Hey gang, I wanted to share my experiences with the FireFly. I'm a long time lurker and first time poster. Maybe you can help me improve the situation below...
In late April of this year, I purchased a Firefly with an extra battery and external charger. I already owned a Vapman (among other portables) and had grown quite fond of it. I was hoping the FireFly might be like a battery-powered version of the Vapman. As you may be aware, the Vapman also has a non-trivial learning curve, so I wasn't worried about that issue with the Firefly. I like doing research before my purchases, so I was well prepared for all sorts of experiments to figure out the best way to use the Firefly. Sadly, my experiments never yielded the clouds I was looking for, no matter how hard I tried. I combusted once, so I still felt like it was an issue with my technique, but I couldn't figure it out. One oddity: I can get noticeably bigger/thicker clouds if I tightly squeeze the lid against the bottom. This reduces the air flow significantly, but in a way that my device seems to prefer. If I don't do this, the draw is almost too fast. It doesn't give me confidence that I'm drawing air over the bowl - instead, it kind of feels like air is leaking in from various unsealed parts of the lid, leading to barely-visible vapor. Just speculation, though.
Nevertheless, I hung on to the FireFly, periodically (every one or two weeks) giving it a shot to see if my technique was improving at all. More recently, I decided that, even if I couldn't get large clouds with the FireFly, it was still an interesting device for its great flavor, and low temp vaping in general. I need not worry about getting huge clouds _all_ the time. The vaping experience is unique, and that's something important to me. I like to mix it up with different vapes often.
Sadly, just as my interest in the FireFly was rekindling, one of the two batteries died. It pretends to charge, but can't keep the heater on for more than a few seconds. Both of my batteries are 770 Lithium Polymer, and I switch between them evenly. If I had to guess, I would say I have completely drained and recharged the dead battery between 20 and 30 times. I really didn't use the FireFly that much during the first few months at all and, again, I've always had two batteries for it.
I sent an email to FireFly describing my battery issue, and now I wish I hadn't. I thought they would be understanding and send a replacement. Instead, I've been continually given the run-around about how batteries only last so long when they're exposed to the heat of the FireFly. Since I didn't report an issue within the first month, they refuse to acknowledge that the battery could possibly be defective. It doesn't matter to them that I wasn't using it very often. They openly agreed that 20-30 recharge cycles is very low and that the average amount of recharge cycles for lithium batteries is in the 100s. But, since the battery worked fine for the first month (even though I only used it a few times), they won't even consider the possibility that it is defective and needs replacement. Yes, they do sometimes make exceptions if an issue is reported within _two_ months, but not six months. I asked: if you believe my reporting of the situation, why does it matter that it has been six months? They confirmed that they believe my report, but also that they had to adjust their replacement policy because of too many people taking advantage of replacements. I asked, again: if you believe my report, can't you make an exception to the policy? The policy seems to exist to protect against liars, so can't you make an exception for someone that you believe is telling the truth? What's the difference between 2 and 6 months, if you believe my report? They responded (verbatim): "The difference between two months and 6 months is a four months." Wow, didn't see that coming. Intentionally mocking the customer, really?
The worst part is this: in an attempt to assure me that my dead battery is normal, they've repeatedly told me that 3-6 months is the average lifespan they expect for their new batteries. I've tried to respond: I haven't been using it an average amount, or even close! It shouldn't die this quickly with very minimal use! But they don't seem to care. And in fact they revealed a bigger issue: they expect the cost to own this vaporizer is (2 batteries every six months @ $30/battery) $120-$240/year! And that is totally reasonable to them. I repeated that math back to them, and got no disagreement. So it seems these are my options going forward:
1) Don't buy a new battery, give up on the FireFly. Not my favorite option, if it can be avoided. (Okay, I could use it with a single battery, but I think most people here understand why that's not a great option)
2) Buy a new battery, and continue using the FireFly infrequently. If the new battery also dies with minimal use after 6 months? Stuck buying more. Hmmm, $30-$60 every six months for batteries that only get used a few dozen times?
3) Buy a new battery, and use the FireFly more heavily. If the new battery dies within 3-6 months, that's considered normal. Hmmm, $60-$120 every six months for batteries? Even if I do use it often, that's really expensive.
All the options seem pretty crappy