Labeled pods with brand and strain, really handy feature if you have multiple pods. Useful if you have a few pods in your pocket, you can easily tell which is the CBD, the Indica, and the Sativa.
Full e-nail style temperature control via the app for dialing in any type of hit. I really like this feature a lot! You can really taste different notes in the concentrate depending on what you tune in to. It's a lot more control than the standard 3 voltages you get with stick batteries. I generally run Ccells on a small box mod to take advantage of .1w adjustability for more control, but the power will be constantly ramping in a variable wattage/voltage based heater like that, whereas the Era does appear to actually hold temp, and not really overshoot like say, hitting a cart at 6 watts for 15 seconds on a mod.
I consistently get clogging problems with Ccells, I've only had one clog ever from an Era pod. I feel this is because the Era wick is fully bathed in oil, whereas with Ccells, the oil must flow into the separate vaporization chamber. I personally believe is what causes air bubbles in those tanks due to oil being pulled in while inhaling, while simultaneously wanting to run away from heat via capillary effect.
I do like how easy it is to sample flavors with the pod system compared to the threaded 510 on the Ccell, however, I have to note though that in my experience, a decent portion of Era pods fit a bit loosely and need a piece of Scotch tape added to one side of the pod to fit snugly in my Era device. For the price that shouldn't happen; I believe the Hanu uses magnets to improve on that. Good idea.
I really love how the Era has battery life indication, via the 4 leafs on the front, or the full percentage in the app. Too many pen batteries leave this feature out. It really sucks not knowing if your pen is gonna last through the night.
I personally prefer the wider mouthpiece of the Era pod over the slim Ccell mouthpiece, for whatever reason I find I tend to do throat/mouth pulls with the Ccell, whereas the Era is more direct-to-lung which I prefer. I think the airflow of Era pods is more consistent too. It's a little bit more restrictive than some Ccells, but the airflow is really consistent, not sure if that makes sense, but it reminds me of hitting a carb capped rig.
The Era is extremely lightweight and compact, I know these 510 pens are all pretty small, but the Pax is especially so; and a loaded Era with a few extra pods takes up very little pocket space or weight. Not a huge benefit but one I do like.
There is cotton in the Era, but it's a post filter, not a pre filter/wicking element like in Ccells. If you've ever torn down a Ccell this cotton does have a tendency to char/burn so it's nice to not have that in the vapor path.
Honestly the Era is probably my favorite portable vaporizer yet, but it's true that a lot of the pods are overpriced. We have an absolutely horrible policy in CA on refill syringes, high quality clean tested ones - they're pretty much non existent here, and go for pennies in other rec. states. If I could get those I would just re-fill them as I do prefer the platform.
I'm curious to hear more about the Hanu, but I haven't heard anything or seen anything on any store menus yet. There is more than a few pod based systems on the market, so I'm curious to see how they will stand out. I kind of feel like the VXL pedigree leading up to the Hanu won't really be understood by many folks besides us FC'ers, so not sure if that will really help build market share or not.
I've said this before but I feel like the best shot at truly gaining market share at this point is to do exclusive partnerships with highly regarded processors to only use the Hanu. Most processors doing Era pods offer the same oil in a Ccell, and the majority of people are gonna go for the more affordable option when its the same exact concentrate. I believe that's why the Era platform is not more popular. We're starting to really step up the cartridge quality in CA, so much that some really taste as good as a proper enail dab - would be nice to have the temp control with those great extracts!
