Discontinued The Grasshopper

Vaporific

All who wander are not lost...
Yeah I meant just capsules :wave::rofl:
No worries :). Ironically I left my Hopper at my friend’s house over the weekend and wanted to see if the original HealthyRips mesh dosing caps would fit into the Hopper. They’re a bit smaller than the new stainless steel dosing caps which I don’t believe will fit in the Hopper. I should get my Hopper back tomorrow night to vet this out. I think someone once told me it won’t fit but not a show-stopper at all.

My Hopper back from RMA continues to impress and packs a nice punch, fresh load or even the last hit on a near-spent load. And my temp range is still 2.6-2.9 using it natively. Life - and my Hopper - is good again.

New batteries hopefully soon will only help...:leaf::peace:
 

Zuhdj

Charles Mingus
Question for everyone: Beyond improved reliability what features/improvements do you want in the Grasshopper?

Also an external battery charger.
Make the bowl removable to soak in iso (maybe have the treads right under the bowl above the heater).
Maybe some sort of cooling (maybe a removable spiral like simrells vortex).
2 batteries with every new unit
 
Zuhdj,

sashka69

Well-Known Member
@Hopper Labs
My improvements I would love to have:

- here was a guy LOTS OF PAGES AGO who built an external 18650 battery pack with an threaded adapter to screw it between body and backend. Please copy this solution so people wanting a desktop dock or 18650 batteries are both satisfied. And you, dear Hopper Labs, can keep your original formfactor. Everybody would be happy with little effort. Please think about it.

With more efforts you could integrate a pcb with USB-C and power delivery (PD) so people could charge their batteries of their expansion pack or could use a strong wall adapter to use it as pass through solution (full monster desktop mode combined with a bubbler!). If you would integrate 3 or 4 different LEDs as well (red, yellow, green, blue) people could check the battery level of their expansion pack or they could see if the battery charging finished. Dear hopper labs, please consider to send me such a unit if you really build this in near future, that's all I want as payment for my glorious idea ;-) you'll see, people will love this. And please send a unit to the guy who originally build that said adapter lots of pages ago ;-)

- as many people said, please build some capsules or containers (look at the mighty for example) with a decent filling solution for it. Some aluminum and plastic, that could be cheap to produce.

- some kind of drip tip (made of TI and silicone for fitting) to put on the PFE so people can use this combo for using it natively on the go. I added 2cm of silicone tube on my PFE and this almost does the trick but it looks a bit strange and homemade.
 
sashka69,
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sashka69

Well-Known Member
Yeah, it's for their proprietary battery. I want to charge the 18650 batteries inside the external battery pack I dreamed of :-)
If they add a mechanism as in the nite core chargers, we could charge both!!
 

Vaporific

All who wander are not lost...
uh...already a coming attraction. You can currently order one, but it may take a while for it to arrive...
...and don’t forget the understudy Steel Case, which my buddy has been waiting for for 4.5 years...:rofl:

The accessories are nice and all but too much was chewed off too soon with them, and the main focus should be on the essentials - unit and batteries. Get those sorted out and stable and then accessories...:peace:
 

Hopper Labs

Manufacturer
Manufacturer
Will get to them all, a few at a time.


An option to dim the lights for discreet night use.

A desktop dock to drop the Hopper in to charge between uses.

Dimming could be nice, difficult to implement easily but we will be keeping it in mind. Maybe combine with "stealth mode"

Truth is, I love the gh as is. I love it’s form factor, quick heat up, and ease of use.

My only suggestion would be to expand your line to add a super size gh (maybe a praying mantis?). That accepts and works with 18650 batteries. But please keep the gh as is, in your lineup!

The 18650 Grasshopper has been asked for a lot over the years. It is on our minds for sure but right now we are focused on keeping the form factor small and sleek. Honestly, there are a lot of other decent vapes out there. They are bigger, more cumbersome and don't have the same pure convection power but they work. This is not to say we don't have something to add to a larger form factor, but it will be a little bit down the road.

Me too. As long as it is working right I can’t think of anything that would make it better. If I was to be picky a back end that is all Ti so it matches the rest of the vape and the colored ones would not have the SS ring.

Edit: Here is a big one......EVERY NEW HOPPER SHOULD COME WITH TWO BATTERIES. You mnow the customernis going to need it. Tack the price on the new unit. I would consider it fair for a small price increase to come with everything you really need.

Two batteries an interesting idea that has been thrown around, but it is a trade-off to the cost of the device. The Hopper is expensive already and it isn't getting any cheaper anytime soon. Until the external charger comes out it is a bit of a pain to have charge batteries inside the device. I know that power users here certainly use lots of batts, but many customers are operating with just one and replacing that one once it wears out. Do they want to pay an extra $14 upfront?
 

PPN

Volute of Vapor
Very happy to see you here @Hopper Labs !

Can I say I'm pretty satisfied with my Ti Hopper after to go back from purgatory (1 year in rma!), I'm using it at 3 for the most and finish the load with a couple of pulls at 4. Very little led/heat issues but still happen generally after the first bowl but I can live with that.

About some suggestions I would assume a 510 Hopper heater you can connect to a mod box would be awesome (as well for the wall plug option).
 

slozukimc

Well-Known Member
Very happy to see you here @Hopper Labs !

Can I say I'm pretty satisfied with my Ti Hopper after to go back from purgatory (1 year in rma!), I'm using it at 3 for the most and finish the load with a couple of pulls at 4. Very little led/heat issues but still happen generally after the first bowl but I can live with that.

About some suggestions I would assume a 510 Hopper heater you can connect to a mod box would be awesome (as well for the wall plug option).
A 510 Hopper heater would literally kill the portable vape industry. Nothing could compare.

edit: call it a Cricket.
 

Hopper Labs

Manufacturer
Manufacturer
SS

Also dosing capsules. Make dosing capsules.
Maybe do colored steel ones too
Bring back the silicon mouthpiece coming with the unit
Or like any sort of easy way to load herb on the go quickly and somewhat discreetly (like a small keychain container with a funnel or something)

Another big request over the years is capsules or some type of preload system. Going to put this into the accessories section. We have played with some designs over the years but have not nailed down a design that takes on-the-go use to new levels.

A mouthpiece deigned to cool the vapor as well as being cooler to the touch (mouth!). With a simple screen more like the pfe's screen and no internal 'gunk traps'. Icing on this cake would be a click on (magnetic?) mount rather than all the turning of threads we do so much with hoppers.
I'm noticing a lot of these early answers to your ??? are suggestions for accessories so I'm gonna add, please don't roll out any more stuff on a 'pre-order' basis! At least not for a while...;)

A cooler mouthpiece is an active area of development. It is not easy but it is possible. Also reducing heating, in general, has been a goal. There are a lot of ways to do this.

Pre-order products are on hold for now. We need to deliver the charger and case before other accessories or pre-orders come out.

An accurate battery indicator. Something more intuitive than flickering blue lights.

E.g. on turning on the unit - lights blink 5 times for full battery, 4 times for 80% charge, 3 times for 60% charge... etc.

We almost implemented this a few times, for a few reasons we have not done it.

1. It would not be that accurate as to truly measure the charge of the battery we would need to track input/output over time. A simple voltage reading really only gives you a very ballpark capacity measurement

2. Although power users will enjoy the extra info, we want to keep the user experience as simple as possible. To us, the learning curve on what the lights are doing needs to be very simple. So the mode would likely need to be hidden and activated by the user.
 

Vaporific

All who wander are not lost...
Another big request over the years is capsules or some type of preload system. Going to put this into the accessories section. We have played with some designs over the years but have not nailed down a design that takes on-the-go use to new levels.



A cooler mouthpiece is an active area of development. It is not easy but it is possible. Also reducing heating, in general, has been a goal. There are a lot of ways to do this.

Pre-order products are on hold for now. We need to deliver the charger and case before other accessories or pre-orders come out.



We almost implemented this a few times, for a few reasons we have not done it.

1. It would not be that accurate as to truly measure the charge of the battery we would need to track input/output over time. A simple voltage reading really only gives you a very ballpark capacity measurement

2. Although power users will enjoy the extra info, we want to keep the user experience as simple as possible. To us, the learning curve on what the lights are doing needs to be very simple. So the mode would likely need to be hidden and activated by the user.
Thanks for the feedback on the suggestions. As you stated, keeping operations simple appeals to many, myself included. Have you considered pairing the unit to a smartphone app to potentially provide additional features that might not be physically possible with the current (or future) device design? I’m not an engineer but hopefully you know what I’m driving at. All good. Thanks, @Hopper Labs ! :peace:
 

slozukimc

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the feedback on the suggestions. As you stated, keeping operations simple appeals to many, myself included. Have you considered pairing the unit to a smartphone app to potentially provide additional features that might not be physically possible with the current (or future) device design? I’m not an engineer but hopefully you know what I’m driving at. All good. Thanks, @Hopper Labs ! :peace:

That seems like a potential solution for space and added features to me as well. Good thinking.
 
slozukimc,
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Vaporific

All who wander are not lost...
That seems like a potential solution for space and added features to me as well. Good thinking.
Exactly - the app would extend features not physically possible on the device itself. As Kramer on Seinfeld said, “I like to help the humans.” :). One of my better ideas, drawn upon from other vape device manufactuers, that’s all.

Looking forward to being reunited with my Hopper tonight and seeing a show with a friend in the city. My magnetic charger is in my car thankfully as I forgot to bring extra batteries with me today. Happy Humpday to all...:peace:
 

MoltenTiger

Well-Known Member
I am not at all interested in a 'connected' vape. The only one that interests me is the new Sublimator controllers with wifi and Bluetooth connectivity - simply to power it remotely as there's a 20 min wait for the heat up. The GH doesn't have this problem, nor do working units have any screaming shortfalls that would benefit from a more complex and combersome circuitry. Vapes with apps for the interface are stupid and are born out of UX constraints.

If it was simple to have a battery level indicator it could be implemented in-device.

Otherwise the temp selection is accurate enough, the heat up is clear and simple, as is the operation with every use. I don't want RF added to the device. I like having dumb devices. Perhaps it could be used for troubleshooting or something though.

I do think a higher max temp would be a good move, topping out at 235°C would be ideal for any vape.

It's probably a good sign that ideas are being asked for, as the GH itself is showing good signs as being a stable iteration and it's time to focus R&D elsewhere, but the goal posts for the oils front end, the SS case, the HBC are still waiting. And that is where all the focus should be applied, for now, as these things will add good advantages to the device.

A USB-C PD charger, AC adapter, 510 mod attachment, charger dock, cooling mouthpiece, capsule system, are all good things to be looking at next.

I'd also like to see a pen cap for the PFE and the FE, so it can be pocketed without lint getting stuck to it. I also like the idea of a magnetic connection instead of the threads. This would make battery swapping that much easier.

Even a chamber spacer (like the pax was popular with) could be interesting, to boost extraction efficiency of smaller loads.

Ultimately I'm really happy with this device, it fills a space that no other can, so I'm really happy HL stuck with the sleek design.

I also agree that going to larger devices opens the door to actual competitive products, and in the case of a desktop system - I can't think of a reason I'd use the GH over the Sublimator. A clunky battery pack add-on or wall adapter isn't going to be as useful to me as the rapid new HBC with 45W PD USB battery packs. It's a portable vape first and foremost, and other dynamics are better suited for herb extraction once all the size constraints are removed.
 

Baron23

Well-Known Member
@Hopper Labs - I have given your question some thought as its an important one. I often see folks lamenting about the lag in advancement in vape technology but often these same people are a bit stumped when it comes to what real, solid, new approaches that they would like to see. And stealth and apps are not, IMO, a real advance.


With that, these are my views ONLY and I don't really expect people to necessarily agree with them, but here goes:

1. Base point for me is that I do not want to grow a GH into the size/feature set of other already available and much larger vapes. I like that the GH is, to my mind, the stripped down engine of a vape and its works wonderfully at the limited base functions of a vape. It turns on, temp can be adjusted, it heats the load, it turns off. I often use my GH with a J hook or FC-188 dewar joint type rig. Its just the little heater that could, in my view, and that's what I would like to see it stay at. But, there is def room for improvement, as with all products.

1. Whatever you do, please do NOT require a fucking mobile phone app to run your device. Please, please, please. I don't hate apps...as long as EVERY function of the app can be actuated from the device itself, which most do not.

2. Battery - I'm not going to second guess Hopper too much about the custom battery. They say that they needed to go in this direction, during the design phase which was years ago, to get a battery that would meet their performance requirements. But, its not well down the road and the custom battery, and its cost, are to my mind an inhibitor of sales. I hear you about 18650s and I don't believe I want my GH to grow into a 60 ring size robusto, but perhaps something more in the 14500 range? A widely commercially available battery would be, IMO, desirable.

3. Stealth - naw....I mean, if its that important to you, just cover up the ring of small lights with your hand. The lights are important, provide essential info like its time to hit it, it over heated, its time to change the battery and does so in very little physical infrastructure. Not at all worth it to my mind.

4. Get rid of all of the idiosyncratic behavior - I'm sorry but if you go to the Resources area of this forum, you will see a whole list of attempts to draw insight into what the hell your GH is saying and how to maybe keep it running better. Its almost to the level of reading tea leaves and making sacrifices to the gods. Get rid of blue flickering lights would be one example of this. Hot back ends...some back ends not hot, some hot but if you turn the dial they aren't hot until they are again...what's up with this? Just look at your Trouble Shooting decision diagram, right? Back ends should never get hot. And temp variability between different units, on a given temp setting, seems to be very quite variable.

5. Reliability, availability, maintainability, testability - I hear that you are saying that this is much improved. Ok, I will accept that. But to my mind the criticality of your design works to undermine rock solid reliability and maintainability. In particular, using the body of the unit as part of the power path to the heater. Again, look at Resources and figure out how many people now own Blue Tack and a host of other products to try to keep this thing working. I think corrosion and metal dust in threads has contributed to a lot of issues, you may have better data on this but...
Then there is the back end with its mechanical contacts for temp and the mechanical on/off button. Having to turn your temp dial back and forth to try to get it clean enough to not end up with a scorching back end is not good enough. My on/off switch on my again RMA'd OG GH is flaky (see above about idiosyncratic behavior). Sometimes clicking it will turn it off, sometime it results in red lights until clicked a second time. That kind of stuff is just annoying to me.
Again on maintainability, which really seems to be an issue, if there is a heat sensor that needs to be accessed and cleaned, then make it accessible. If I have to blow into the air intake holes in the hope that it will clear out some gunk in the heater, then this area just needs to be made accessible as in a removable heater section, perhaps?
I know Hopper has claimed much improved testability, but I don't see it, frankly. In my last three RMA actions, both Ti GHs were returned to me unusabley cold. I returned on under the third RMA pleading for a GH that runs...well, not cool, and finally got one of two working. And, the stores are legion (and many are from not very long ago at all) of returned GHs that still had issues. This is unacceptable to your customers and eats up your time and money. This needs to be fixed, IMO.

6. Pass Through Charging or Plug-in back end - Given the very small amount of space available, its kind of hard to see how you could implement pass through charging so that owners can use their device with a depleted battery by plugging it into the wall. But, perhaps a completely different back end...no battery needed, that plugs in and connects to the forward electrical contact would be keen. Somebody (JCAT maybe??) did something like this as a one off experiment. But it seems doable, it doesn't have to match the entire units diameter...IMO, it can be a bit wider to accommodate circuitry and cord outlet...and would be very useful and desirable...well, by me at least.

7. Cooler MP - yep, I know this has been mentioned. For me, personally, its not a big deal. I can use the OG MP with the sleeve protector and its fine by me. But its one of the big hits against the GH. Perhaps a double walled MP???

8. Not interested in a battery level indicator as IMO, and perhaps due to the non-linearity of LI battery discharge, are almost always wrong or misleading.

9. I personally have no interest in capsules. This is a high performance vape and capsules, IME, always degrade performance. Others view it differently.

In general, I don't really want to advocate turning the GH into something else entirely. I love it for what it is.....I just mostly want true rock solid, predictable performance and RMA (rel/main/avail and I will throw in testability).

I don't know that any of this is helpful at all and its mostly just wanting a better GH and not try to turn it into a Terra, Mighty, or something else.

Cheers
 

GrandWazoo

Well-Known Member
Welcome to FC HopperLabs , finally : that can be the beginning of a change we all hope. My best wish is a forever working unit, naturally, but I think there are so much components ( and some of them coming from other countries ) in the GH, that something can go wrong. So IMO the best improve would not be a change in the vape itself, if it works it's ok as it is, but an efficient fixing Lab able to repair units in a reasonable time, as it was long ago. My fault, Gh had a short due to a big wave, payd for repairing, one month and I got my unit back to Europe. That IMO was very reasonable. Now I got lifetime warranty but I must wait lifetime to get my unit back. How can you change a precise piece of metal of 4 mm broken in two pieces in over 1,5 years (RMA since may 2018...)? This is perfectly what I want to know before buying something else from your company. When I will read from this forum that Labs have become efficient like before, and fix broken units in about one month, then I will change my opinion and maybe try with a new one. Otherwise, when and if my unit will come back, it will be the last.
 
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Tranquility

Well-Known Member
1. Whatever you do, please do NOT require a fucking mobile phone app to run your device. Please, please, please. I don't hate apps...as long as EVERY function of the app can be actuated from the device itself, which most do not.
I, on the other hand, hate apps on vapes and will never buy (another) one that requires one again. Maybe, if EVERY function can be actuated; but, maybe. Even then, if an app is *required* to register or otherwise use the device, no.

5. Reliability, availability, maintainability, testability - I hear that you are saying that this is much improved. Ok, I will accept that. But to my mind the criticality of your design works to undermine rock solid reliability and maintainability. In particular, using the body of the unit as part of the power path to the heater. Again, look at Resources and figure out how many people now own Blue Tack and a host of other products to try to keep this thing working. I think corrosion and metal dust in threads has contributed to a lot of issues, you may have better data on this but...
Then there is the back end with its mechanical contacts for temp and the mechanical on/off button. Having to turn your temp dial back and forth to try to get it clean enough to not end up with a scorching back end is not good enough. My on/off switch on my again RMA'd OG GH is flaky (see above about idiosyncratic behavior). Sometimes clicking it will turn it off, sometime it results in red lights until clicked a second time. That kind of stuff is just annoying to me.
Again on maintainability, which really seems to be an issue, if there is a heat sensor that needs to be accessed and cleaned, then make it accessible. If I have to blow into the air intake holes in the hope that it will clear out some gunk in the heater, then this area just needs to be made accessible as in a removable heater section, perhaps?
I know Hopper has claimed much improved testability, but I don't see it, frankly. In my last three RMA actions, both Ti GHs were returned to me unusabley cold. I returned on under the third RMA pleading for a GH that runs...well, not cool, and finally got one of two working. And, the stores are legion (and many are from not very long ago at all) of returned GHs that still had issues. This is unacceptable to your customers and eats up your time and money. This needs to be fixed, IMO.
When it works, a lot of people seem to really love this vape. The reliability issue has prevented others, such as myself, from even giving it a try. The reports were so bad for a time that there will need to be a steady supply of good support or improvement news before I even look at the vape again.

9. I personally have no interest in capsules. This is a high performance vape and capsules, IME, always degrade performance. Others view it differently.
I don't use capsules myself, but I suspect the future's greatest vape might. It is a lot easier to do the things you need to do to make vapor when you limit the variables. A capsule does that. In some future day, I bet some vapes will be designed around capsules so that, as long as you can fill the capsule according to instructions, you will get full extraction.
 

virtualpurple

Well-Known Member
@Hopper Labs there have been several folks now requesting a higher upper limit for the temperature, what is your thoughts regarding this?

additionally, I am wondering, though perhaps it’s been addressed before - but are you capable of making the older hoppers as reliable as what you are saying the newer hoppers are? I ask because I have RMA’d 3 times now but they keep inevitably running cool and do not extract as they should. Additionally my power button sticks and must be dislodged manually to spring back.

Would you, @Hopper Labs, be comfortable stating that you are able to make a several-time RMA’d hopper such as mine perform as well (and reliably) as these new units - or would you recommend that someone purchase a new unit if they are seeking the stability in performance?

I’m not trying to put you on the spot or in a difficult position, but I have just had very little success with my pre-order ti hopper and kind of wish I had just gotten a stainless instead at a lesser price.

I truly want to love my hopper, but if I’m more likely to have a better experience with a new production model rather than my current pre-order that has been sent back a few times already, I’d much rather rip the band aid.
 

JCat

Well-Known Member
Accessory Maker
@Hopper Labs ... a concentrate adapter or front end would be great too

works with organic cotton or hemp fibre but worry about it leaking into the heater so only will use it upside down with concentrates in this way.
 

Vapor Mainline

Vapor (Ent)husiast
@Hopper Labs there have been several folks now requesting a higher upper limit for the temperature, what is your thoughts regarding this?

additionally, I am wondering, though perhaps it’s been addressed before - but are you capable of making the older hoppers as reliable as what you are saying the newer hoppers are? I ask because I have RMA’d 3 times now but they keep inevitably running cool and do not extract as they should. Additionally my power button sticks and must be dislodged manually to spring back.

Would you, @Hopper Labs, be comfortable stating that you are able to make a several-time RMA’d hopper such as mine perform as well (and reliably) as these new units - or would you recommend that someone purchase a new unit if they are seeking the stability in performance?

I’m not trying to put you on the spot or in a difficult position, but I have just had very little success with my pre-order ti hopper and kind of wish I had just gotten a stainless instead at a lesser price.

I truly want to love my hopper, but if I’m more likely to have a better experience with a new production model rather than my current pre-order that has been sent back a few times already, I’d much rather rip the band aid.
This is a good question. A lot of the users I see that speak of their negative experiences seem to be on older devices that have been RMA’d multiple times. My new hopper arrives tomorrow and I’m really hoping I don’t get any issues after the third bowl. Hell...maybe even the first one
 

virtualpurple

Well-Known Member
This is a good question. A lot of the users I see that speak of their negative experiences seem to be on older devices that have been RMA’d multiple times. My new hopper arrives tomorrow and I’m really hoping I don’t get any issues after the third bowl. Hell...maybe even the first one


Hope it stays nice and true! Please keep us posted on its performance and your thoughts, it’ll be good track the progress on a unit that’s fresh off the presses!
 

Cheesequake

Free Men Don't Ask
An old Ti body I've had for about a year or so now that hasn't really worked right since I got it in a bundle a while back has started working better and better the more I use it it seems like as weird as that is. It started out taking 15-20 seconds to heat up and last time I used it it was taking about 8 and putting out pretty good clouds. Happy to have one mostly working hopper for now.

20191017-003152.jpg
 
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