Hey Engineer,
I've been a long-time forum lurker but your post inspired me to officially join! Thanks for posting that review by the way, I know a lot of people have been curious about the viVape. Your post actually pushed me to contact Vaporfection, I hope you don't mind that I conveyed your concerns!
>>> Dear vaporexo, you're response appears transparent and canned. It is not my style to get into a pissing contest, but alas after a few puffs from the viVape I am inspired.
Here's what they said:
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.
Response: The Temperature reading has been calibrated to show the actual temperature at the end of the Heating Chamber where the Blue light indicates it has reached the desired temperature. The heating element and the thermal senors are so responsive the temperature is adjusted very quickly ie. instantaneously to seconds depending on the temperature variation selected. It takes 33 seconds for the digital read out on the Set Temp screen to scroll from 400F down to 90F, because there is a continuous ambient/cool air flow, which allows for quicker actual adjustment results. That said the software and the unit were not intended to provide for instantaneous monitoring of this type of unnatural operation, most desired temperature adjustments are 30-50F degree range not the 310F range, however the temperature readout digits should be BLUE until the selected temperature is actually reached, not GREEN, we will look into and correct this software adjustment.
>>> To be sure, I hooked up my fast-response thermocouple (http://www.ni.com/usb-thermocouple/) and measured the airflow temperature versus reported "actual temperature." The thermal sensor was inserted through 12" of tube, from the exit, such that the tip of the sensor was at the backside of the screen where the herb sits. The true temperature varies as much as 54F - that is a lot - and is not as reported on the display. Figures don't lie, but liars figure.
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.
Response: You are correct the manual does recommend removing the herbal container when not inhaling. In the Wand mode there is a slight inhalation assist making for easy and very effective inhalations, which most of our owners have said they prefer to full manual inhalation, especially for medical applications. So removing the herbal container to enjoy that benefit and user friendly is an individual interpretation.
>>> Who are these "most of our owners?" This is a new product! Going so far as to say that it actually assists with inhalation in a medical application is absurd, the airflow is not sufficient to assist in expanding a lung... it is just enough to waste the herb.
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.
Response: When the ground herb is vacuumed into the herbal chamber as recommended in the manual, we find it stays quite evenly presented to the heat and the fact that the design of our heating element is suspended in the center of the heating chamber results in an evenly heated air flow through the chamber into the herb so we find there are no hot spots or unevenly heated/vaporized herbs. Also, most of our customers prefer the horizontal "stealthier design" verse an upright tower that allows the hose to kink easier.
>>> Boy, for a nice guy who relayed my issues to the manufacturer, you sure did take precise notes. It almost sounds like you ... are ... the ... manu...fac..tur..er. I will concede that that the horizontal design is more appealing than the vertical design, but the rest of this response is not credible.
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.
Response: You may have a defective herbal chamber, where the hole supporting the screen is smaller than the opening on the hose end, we had some of those and we are replacing those at no charge, just let us know your serial # and we'll have it out immediately. It usually takes around 60-90 seconds to fill a bag with a clean screen and a normal amount of herbs while the unit is in the Bag fill mode.
>>> OK
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.
Response: We purposely put the actual size dimensions on the viVape product page so that there can be no misunderstanding, because on the home page the units do appear quite large.
>>> then why didn't you purposely also SHOW the actual size?
6 I have a handful of other subtle, less important dislikes that are more about my personal preference so I won't list them.
Response: We'd actually like to hear them so we can determine if you received a defective unit, and address improvements on future Vaporfection products.
Let me know your guys' feedback, thinking about picking one of these up but want to see if maybe your experience is isolated.
>>> Yeah, I'm sure you are.
A review by and Engineer 
that just blows my mind -- and i thought 72 watts (max) for my cube was a lot.
