Discontinued The Venus Apollo

[Slightly Medicated]

That is really handsome. I like the combinations of woods and metal.

 

[Melting Pot]

@villekille2 are those battery's like a standard 18650/18350
If so most have stacks of those and chargers. Maybe you can offer a bare bones unit. Just a thought. Nock price a bit. Maybe show FC members a little love!!!
Looking sweet can't wait to see some action vids.

 

[Breathemetal]

Nifty

 

[PPN]

Even if I was disappointed by the Venus I got 1 year ago (+or-) I really appreciated how the manufacturer stands up behind its product, he give you complete replies and full explanations, it seems to be a very honnest guy.

I plan to send it my unusued Venus for upgrade and I would like to be one of the first to try this Pocketvape, really curious about it and I'll love to get a full working halogen vape (and pocketable!)

 

[villekille2]

@villekille2 are those battery's like a standard 18650/18350
If so most have stacks of those and chargers. Maybe you can offer a bare bones unit. Just a thought. Nock price a bit. Maybe show FC members a little love!!!
Looking sweet can't wait to see some action vids.

Yes, 18650, of course bare bones units are possible without charger and batteries! I just don't want situation when someone has lower quality batteries with weak current capability and doesn't get the performance that this unit should have. Chargers shouldn't make such a difference, so maybe shipping without charger and one set of batteries would be perfect for those who have a charger for 18650 already.

 

[natural farmer]

How long those batteries last in your experience with this unit @villekille2 ? Also, why does it take 2+ minutes to reach temp? Isn't the halogen lamp heater's advantage (as I remember with the Venus) that you get instant heat? Is it maybe something like how the Crafty works? Where the whole bowl is heated as well to vaping temps. This seems true as you said that the bowl is too hot to touch during a session.

I like the way it looks, did I mention that?

 

[NickDlow]

How long those batteries last in your experience with this unit @villekille2 ? Also, why does it take 2+ minutes to reach temp? Isn't the halogen lamp heater's advantage (as I remember with the Venus) that you get instant heat? Is it maybe something like how the Crafty works? Where the whole bowl is heated as well to vaping temps. This seems true as you said that the bowl is too hot to touch during a session.

I like the way it looks, did I mention that?

i would imagine it get hot from the hot air passing through. It looks like some type of metal so that my assumption. Just like a gong on a log vape gets hot even tho it's pure convection. If the chamber was heated simultaneously then I would agree and consider it a hybrid.

As far as battery life here's what was already posted waaaay back in the first page...

Battery life it's good, what can I say to give realistic view of it? if I tell you that @ maximum power it stays on about one hour, it doesn't tell much. And about number of "typical" vaporizing sessions I haven't been counting. But let's say that if it takes little bit over 2 minutes to get to temp, and it's maximum power then, and the way it hits, for most people it will not be on that much after warm up. I would say that the battery life is good.

 

[villekille2]

the reason why it takes time to reach temp is that the heating element with the stainless steel part around the halogen bulb creates a combination which needs to store certain amount of energy in order to be ready.

You could compare it to a train. They are big and heavy and take some time to get to speed but then it seems nothing can stop them except their own brakes and even then not so quickly. Same here, takes little time to get necessary energy level stored and then it will deliver hot air trough full herb chamber in a way that should not leave anyone cold. And after you turn it off, takes some time to cool off to touch herb chamber again.

And it is not about conduction vaporization, you can even warm it up without the herb chamber and then place it on top of heating element and you will get vapors in seconds, maybe you need one extra inhalation for best vapors, to get the herb in chamber warmed up little bit with the flow of hot air trough it like normally happens naturally when chamber waits this warm up time on top of heating element, but that's it, it's not about conduction. And why herb chamber is hot for touch, It is because the parts are made of stainless steel, the warmth of heating element conducts to the herb chamber naturally, from the contact with heating element and from the hot air flowing trough it, and for this reason it becomes hot. Nowhere near to vaporization temperatures but for to touch metal you don't need such temperatures and it will feel very hot. The chamber is placed so that you can normally hold vaporizer ergonomically and not touch it. and for example, I have found it is not a problem to put it back to jeans front pocket even when it's hot because the wooden frame around the chamber prevents it from directly contacting materials. Feels warm yes but in a pleasant way, especially since you just probably got amazing vapors and that's why it's warm!

 

[Reliable ShotZ]

So you say this thing is prone to breaking if you drop it because of the halogen bulb, how much does it cost to replace the bulb. Is it something we consumers could do easily or would it require sending it back to you? What made you choose this heating method villekille over others, is it more energy efficient or more powerful?

 

[villekille2]

I haven't had that ever happen to myself but it is common that bulbs with hot filaments break easily if they receive a shock when they are in use. If it's turned off, I think they are much stronger. So this could be for example, dropping to floor the vaporizer when you are using it. Of course there could be an acceleration sensor to register this fall and turn it off before it hits ground, but since it is a very rare thing to happen and replacement is cheap and easy, I don't see it useful to complicate electronics. The official lifetime for bulbs it's about 3000 hours. Of course vaporizer might be a little bit stressful environment for them but if bulb has normal quality it should work a long time, can be years. And because sometimes an accident can happen, or bulbs can have an early failure for some reason, we always supply a spare bulb in the package. And replacement it is not so expensive, a couple of dollars and you just need to push away the screen on top of heating element, with some kind of hook lift up the old bulb, and place a new bulb and push it down. The trickiest part is to get the legs of bulb to align with the contacts at the bottom, but it is not that difficult and yes, it is perfectly doable thing for the user, I think nobody would send unit back for replacement of bulb, it would take much more time and effort to send it than just change yourself.

 

[NickDlow]

So you say this thing is prone to breaking if you drop it because of the halogen bulb, how much does it cost to replace the bulb. Is it something we consumers could do easily or would it require sending it back to you? Also this halogen bulb wont last forever, how many hours of use do you expect it to last? What made you choose this heating method villekille over others, is it more energy efficient or more powerful?

Once again way back in the first page this was covered.... It's not a big thread guys and we are already getting repeats...

The halogen bulb wears naturally but can be easily changed, and in normal conditions, in my experience, should work anywhere from 1 to 3+ years and for sudden drops or weaker bulbs we always deliver one extra bulb anyway with our vaporizers.

@villekille2 every time I hear about your personal use I get more n more jealous. I want this bad boy!

 

[villekille2]

What made you choose this heating method villekille over others, is it more energy efficient or more powerful?

I liked the idea of fully glass encapsulated heating element which was easily available and tried it, and turned out that it worked very well. The results speak for themselves, very good vapors. At the time when I was developing my halogen heating element, I was mostly interested in the pureness factor, and a vaporizer where the hottest part is made of airtight glass felt like a good idea. But it turned out to be very powerful too, much more than the actual wattage would let you think.

I don't even pretend that I would fully understand or that I could explain all the reasons why it works so well. But I feel it's the combination of very hot glass surface with the secondary effect of the hot stainless steel tube around it and the strong radiation energy, seems that this radiation is absorbed effectively by the trichomes in the herb and then it is an easy thing for the hot air flow to finish the job and the result is a strong tasty vapor.

 

[NickDlow]

@villekille2 getting into custom vapes. What dimensions would you need for a blank of wood to make one of these?(please specify inch or centimeter) What are the dimentions of the final product too? Also would u prefer a hard or soft wood for turning? How do u turn them, CNC machine or by hand?

 

[villekille2]

@villekille2 getting into custom vapes. What dimensions would you need for a blank of wood to make one of these?(please specify inch or centimeter) What are the dimentions of the final product too? Also would u prefer a hard or soft wood for turning? How do u turn them, CNC machine or by hand?

It is a combination of cnc and hand work. It is very challenging to make this wood part, to have the long holes trough it perfectly aligned since there is not much room for error in a compact device like this which is packed full with maximum power and capacity in a minimum sized package. So there is a good chance that this piece of wood would not make it, and we would need to start with another block, and for this reason, at the moment I would not accept custom wood requests unless we would have our own supply for it. Dimensions will be published later.

 

[natural farmer]

As far as battery life here's what was already posted waaaay back in the first page...

Maybe I didn't make myself clear about the batteries question. What I meant is how long should their lifespan be with the power requirements of this vape?

The Crafty and Firefly batteries for example loose their capacity very fast and and in a couple of months the maximum number of sessions per charge drops significantly. I have heard one session per charge for the FF and experienced a couple sessions for the Crafty after a couple of months of daily use.
That's actually what made me sell those vapes and go back to flame powered ones. It is not economic to change batteries so often and not in any way sustainable of course.

 

[villekille2]

to be honest, I have not been having such extensive testing with the batteries to give a correct answer. What I can say, that the batteries are on the opposite side to hot parts, separated by wood which acts as an insulator and also there is the electronics compartment in between, with air inside to cut the heat transfer from heating element to batteries. In turn, the temperature rise for batteries while in use, it is not much and as far as I know, the heat stress is the biggest reason for premature aging of lithium batteries. In elevated temperatures their cycle life reduces considerably as well as their shelf life. Also, the chosen cells are high quality cells with high current capability and this vaporizer utilizes just about 50% of the recommended current levels of batteries so they are not stressed too much. Also, because battery life with a single charge is good anyway, the cutoff voltage can be higher and again, this saves the batteries from stress, since I've been informed that when batteries are drained near empty, this wears them out more quickly. And last, the charger we have chosen has opportunity to choose normal charge or a gentle lower current charge which can be used for example if you leave batteries to charge during the night. And this low level charge current again saves them from wear. And for most people, especially if they have two sets of batteries, it is perfectly fine to charge a little slower in exchange for less wear. Normal charge takes about 3 hours and the slow charge about 6.

 

[natural farmer]

Thanks for your very informative answer mate! I like the fact that the PocketPot doesn't stress batteries much. Maybe if there can also be a way to cut charging before it reaches 100%... Wouldn't that help as well? @OF? Would you like to chime in? Maybe we have a chance here to help @villekille2 build the first vape that takes care of the batteries as much as possible...
And... Are there two batteries in that beautiful wooden body or only one?
I would also love to see some more pics showing where is the bowl, how is it loaded, Where are the batteries and how they can be replaced, where is that hot part around the heater that @villekille2 talked about etc... Looks very nice mate! Give us more food for thought and dreams!!

 

[mrweed]

oh wow, she's a beauty... i guess if the firewood was a scandinavian woman, she would pretty much look like this
i hope that's the unit that will finally get venusvaporizers the worldwide attention they deserve.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear about the batteries question. What I meant is how long should their lifespan be with the power requirements of this vape?

i think @villekille2 is using LiFePO4 chemistry batteries - they provide the highest current output, can recharge very fast (15 minutes), and get 1000s of recharge cycles (only 100s for other LiPoly/LiIon) - as well as being the safest chemistry with (somewhat) less hazardous materials.

 

[Melting Pot]

i think @villekille2 is using LiFePO4 chemistry batteries - they provide the highest current output, can recharge very fast (15 minutes), and get 1000s of recharge cycles (only 100s for other LiPoly/LiIon) - as well as being the safest chemistry with (somewhat) less hazardous materials.

I have stacks of AW's please tell me their sufficient.

 

[Mister G]

Someone please educate me, is the PocketPot the first portable battery operated unit with a Halogen heating element? Or is there another...skywalker?

Also, I would really recommend a different name. Even "PocketPod" would be better. Maybe make a contest here at FC, you'd get tons of suggestions. Sorry if you're settled on that moniker already, but I think a unit like this deserves better.

 

[Melting Pot]

I keep calling it PotPockets.
Like HotPockets
VAKED
Oh I am loading another stem that is. Lol

 

[mrweed]

Someone please educate me, is the PocketPot the first portable battery operated unit with a Halogen heating element?

Yes, except for the original venus vaporizer, which is a desktop/portable hybrid,imho.
but apart from villes vaporizers, there are only a few halogen powered desktop vapes (like the famous aromed)! I believe that's because of the size of a halogen bulb, nobody has used them before in a portable vape

 

[Shit Snacks]

Haha yeah the name is so so, definitely doesn't seem to match the premium feel/look of the device... Maybe just the Venus Pocket, or another planet like Mercury or Saturn for this model? (As long as you dont sell me Uranus!)

But this definitely looks like one very promising portable! Agreed more pics and vids will go a long way here, at making us salivate that is... Halogen bulb portable, coming up sooner than many of us suspected perhaps. So many new nice portables right around now, and nice to see wood again like the Zion. Very intriguing!

 

[villekille2]

I am very much open for name suggestions. There is no website, no logo for it or any marketing material yet so name can still be chosen freely. I would be pleased if on this forum we could find a name for it that feels like a mach for it. Maybe people could suggest ideas, and then see from them or make a poll.

Suggestions so far:
To keep the planet theme of the Venus Vaporizer, for this there has been many suggestions:
Venus Pocket
Mars Vaporizer ( some connection between mars and venus)
Mercury Vaporizer (being not native english speaker, i don't know if it sounds something to be worried, I mean vaporizer and mercury mentioned together?
Saturn Vaporizer

Then I've gotten suggetions to follow the mythology theme that someone could see in Venus, and name it Vulcan Vaporizer, but might be bit too close to Volcano.
VAKED