Thanks for the welcome from many of you! Stray observations a week into Hopper ownership:
- No, I'm not an employee or being paid to post my positive little paragraph, although if Hopper Labs wanted to toss me some freebies, I'm certainly game...
I backed on December 7th and received the 888th Ti Hopper, for those still dubious. Moving on.
- I did actually receive my extra battery initially, despite what I thought and said - as Caroline suggested, that was a bit of user error for sure. It was tucked into the box of the stainless Hopper, which is a gift and which I hadn't ever fully unpacked.
- My Ti Hopper, which is the only one I've used, continues to perform great. I've used it in a variety of settings: at home with and without the silicone mouth piece, through a small bubbler, outside in relative heat, and outside in relative cold, and it has ripped reliably in all of the above scenarios. Its form factor is really discrete, and I've used it walking around residential neighborhoods in LA without any fear, permissive though the city might be.
- The only weirdness, which others have maybe mentioned, has happened twice: the Hopper, which I knew had most of its charge left based on usage, flashed red lights when I tried to turn it on rather than heating up. Both times, I've clicked it off, waited a second, and tried again, and it has then worked fine for several more power cycles. This occurred once on start-up and once mid-session. I'm not worried, and there may already be an explanation in this thread somewhere, but I'll keep an eye on it.
- The Hopper heats herb extremely evenly, and can definitely produce clouds using small amounts, although I've usually packed fairly full bowls - the capacity is larger than I imagined for sure. A coarse grind is also definitely the best approach, as the holes in the screen in the mouthpiece (and presumably the one at the bottom of the bowl) let smaller particles through when I first hit it.
- I'm continuing to use my Extreme Q for sessions at home, since the vapor from the Hopper is hot enough to be a slight deterrent, but the speed with which it heats up means that I use it on-demand at home for quick hits, and its stealth and convenience definitely outweigh whatever slight discomfort for on-the-go applications. I don't own any other portables to compare it to, but frankly, I don't think I'll need to!
That's about it - feel free to toss specific questions at me, but, once again, I feel like I'm likely to just parrot what others have reported, as my unit is working great and fully living up to my expectations.