I was able to try the viVape at the Cannabis Cup here in Amsterdam (I was only there for the first 3 days, that was before the raid) and must say that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the vapour and the ease of use.
This thing heats up fast, fills up balloons in less than a minute and the LCD control panel is pretty neat (more solid than I would've thought) and its controls are intuitive. The lady I talked to assured me that defects/damage on the LCD screen would be covered on the warranty with a fast replacement/repair service I guess we can only judge their customer service when units are actually being sent out..
Pros:
- clean, pure taste
- user adjustable auto-off timer
- fast heat up times
Cons:
- even when the unit is set to whip mode, hot air or vapour still seems to pour through the whip (resulting in a waste of herb when not in use?)
- LCD screen is likely to be more prone to breakage than a regular 'knob' or button. And what about resin sticking onto it?
Build quality seemed quite good and the unit is not extremely heavy. It comes in a protective case with several accessories/extra parts.
Vapour thickness is pretty good and the taste (with a nug of SSH that I had tasted before) was excellent.
I must admit that I was somewhat sceptical beforehand because of the way they market their products, but overall I think this vape will prove good competition for the Volcano and at a later time - perhaps if the price drops somewhat - for the Extreme Q. Note that this is merely a writedown of a first impression, I look forward to taking a more thorough look at it when it is finally ready to ship.
I've shot a video of the vivape in action which I'm hoping to upload in the coming days.
I also mentioned to the people at the booth that it would be a good move for Vaporfection to participate on these forums. Not sure if it's legal difficulties that are holding them back (as I understand this is the case with at least one other major manufacturer).