Gentlemen,
I have what is at least for me an interesting insight into our new favorite toy. We've screwed up the classification of this new beast, the Species part is OK but we've put it in the wrong Genus. I guess because it takes a small load on a screen and has a battery for power we put it in with MFLB and Solo?
It belongs with Vapor Genie. The LB and Solo don't even belong together really. They are fairly close to each other in function I guess in some ways, but they're on a whole different branch of the tree than TV. I think the TV is more 'an electrically heated VG'. And while it's simple overall and expensive it's without any apparent faults in quality of construction or failure to meet reasonable design goals. It can be used to generate useful vapor over a surprisingly wide range of conditions. I think it's efficiency is right up with stem vapes like the PD and other champs like the LB. You can get great extraction with very little waste. But like VG, it's going to take some skills to get good results.....even to the point of avoiding disasters like combustion. Then again, so does driving your car in traffic and we somehow master that. And with some few of us actually changing gears without thinking about it in the old fashioned manner at the same time. Some skills are needed, that's all.
I've backed into this view through fiddling with load size. First off, at least with the fine grind I'm using (key I think in the end based on other vapes?), you have to stir the pot somehow. Otherwise, you get a 'track' up the center. I figure it shrinks back some, opening up even more passages, so the hot air flow rate increases there, bringing more production, more shrinkage and so on with ever smaller fleas in the normal back biting fashion until you have charcoal in the center and raw bud in the corners. Stir it a bit from time to time and you can vape the bud any color you'd like in a completely uniform manner. By that standard (uniform extraction), I'm not sure it can be beat. If you think of it as a wok and you're stir frying I think you'll get a mental picture of how that might work. On that theme, I'm also finding a small load (say 20 to the gram?) is working much better than full bowls. Easy enough to cook the first half of that full bowl, dump it and do the second half before changing the battery and it's much easier to deal with that way right now. Testing continues, of course, scheduling enough tests is taking time......
So that's basically my take so far, I put it forward for your consideration. Think of it like a VG with a battery and stitch (and there is a real honest to God switch in there, not some cobbled up thing......) driving a heater rather than a lighter you have to hold in just the right place to heat the 'filter'. IMO it's much easier to control that switch than the output and position of the lighter......and less chance of setting your beard on fire (if that last is an issue to you). However, the 'throttle response' isn't like the LB. More like an airplane than a car, you need to build heat up over time and it changes heat over time: There's a lot of thermal mass in play. Lose sight of that and likely to end up in a ditch somewhere. Keep it in mind until you master the skill and you can motor down the highway enjoying the ride. And quite a ride it can be. You can poke along in the slow lane with very mild hits, or recklessly scream down the road blowing choking clouds and scaring the women and horses. Just like with VG.
There's a lot more to it, of course, some minor details of technique that might interest some, but having got this much out I think it's about time to make some tea and do a bit more research. I'll have to get back to you later, for now it's off to the duty mess then back to the salt mines.......
OF
I can heartily recommend the Solo even before my TV gets here unless your PRIMARY need is ultimate portability and stealth in which case you may want to opt for a different option. As far as relative "speed to vaped" and efficiency is concerned (and the apparently very important "vapor-cloud-ability) the Solo kick ass on my MFLB (though it is waaay more stealthy) and it's actually somewhat comparable to my fave home/desk based unit, the HA 2.2 (the HA is more efficient tho and does produce tremendous clouds)...
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