I recently bought a crafty and never got to try it as after numerous burn offs i cannot get the smell of burnt plastic out of it when hot. It is really noticeable and not dissipating at all. This has really put me off using plastic altogether and led me to look for alternatives. I have always been intrigued by the cloud EVO as it appears to offer a clean pathway, amazing hits and effect as well as being efficient. Please let me know if this is not the case but after a lot of research this seems to be the only product offering this.
When the whole glass airpath and ELBs are clean, the EVO produces ultimately smooth and tasty hits.
The whole airpath except the ELB is glass so there is literally NOTHING that could offgas anything into your hit.
And the only nonglass part - the ELB - is not even getting heated that much, only when you hit it and then it can't get any hotter than your herbs.
If the heat exchanger itself was metal (which it isn't) then the metal would get much much hotter.
To be completely honest, the EVO can offgas a plastic smell from its bottom part whre the electronics are, but that is isolated from the airpath so it shouldn't be a serious problem. Stonemonkey once adressed this issue and recommended drilling few small holes in the bottom so it get ventilated, but imo advicing such a thing to a product under warranty is not ideal. It would be better if they included these holes by factory.
The cloud EVO costs a lot of money (£349 for basic package in UK, crafty is under £200) and I will need to transport it on a weekly basis (I can carefully take in original packaging in car and it is a small journey). Is this fairly safe to do so with the internal glass if I am careful and leave a spare mouthpiece / bowl at each address? Due to costing £50 to fix and having to send the unit away this concerns me.
If you keep the original packaging then transporting the EVO should be easy and safe. The original box keeps it in place and has two rubber protective caps for the internal glass bamboo. Unless that box get hulk smashed it will protect the EVO at transport. A dry mouthpiece can also fit in that box, but not a hydratube. You woul need to transport the glass separately, in another box or something.
Secondly, I am really keen on temperature read outs. I realise they are not exact, however they are a good gauge in reducing the amount of carcinogens you inhale, especially for novices trying to exercise harm reduction. Has anyone hooked a thermometer up to this thing to get some rough gauges?
I'm not sure if a thermometer would work right on glass (it could possibly read the temperature of the heater wrappend around the glass which is much hotter that anything the passing air comes in contact with).
What I'm sure about is that the temperature of the air output is very reliable and consistent.
You don't get any numbers because it's not digital, but imo the number is not that important, just tune is as you like.
The temperature on every setting will be consistent. Only raising a little bit after being on for 15 minutes as the glass gets heat soaked into temperature equlibrium. The EVO is very good at keeping up the temp ever when you hit it hard long and repeatedly.
You never wait for EVO to heat back up again after a huge hit.
Lastly, I cannot really warrant spending extra on hydratubes for my first purchase, although I may be tempted to buy them later, even though I hear water reduces the potency. Will using the basic tube with flowers be OK for my needs and not too harsh? I have a fairly low tolerance of late so big hits are not too important.
I've got an EVO with a hydratube and then bought a classic dry tube to try it.
And from the experience I say don't get an EVO without a hydratube unless you already have some compatible glass bong.
The EVO is just too powerful for dry hitting imo. It is possible, you can get a lot of small hits when you cut off the hit when it start getting hot on your lips. But's not that comfortable and it's completely against the nature of the EVO. It's meant to hit hard. Being able to start milking up any piece and keep going at that pace until the last bit of thc is extracted is one of EVOs greatest powers. You can't do that with a dry mouthpiece as it just can't cool down that much vapor. If you are not for big hits, then maybe the EVO could be an overkill for you.
They also sell an EVO with silicone hose attachment, I think that would be a better low-budget option than a dry glass tube. The silicone hose is much better at cooling down the vapor.