I've had a very fun weekend with my Apollo. This vape is basically one that you get up to temperature, start vaping and then decide where you want to stay with your temps......and then also with the available boost that can quickly take you to a higher vaping temperature - which you could also stay at by just increasing the standby power level upwards after the boost. So you could temperature step if you like......or you could tune it for maximum extraction speed and "cloudage" if that is your preference
The taste also really comes through with this vaporizer.......even through water.....which will be helpful in deciding when to quit vaping because if you push a load for too long, or extract almost everything from your herb, turn it off and try to vape a dried extracted load then you might push the temp too high for a previously vaped load and then combust - which is what happened the only time that this happened to me.
There are only three things that I think could be improved:
(1) Design of the herb chamber. It doesn't have to be insert-able in both directions - because I believe that would mean that you would need the same short distance to the seating rim on either side of the chamber for that to work - whereas right now it is only on the side that you seat on the halogen bulb mount.
But if there was also a shelf in the middle of the chamber then you could configure the chamber for a half load size and just have multiple herb chambers for different usage occasions because it is easiest to use this vape to extract everything possible in one session if you are vaping at high temperatures.
If you are by yourself, and do this with a full bowl, then you are going to be feeling very medicated when you are done. So when you want to top up your medicated state you have to pack a half bowl......which does work alright.....but I think that the vaporizer does perform a little better when the load is confined and slightly tamped (although not too tight) which forces the hot air through the herb at a little slower rate and I think helps with better extraction.
If you are a temperature stepper and can discipline yourself to only remove the bottom temperature extracts then it would be alright to use on multiple occasions - but greater familiarity with the device would be required. Not that it is difficult - but it is kind of a manual/taste feedback loop that will keep you vaping at the temperature spectrum that you enjoy and after a while you will figure out what kind of warmup, maintenance temperature and boost might be required to do that. If you want to cool down the unit you just lower the power level to 1-3 and then keep pulling on it until the vapor level drops and you are once again in the more green tasting temperatures.
(2) The battery chamber knob really needs to be higher in profile and easier to grip. I think that this would be a difficult vaporizer for someone with arthritis to change out the batteries. Additional threading might be helpful but I think that if the battery knob were to be heightened in profile and also include cog-like protrusions on the edges (think like a gear cog with rounded teeth) then it would be a hell of a lot easier to switch out batteries. I understand why the current knob was chosen.....it really is a gorgeous looking design and the knob mirrors the mouthpiece pretty much exactly.
But if the knob were to be the exact height of the short mouthpiece when inserted and a chamber is loaded then I think that this exact height (along with cog-like edges) would provide for a better and easier grip on the battery housing knob for much easier battery changes. The thread depth could stay the same so that older Apollo's could be retrofitted with a new knob.
(3) The unit put out a lot of heat and gets very hot when it's up to temperature. I'm not sure if the answer would be to lengthen the back plates depth and add engraved channels to the back piece of aluminum - sort of like pseudo-fins that would provide more surface area cooling? Or, perhaps the high temperature and limited cooling surface on the bottom is preferable for performance?
Perhaps with a hotter bulb (35w/50w) the back air hole might need to remain? Perhaps a redesigned thicker back plate with more surface area and a sliding cover for the rear air hole might be the most versatile, and work with all bulb wattage?
Other than that then perhaps a short silicone sleeve accessory that the Apollo could sleeve the base into (but short enough that is doesn't block the touchpad controls - or have a cutout provided for this area) and perhaps as part of that sleeve - a portion of silicone that continues up the side edge of the vape to cover most of the chamber bowl area.
When I have a chance to pick up some silicone tubing, I am going to see if the 3/4" OD-1/2" ID tubing - when cut to a length that would reach up to the chamber cutout and then sliced lengthwise down the center - will sleeve around the outer edge of the Apollo and hold onto the edge by way of the natural compression of the silicone wanting to return to a round state and gripping onto the side of the wood. I am going to try to find the right diameter of tubing to make this work and if it works then I am thinking that the tubing circumference (Pi X D right?) will wrap around just enough to protect your hands from contacting the chamber but still not completely cover the cutout and thus leave a passage for airflow while vaping.
As to whether a hotter bulb might be useful, or drain batteries too quickly? I think that the one benefit would be the much faster heat up time ~ maybe 20-40 seconds?
But then you would definitely have to use the lower temperature 5% profile because the 10 percent increments from 10-100% are going to be too wide in related temperature increments and the upper end of the power level will combust your herb too easily if you hit the boost for too long.
However, I am sure that this could all be sorted out by just reducing the boost defaults, after all 50% power to a 50W bulb is probably going to be similar to 100/115 % with the original bulb.
I guess the trade off in battery life would need to be confirmed ......and it actually may be more efficient if you get up to temp quickly and then throttle back to regular vaping temperatures - which with a higher powered bulb would just mean running that bulb at a lower fraction of its rated power.
These are just my usage observations and some ideas for improvement but don't let me dissuade anyone from thinking that any of this is a real criticism. As it stands right now this is hands down my favourite vaporizer, even if the battery knob can be a pain to screw in sometimes - especially when well vaped
Battery Usage
I think that you are going to want 3 sets of batteries if you are vaping with friends in a social situation and at least two sets for individual usage...... so that you always have a backup while the other set is on charge.
I would recommend a 10A continuous drain battery (minimum) and a higher drain battery is certainly not going to hurt either..... but maybe a little shorter in usage life but perhaps a little better performing through that usage lifespan? I think that the Sanyo/Panasonic NCR18650GA's, LG 18650 HG2, Samsung INR 1865030Q, and Sony VTC5's would all be great batteries for this vaporizer.
The eFest and Keeppower are also safe batteries that will do the trick and perform well but I prefer the batteries of the big three, LG, Samsung and Sony since almost all other batteries are re-wraps of these battery manufacturers except with a slightly lower performance binning. I think from the tests I've seen that the eFest's are truly a 10A battery (I've seen tests calling them a true 7A cell) and I think that is why the wrapping has also changed from the previously advertised 20A on my older eFest cells that I use for flashlights (exactly the same capacity 3100mAh as the original Apollo batteries - but only stating 20A on wrapper) to a rating of 10A/20A on the new wrapper meaning that it is designed for 10A continuous current drain with a 20A pulse current drain. This will be meaningless for the current 2nd/3rd gen 20w bulb (not sure which gen it is
since I've seen both numbers....lol).
But for any higher powered bulb such as a 35w or 50w bulb you will probably need the LG HG2's, Sony VTC4 or VTC5's or maybe even the LG HB4 or HB6.......however I am not sure sure exaxctly what would be the best choices for sure because I don't know what kind of current the higher powered bulbs might need; as both in a constant drain usage, or if there are any power pulses associated with halogen bulbs..... since I'm not too familiar with the operating characteristics of halogen bulbs.
My posting is continued below...... as I am not allowed to post that many characters at once 
I've broken FC's posting limit for the first time......I knew that it would happen some day 
