A review by and Engineer
Recommendation: 2 out of 5.
I would like to answer the calling for genuine feedback on the viVape. I've never before written a posting but am compelled to now.. First, the box it came in is nice, and I'm a big fan of technology so I am happy to see vaporizers moving in that direction. The viVape went for an Apple inspired look and has a 2.25" (diagonal) touch-screen; and I give the creators a lot of credit for recognizing the need for a better looking device. However, because I expected a lot from a company that asserts "This changes Everything" but found 1) a pretty box wrapped around the same 'ol technology, and 2) new problems not found in other vaporizers, I am dismally disappointed (oh, and the refund policy is that there isn't one).
PROS
* Better looking than anything else I've seen.
1 Fairly quiet, although the internal blower is always running so when it should be silent there is still a buzzing.
2 Touch screen gives a nice impression, it's like moving to a Blueray player instead of a VCR
3 Glass accessories are durable and look relatively nice
4 The bag has a nice weight and size, and the end clip is novel
CONS
1 The "Actual Temperature" is a false reading (like all the other vapes especially the Arizer), but this one goes way overboard. I had it set for 400F, then went to the Change Temp screen and set it to 90F, and it told me that the Actual Temperature was then immediately at 90F! I don't think so - it cannot be instantly cooled from 400F to an Arizona summer's night. In reverse, I then went from 90F to 400F and again the temperature change was instant... but I could feel the air exiting from the nozzle still heating so I know it was lying. Either the creators think consumers are stupid or they released a product with a really simple software bug.
2 The blower is always running, which means that when I put down the whip between inhalations my herb is still being vaporized and therefore wasted. Even when the device is turned off the fan continues to run to cool it, all the while pushing hot air and vaporizing (wasting!) my unused herb. In the manual it is suggested to remove the bowl between breaths... not user friendly.
3 The herb bowl plugs in horizontally, meaning that the herb falls to the bottom of the bowl. Um.. planet earth has gravity at 9.8m/s^2.. duh. This means that hot air flows
over instead of
through the herb and therefore heats just the top of the herb and thus does not evenly vaporize. To compensate for this the bowl was made small so the herb packs in, forcing the air
through the herb as it should be. Therefore only a little bit of herb can go into the bowl.
4 With about 1/4 Lipton teabag worth of herb in the bowl, there was too much blockage for the little internal fan to efficiently fill up the bag. It took FOUR minutes to fill a single bag.
5 The SIZE... it is
way bigger than illustrated in the online pictures. Perhaps at the angle shown at vaporfection.com it has a slender waistband, but in actuality it is thick and bulky.. a lot bigger than illustrated.
6 I have a handful of other subtle, less important dislikes that are more about my personal preference so I won't list them.
KEY FINDINGS
From a first impression Aesthetics standpoint the viVape comes in first place above all other vaporizers.
From a Performance standpoint the viVape is bad - the temperature readout is totally erroneous; it continuously vaporizes my herb whether I want it to or not; and takes a long time to fill a bag.