OK. Vapir NO2 arrived today, FedEx Saturday delivery.
First of all, let me say that I have no extensive experience with vapes other than 3 iolites that I have. There's a reason I have three iolites, as it's a flakey product. Great concept but apparently difficult to execute 100% of the time. It's a love / hate thing. I use the iolite because I don't see petter options for portability and stealth. If there was a better option, i would never use an iolite again. I am NOT a fan of the Butane. It is a very bad gas, and although the combustion of Butane creates water vapor, I'm not sure we're actually combusting Butane here. We are blowing Butane over a hot platinum-plated surface. I am not cool with this, but I am accomodating. I was more of a fan before living with the iolites for almost two years. Just in case anyone concludes I have a separate agenda.
OK back to the NO2. Opening the box I could easily smell the plastic that everyone else is describing. I don't recall this smell opening any of the iolites, but then again, I wasn't looking back then. This is a distinctly different plastic than the iolite. This lack of stealth is worstened by the long clear plastic tube and mouthpiece.
I would not say this thing feels more substantial or quality than the iolite. Both are plastic... However this thing is just gigantic next to an iolite. I would give it a 5 for stealth. Compared to the iolite, which is a 9 in my book.
I followed the directions and placed the clear plastic stem in warm water for a while. I assume this softens it so ou can assemble and squeeze the tube in the clear mouthpiece (tip) and onto the black top. I played around with the screens and these are just about as hokey as I've ever seen in my 35 years of combustion. The olite screens, are a system that I've admired. So I'm already not liking the screens. I did the little bottom screen adjustment that pulls the screen off the heating element slightly.
The unit is silent during my 60 burn-in at 400F. I have to restart every 20 minutes as this is designed to shut off after 20 A reasonable safety feature. I am blowing into the unit to push out burn-in vapors during the 60 minutes. The expelled air stinks of off-gassig. Rest asured people, despite what was originally posted from the mfg., all plastic of-gasses. I'm getting woried about the smell and after 30 minutes, I blow air into te unit, then take a empty small hit (no organic in the NO2 yet). Tastes AWFUL.
I wait 60 minutes, and dial back the temp to 374F. I believe iolite had it right when they targeted that temp. Hotter releases stuff that I don' want, but that's another thread. At an rate the opportunity to dial in the temp is fabulous. I load maybe 1/2 the available volume and I take a total of three hits. Instant white vape is blown out. So for those that wondered if it produced it,.. it does very nicely. It heats up fast as hell and hits well. So the NO2 gets a very solid score for that, and it beats the iolite hands down. I suspect that it would work well for fast single hits.
HOWEVER... This thing tastes so bad I stopped after three hits. I will continue to Burn the unit in for a while longer, but so far this is a very, very big turn off. It tastes like plastic and the smell (perhaps not surprisingly) reminds me of an "electronic" item. Like the back of a new stereo receiver or TV.
For maybe 15 minutes I swore I could re-taste the plasic by clearing my throat. I am not exaggerating, unfortunately. I will try NO2 again in a few hours, but I am a bit gun-shy.
So overall, my impressions are mixed. Screens suck, it's larger than I want, and more importantly, this Chinese-made item tastes really bad and now I'm concerned. Upside is that battery is way better than butane and it's really fast. If the taste subsides, I would easily be happy.
I'm re-loading my iolite. Putting up with Butane for a while longer.