WARNING LONG POST
THE PURCHASE
Bought my first hopper in April 2016 from vapefiend. A plain Ti, I had it for two weeks before losing the thing on holiday. It's OK I'm well over it.
I then got my pre-orders in early July, 2x SS and 2x Ti. Had to pay UK duty on them which delayed delivery by about 4 days (about 12 in total) BC to LDN.
THE USE
I gave one SS to a friend thats a light user, so far no complaints no warranty requirement.
I gave the other to a friend who is a heavy daily user. He said he uses it on T5 with the Silicone mouth guard. Also no complaints no warranty requirements. He's completely bowled over with it. He previously had a Flowermate 5 and all his issues with it (heat up time, device odour, build quality, subtlty, efficiency, etc...) have been resolved by using the hopper.
I have 2x Ti, one green (guess you knew that) and the other purple. The purple one had to be warrantied immediately for the red blue flashing lights. GHL sent out a replacement body that arrived (in the UK) about 7 days later. The replacement has resolved the issue and I sent the broken one back recorded for about £8 with Royal Mail. Also worth noting that the replacement matched the colour and tone of the other components so no complaints there either.
I use the hopper daily and rotate them in monthly shifts. So I use one for a month and then switch to the other.
I have a three battery rotation and can tell one is on its way out.
I use
@Ratchett stand and funnel, these are a God send! I like the battery caps as well but didn't find the battery covers for insertion into an external charger all that beneficial but then I'm middle aged and don't have issues with grip or dexterity so I can see why some folk love them.
I use an Xtar MC1 most days due to its tiny dimensions but I do have an MC2 should I need to charge 2 batts at once. I had the VC2 as well but gave that to my friend, I prefer the smaller chargers and the screens don't tell me anything I couldn't feel out just through usage of the batteries.
I lightly pour in a medium to well ground selection (so far Wonder Woman, AK48 and Blue Cheese) of well cured (not moist, but not crumbling into dust) cannabis into the oven and then tap the side of the oven until it settles leaving 15-20% space left in the oven.
I can hit that natively (no Silicone guard) all they way up to T5 on a 10-15 second draw. I feel it but it's OK for me, I'm an ex smoker (nearly one year now). Flavour on 5 is OK but I'm mostly after the effects. I have tried temp stepping and the flavour below 3.5 is great but I'm no connoisseur and mostly can't be bothered.
I did try using the hopper on 3 until the vapour stopped to get the high buzz during the day time and then hitting 5 later on in the evening to get that CBD body buzz going and that was great!
I'm predominantly a T5 kinda guy.
THE CLEAN
I leave the mouth piece soaking in 99% ISO in a small glass jar. I put the jar in a bowl of hot water for the initial soaking right after having used the hopper so everything (ISO and mouthpiece) are relatively hot, this helps shift the reclaim. I keep the jar and used ISO and use repeatedly (looks like a well aged Islay Single Malt but I wouldn't drink it even if you double dared me too!).
I use an angled set of needlenose tweezers bought from Amazon at less than £5 to unscrew the screen in the mouthpiece after soaking to remove any stubborn bits of crud. This last bit isn't all that necessary but I do find the screen can have a few holes blocked and I just prefer to get all the crud out. It really doesn't take long at all.
I clean the threads now using the BluTack suggestion from this thread (great tip) along with a Vypes 99% alcohol wipe. I do not use any grease or Deoxit.
ISSUES
I don't really have any issues. The warranty solved my purple hopper cop lights and was quick. The vapor temp is alright for me, sure if I don't use water my throat feels a little sore the next day but it's not as bad as when I was smoking.
I'd like fusion or Arc reactor based batteries with unlimited power but for now I'll settle for the GHB1's I got. I do look forward to trying the GHB2's.
GLASS
I have a hydratrube, it's OK but I much much much prefer my MFLB Orbiter.
I don't bother with the whips, not a fan of those for toking. Currently I just hold the hopper in the 12 o'clock positioned 14mm joint with the Silicone guard to protect and seal. I just draw directly out of the other 14mm joint. I'm surprised I don't get any splashes on my lips and it works quite well but I'm looking forward to getting a couple of different length glass mouth pieces with 14mm male ends from Oregan Glass blowers.
I do use the whips for cleaning the Orbiter and Hydrotube. The Orbiter comes with 2x whips, a long one (about 1/2m) and a short one (about 1/4m). I took the small hard plastic bit off the end of the short whip and pushed the Silicone tube up into a standard hose connector. I then took the small hard plastic bit and reinserted into the end of the Silicone tube to keep it tight in the hose connector. The hose connector screws onto a standard universal tap adapter so I can hook it up in my sink. I got the whole idea from
@t-dub
http://fuckcombustion.com/threads/pbw-the-chemistry-of-clean.7854/ well worth a read! A quick daily rinse with the hot water seems to keep the glass fresh. Monthly soak with ISO, I have some PBW but not tried it yet, haven't had to.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The hopper on T5 through the Orbiter is my favourite vape session so far. I own a few portables (Wispr, MFLB, V2Pro3, PAX2) and the hopper blows them all out the water.
My tolerance prior to the hopper (PAX2 +pusher and 3D screen) was fairly low, the first few times I tried the hopper I almost greened out. Now though I'm pulling 15 second draws through the Orbiter easily enough. Still the efficiency of the device doesn't have me feeling like I'm burning (vaping) through all my bud.
I'd say so far I'm delighted with the hopper and think the year long wait is well worth it. I'm not sure about all the warranty issues I've been seeing here and on Reddit, I feel for those guys but I can't help getting the feeling like basic maintenance may be key to a working hopper and that 50% (totally made up percentage based on gut feeling) of the cases may just be down to dirty threads causing poor conduction.
Happy hopping people!