Right now I'm trying to justify if I should purchase the Milaana or not. Out of my collection, which vape would it be most similar to in terms of taste and the potency?
@shaolinmilk
Check out my signature and you will see that I have quite a few of the same vapes that you have.
First of all, the Milaana comes nowhere near the Supreme in vapour quality or quantity....but then again nothing else does either - with the closest to the Supreme being a SB or Daisy through water (I exclusively use my SB through water - check that thread for a pic of my whip connector).
Although people are comparing it to the Daisy/Sticky Brick - I don't believe that it is anywhere near. The SB is much easier to get high volume clouds and although some people say they get a woody taste from it - through water I haven't experienced this woody signature.
Although of all the vapes in your signature it probably is the closest to the Brick - but don't expect anywhere near the same level of instant performance or nearly as dense clouds (at least without risking charring and combustion). With the Brick - when you think that you might have combusted due to the density of the vapour and then you go look and see green as a pleasant surprise - that is not going to happen with the Milaana.
With the Milaana, you will be thinking that you are further away from combustion (when it does happen) than you are..... but then all of a sudden you misjudge the post button rate of heat climb - or are taking a second hit on a load - and surprise, surprise - you are breathing smoke. It is much easier to misjudge a combustion point with the Milaana than with the Brick and you won't get anywhere near the same vapour density with the Milaana as with the Brick.
It doesn't provide as good vapour as you can get if you take the time to mod an Apollo properly or perform in a regulated and consistent fashion like the Apollo. But where it has the Apollo beat is in the short time to get vapour. At least until I try a 50W bulb and if I can get to vapour in the reported 40 seconds - in that case the additional 25-30 seconds of time for a 50W bulb Apollo (when used indoors) would be preferable to me for both a better vapour quality and more regulated experience than using the Milaana. But with a 4 minute heatup time I often grab my Milaana over my APollo - unless I am with a group and then hands down I am grabbing the Apollo - even with the 4 minute heatup/heatsoak period.
But if you don't have either the Apollo or the Milaana then I would say that the Milaana gives you much better bang for the buck simply because it is a lot cheaper than the Apollo and the vapour quality is still very good - and although the Apollo does taste better (even discernible through water) it also makes less of a difference when going through water (as I use my vapes) than through direct draw usage. You might notice the tastier and more consistently regulated in temperature clouds of an Apollo better through direct draw usage. With my long stem mods the temperature of the vapour is pretty much equal between the two vapes - although the Apollo vapour does start out hotter (and stays hotter) if you are using a standard Apollo setup without mods to the unit.
With the Milaana, a huge benefit is the speed of extraction. Nowhere near the instant on of a Sticky Brick/Daisy but still faster than anything else except the Grasshopper with it's 5 second, worry free heat up and hit it usage. On a fresh battery you are there in under 10 seconds and towards the middle to end of the battery you can get there in 20 to 30 seconds. Anymore than that and it is definitely time to switch out batteries. But then again, I think that I have a cooler unit which might help avoid combustion better - but will also require more button time - especially when the batteries are no longer fresh.
With respect to the Grasshopper, since I use it exclusively through water - the Grasshopper performs better and more consistently for me than the Milaana. I have it on temp 5 and just rip till the load is done......far more easier than the Milaana - and quicker. For me the speed of loading and usage is pretty comparable to the Grasshopper - especially since no stirring of the load is required in the GH.
However, from all that I've heard from those who primarily use the Milaana in a direct draw manner - the Milaana outperforms the Grasshopper with respect to lower temperature vapour as well as tastier vapour......although there are fans of the Grasshopper who also rave about the flavour.
Through water though, there is not that distinct a difference in vapour quality between the Milaana and GH - certainly nowhere near the difference that you can taste with using the Supreme V3, SB and Apollo through water and IMHO the worry free use of the Grasshopper is preferable to me through water.
I will actually load up both vapes and alternate before reloading both of them again for the next round.
In your line up, where the Milaana would excel is if you want an on-demand battery powered convection portable that you are going to be primarily using for personal use and not passing around - due to the learning curve required for extraction without combustion as well as the huge PITA factor of cleaning out a combusted stem load.
If you are going to be passing a vape around then your Mighty will provide pretty decent conduction/convection mix of quality vapour that is although not as tasty as the Milaana vapour is pretty much idiot proof and no problem to just pass around in a circle until the large bowl is spent.
In this mode of use the Mighty will perform much better than the Milaana for you. That is not to say that the Milaana would not provide superior and tastier convection based vapour but that it is not nearly as well suited as the Mighty for group session usage.....especially through direct draw.
But at home, through visual cues, I can control my Milaana through water for other people to use and since it is a lot quicker than the Mighty - it has an advantage for quick on demand hits. But still nowhere near the instant on and higher vapour quality performance of a Daisy/SB through water....and far away from the "king of vapes" - the Supreme V3.....which although it does require 45secs on a torch will blow every other vaporizer away that I own with respect to vapour quality and volume.....at any temperature of extraction you want.
Comparing it to the Underdog, the UD will provide a similar quality of vapour but in a much more consistent manner - so if you are going for lower temperature extraction your extracted vapour fraction will be much more consistent to your set preference since it is regulated with a VVPS and for small loads (SS Underdog NonG stems).
The UD, if you have it heated up for the evening, will perform with instant and mostly worry free regulated convection using a VVPS and can't be beat for on-demand "one or two full bubbler chamber" hitters.
So I would say that with the SB/Daisy and Supreme that have in your line up that for home usage (especially through water) a Milaana won't provide with a better experience than what you already experience. But if you are looking for another vape for personal portable usage then I would say that the Milaana WILL serve a niche in your lineup.
Although more a fan of some vapes over others, I still am a fan of the Milaana - however, I recognize that different vaporizer excel in different situations as this post has pointed out.
I would never advise you to dump the lineup you have and keep only the Milaana because you already have vapes that perform much better than the Milaana.
However, if your usage fits any of the scenarios described where I've pointed out that the Milaana excels - then yes, I would say go buy a Milaana - if you put in the time to get proficient with it you will be very happy with having it in your collection. But you will also realize that it is not a be all and end all vaporizer and that vapes that you already own WILL outperform it.
It is a great vape.......AND one of my favourites. Although, I know my Apollo performs better, quite often I find myself reaching for my Milaana (or my Grasshopper if it is handier) over my Apollo simply due to the speed of extraction. However, with my recent acquisition of my Sticky Brick, my Milaana is not getting the love that it used to get since the Brick performs both faster and provides better quality vapour.
However, if I was going over to a friends for the evening, or an outing, I would probably bring both the Milaana and Grasshopper with me as well as a small beaker bubbler over the choice of an Apollo, Brick or Supreme V3. The Apollo carries too much heat to be a true portable and the Brick and the Supreme V3 both require a strong torch flame which is noisy in public or even when using them at someone else's place.
If I was going somewhere out in public and couldn't bring a bubbler with me then I would hands down bring the Mighty along and leave everything else at home - including the much stealthier Grasshopper - unless I had a microbubbler, Mighty cooling unit, PNWT, Aquavape bubbler or even a nice long piece of silicone tubing to attach to the Grasshopper......as for me, using it natively is not an option. I would much rather use the Milaana for direct draw over the Grasshopper but feel that the Mighty still has cooler vapour than the Milaana if the vapour is not treated in any way......and is MUCH friendlier for group session usage.
I hope this helps you make a decision.....as I said, if any of the usage scenarios that I've described is one that you have a niche for then you can't go wrong with the Milaana. It is an awesome vaporizer.