out on effects! Getting like 3 hits, flip and stir, 3 more, flip and stir, 3 to kill it. Milk chocolatey avb, no scorched spots like before thanks to the shallower bowl, and a little more space between it and the heater.

(This may even work for those who combust, but I dono, this FF did do that once on me, with its hotspot, but it was bc I overpacked the bowl too tight and it was light combustion even if that makes sense.... So I can't speak much on that and I digress?)

Anyway as mentioned above, I also have this steel collar stay as a tool tjat j got from someone (have a few) and its a perfect Firefly stirrer/flipper/scooper. It magnetizes to the lid strongly, so strong you could even turn it so the pointy end sticks out, and then use the lid as your stirrer handle (though its easier to do it separately). It sits secure and completely flush on the lid for storage, even looks kinda cool:

I'm sure they can be found online somewhere for those interested, I highly recommend it

Been working great so far...

 

[marduk]

Here's an ifixit-style video teardown and reassembly of the FF. Now if I ever have to open mine up, I can do it with confidence.

 

[mitchgo61]

Here's an ifixit-style video teardown and reassembly of the FF. Now if I ever have to open mine up, I can do it with confidence.

Great video! Thanks for posting.

Man that guy made a mess of his FF.

That confirmed a couple things for me....that there really isn't much debris build-up inside the unit (after a year of use, pretty impressive) and that ring assembly pops out of alignment the second the plate is removed...although that gunk around the bowl didn't help.

A nice visual walk-through of the FF's ingenious design points.

 

[Marctraider]

Here's an ifixit-style video teardown and reassembly of the FF. Now if I ever have to open mine up, I can do it with confidence.

Why does this FF look different then when i opened mine?



In the video it looks as if the flat round metal plate is equally big as the flat round ceramic element.

But on my FF the round metal plate is smaller than the flat ceramic piece, and actually fits right in the center of the ceramic part because the edges of the ceramic part are higher so the metal piece fits in there perfectly.



Are there any known deviations perhaps with older/never devices regarding the ceramic area?

The only thing i know for sure is thats its a genuine FF.

 

[mitchgo61]

Why does this FF look different then when i opened mine?

The flat ceramic piece is different here, almost as if it was flipped.

Are there any known deviations perhaps with older/never devices regarding the ceramic area?

You mean the top piece that sits just underneath the plate? It should always look oriented like it does in that video...though you have to watch closely since all that built-up gunk pulls it up immediately.

That video matches these tear-down pix.....

http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/best-of-the-firefly-vaporizer-thread.16628/page-3#post-705773

 

[Marctraider]

You mean the top piece that sits just underneath the plate? It should always look oriented like it does in that video...though you have to watch closely since all that built-up gunk pulls it up immediately.

That video matches these tear-down pix.....

http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/best-of-the-firefly-vaporizer-thread.16628/page-3#post-705773

http://i.imgur.com/Peqgpuo.jpg

If it makes any sense.

Top view. When i look at the video and pictures, those look like either the ceramic flat piece is flipped around, or others do not have those higher ceramic edges and the 'gap' that fits the metal plate in properly.

Weird no? Id rather not on up my FF again cuz im afraid to wear out the screws,

 

[mitchgo61]

http://i.imgur.com/Peqgpuo.jpg

If it makes any sense.

Top view. When i look at the video and pictures, those look like either the ceramic flat piece is flipped around, or others do not have those higher ceramic edges and the 'gap' that fits the metal plate in properly.

Weird no? Id rather not on up my FF again cuz im afraid to wear out the screws,

Yeah, I'm not getting what you remember seeing in your FF based on that illustration. The various pieces can all be aligned in a few ways, but those two ceramic pieces should only fit together two different ways....because the notches have to fall in place (either of the top piece's two notches have to fit onto the little nub on the bottom ceramic piece, else they won't fit flush and you won't get the plate back on).

If your FF is operating correctly, I'd wager the pieces are together correctly, since there's very little tolerance in their assembly. There's almost no way the plate can be screwed on otherwise, at least as it pertains to the way the two ceramic rings fit together. If you are happy with the way your FF works, I wouldn't open it up again.

 

[Vapetologist]

http://i.imgur.com/Peqgpuo.jpg
Weird no? Id rather not on up my FF again cuz im afraid to wear out the screws,

Yep my unit appears to have a slightly different design on the ceramics for sure.

 

[mitchgo61]

Yep my unit appears to have a slightly different design on the ceramics for sure.

Oh, now I think I'm slowly getting what @Marctraider is saying...you are talking about the actual design of the top ceramic platform, not the alignment of the ceramic pieces. Please to forgive...I'm a little vaped this afternoon.

So if I'm reading Marc's picture correctly and understanding his post he's saying the top ceramic piece, on his FF, has a raised edge that holds the round SS plate in place (rather than a flat surface, on which the plate is held in place by just the pressure of the glass bowl when the top plate is screwed down, as shown in that video and the old tear-down pix).

If that's the case, it's likely the design was changed sometime last year, when a few other changes were made (like the beveling on the bowl, and the heat buttons). The tear-down shots and that video all involved FF's that are over a year old, so perhaps you guys have newer versions. It does seem like a logical improvement that would help stabilize the plate from any unwanted sideways movement.

My two FFs are from last fall, definitely newer versions, but I'm not about to take off the plate to confirm the design of the ceramics. I'll just have to live with the mystery.

 

[Marctraider]

Oh, now I think I'm slowly getting what @Marctraider is saying...you are talking about the actual design of the top ceramic platform, not the alignment of the ceramic pieces. Please to forgive...I'm a little vaped this afternoon.

So if I'm reading Marc's picture correctly and understanding his post he's saying the top ceramic piece, on his FF, has a raised edge that holds the round SS plate in place (rather than a flat surface, on which the plate is held in place by just the pressure of the glass bowl when the top plate is screwed down, as shown in that video and the old tear-down pix).

If that's the case, it's likely the design was changed sometime last year, when a few other changes were made (like the beveling on the bowl, and the heat buttons). The tear-down shots and that video all involved FF's that are over a year old, so perhaps you guys have newer versions. It does seem like a logical improvement that would help stabilize the plate from any unwanted sideways movement.

My two FFs are from last fall, definitely newer versions, but I'm not about to take off the plate to confirm the design of the ceramics. I'll just have to live with the mystery.

Heh no worries mate. Kinda had difficulty explaining without making actual photos but yeah You hit the nail on the head! Another funny thing is that the side that goes onto the ceramic chamber where the coil resides is actually flat though. First time i saw disassembled FF units i was like... mhh. And i tried flipping my ceramic plate but it simply wont fit that way.

Other than the slightly different ceramics, i do have the same board revision as the last post here that mentioned the revision number.

So Yeah they must have changed it at some point, tho i doubt the change was critical in nature.

Im still wondering tho why FF decided to not make notches on the bottom cover part instead of purely using rubber rings on the top and bottom of the device. I suppose enough pressure there to keep it in place though.

 

[lazylathe]

Epic session with the FireFly tonight!!
Loaded up some fresh ground OG Kush!
I like giving my bowls a good tamp down as well!

First warm up is done on an empty bowl for 30 seconds.
Load up bowl and heat for 5 seconds and then start inhaling slowly.
Rinse and repeat till bowl is done. First bowl is never the best one for me.
Second bowl and the FireFly is nice and warm now.
Load up and start hitting it in short puffs.
Stir, rinse repeat.
One more bowl and i am nicely medicated and the firefly is warm!!

All ABV was dark roast.
No idea how many hits but there were lots!
770 Mah battery rules!!

 

[jrk4d]

What do you mean rinse?

 

[lazylathe]

What do you mean rinse?

LOl!
Just continue until you are done it the load spent.

 

[Vapetologist]

Sorry about the crapola image:

The aligment nub and center section are the same height. The ceramic disc has two indentations, one is too small for the nub so that it only fits one way.

 

[Marctraider]

Sorry about the crapola image:

The aligment nub and center section are the same height. The ceramic disc has two indentations, one is too small for the nub so that it only fits one way.

Yeah. this bottom piece is still identical to mine, and correct nub and center are indeed about same height.

Does anyone else notice the material shrinks or gets denser after a few draws or after session done?

Funny thing is i normally fill the bowl to the top, no forcing, after a few draws material comes up a bit towards glass, but at this point when you press it back into the bowl it sticks alot better inside the chamber, and the volume/amount seems decreased and density increased.

After that i can pull the last few draws and the material just sits there all tight without moving. Excellent to get the last few substances out of yer flowers!


this method easily yields 8 good clouds lolol

 

[mitchgo61]

Does anyone else notice the material shrinks or gets denser after a few draws or after session done?

Funny thing is i normally fill the bowl to the top, no forcing, after a few draws material comes up a bit towards glass, but at this point when you press it back into the bowl it sticks alot better inside the chamber, and the volume/amount seems decreased and density increased.

This is entirely normal and endemic to the vaporization process. As moisture and chemicals are removed from the weed, and it gets drier, it loses mass. Every bowl I go through starts out filling the entire bowl space, and ends up as a much smaller amount of physical material. It gets denser because the particles are much smaller as you vape and create a smaller, denser mass of abv.

 

[hodor]

So has anyone had any good success with the concentrate pads for the Firefly? I've been wanting to get some but they've been out of stock for over a month now.

 

[grokit]

I Haven't tried any of the pads, but I believe the herbalizer ones fit the ff pretty well.