Vaporizer (V tower) upgrade

[Jinjerale]

Hi,

Two-three years ago, I decided to quit (all) smoking and invest in a vaporizer. Having never previously used one, I wanted to start off with a unit that wouldn't break the bank, yet came highly recommended and with a good warranty. After much research, I settled on the Arizer V-tower, which I picked up for about CAD$150, and have happily been combustion-free ever since. While I've never had a single technical issue with it, despite daily usage, I do find that it has a few major design flaws (elbow adapter very difficult to clean, material falling into space around bowl, dome screen falling into bowl and causing inhalation of material, flat screen flipping vertically while stirring and causing material to fall onto heating element, etc.) that are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, prompting me to finally consider an upgrade.

Since my vaporizing experiment has proven to be a success, I'm prepared to increase my budget on this round although, being a poor student, could never justify splurging on, say, a Volcano (though I wouldn't necessarily overlook a Plenty or Crafty) and would (obviously) prefer to spend as little money as possible. Financial constraints aside, I'm looking for an efficient, well-made, easy to clean, and reliable unit, convection heating, a plastic-free vapor path, and high-quality vapor production. Cloud size, portability, and group-use capabilities are, at best, irrelevant to me and deal breakers when the qualities listed above are sacrificed in their favor. Having never used any other vaporizer, I would also consider features like balloon or liquid, oil and wax compatibility to be non-essential, unless a case can be made for their significant improvement of the experience. Being quite satisfied (overall) with my Arizer, I'd be interested in knowing how their other units (aside from the Extreme Q, which seems to have a very similar design) hold up against the V-tower and how they compare to vaporizers made by other companies. Any advice on the subject would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Grim Chiclets]

Haha as I'm sure you're probably aware at this point, the [Arizer] Solo and Air threads are chock full of love!
I actually prefer my Solo to most vaps I've tried; though for vapor quality- and efficiency with great flavor- I'd say take a gander at the Silver Surfer, or Da Buddha. The SSV is probably my favorite desktop unit thus far.
I've also had pretty great experiences with the Crafty, though I find the vapor to be hot and the flavor goes a bit quick for my taste. Also there seem to be more issues with the Crafty than the Mighty for S&B

 

[kellya86]

@Jinjerale , I think this is a no brainer. You have been happy(ish) with your v tower, why not upgrade to the latest model arizer extreme q, then purchase a @DDave kit. I know you don't want to look into the eq, but I think you should. It's so versitile and affordable. And powerfull, I love my modded eq so much, I just bought another one as a back up. When I could have purchased something different.
The eq can also vape concentrate with some cotton to hold it. And the new bag filling method is good.
I think you should seriously look into an eq. With the mod it eliminates all the issues you were having with flipped screens etc.. please look I to it.

 

[TomC1315]

+1 0n the V Tower upgrade ... I'm thinking its basically the same unit as the Arizer ExQ, without the balloon gear.

I added the Original DDave Adapter and Arizer's new All-Glass Mini Whip and am quite happy with its performance.

The DDave Adapter keeps the screen in place completely ... it never moves and eliminates the problem of material ending up inside the vape. It also helps in providing almost complete extraction with the small (.07g to 1.5g) amounts I use.

The All-Glass Mini Whip works great as well, eliminating the tight, 90degree angle that the vapor has to travel through ... Ideally though, one needs something to prop up the bag during the filling procedure (I use the lamp shade).

 

[Derrrpp]

I would suggest looking into the Arizer Solo. I own one and absolutely love it.

It ticks every one of your boxes, with the exception of convection heating. The Solo uses conduction to heat the load. But IMO this shouldn't be a deal breaker. It's not as if one method of heat transfer is inherently better than the other...

The Solo shines when it comes to flavor, ease of use, and efficiency. It's built like a tank and has an all glass vapor path. Battery life is excellent.

Oh, and the Solo is fairly cheap too. You can get one for less than $160 CAD (~$115 USD) from PlanetVape.

Check out the Solo thread and if you have any questions, ask away! We're generally a pretty friendly bunch.

 

[mikeben]

I'll give you my current top three in order of what might suit you. For all the reasons you mention, I became an unhappy Arizer Extreme owner after using it on and off several years.

Get an Underdog log vape if you want a low dose, easy to use, inexpensive desktop. No cleaning of vape itself, just the stems and it is very easy to do. Flavor is about twice as good, and it's again just so easy to maintain. You can get a good one for well under $200 right now and the accessories for temp control are very inexpensive. Fantastic and beautiful.

An VapeXale Cloud EVO is superb if your willing to invest a bit more money and want the very best out of herbs, hash, and oil. Also easy to use, but it is all glass so more careful handling is needed and of course the bubbler or Hyrdatube that goes on top requires cleaning every few days, but next to a Tower it's simplicity itself. The EVO itself only needs very infrequent cleaning and it's not hard at all. They are selling them with a tube for about $350-375 right now. That's half of the old price, and this is top of the line medicinal quality vapor.

Last, if you consider a portable, the Haze V3 is versatile, tasty, and way easier to maintain than a Arizer Tower. Cleaning takes 2-3 min tops, even with oil. It woke me up to what vapor should taste like in 2015 and led me to become a vape fanatic. $250 on average but sometimes you can find it a little lower with holiday sales.

 

[Jinjerale]

I would suggest looking into the Arizer Solo. I own one and absolutely love it.

It ticks every one of your boxes, with the exception of convection heating. The Solo uses conduction to heat the load. But IMO this shouldn't be a deal breaker. It's not as if one method of heat transfer is inherently better than the other...

The Solo shines when it comes to flavor, ease of use, and efficiency. It's built like a tank and has an all glass vapor path. Battery life is excellent.

Oh, and the Solo is fairly cheap too. You can get one for less than $160 CAD (~$115 USD) from PlanetVape.

Check out the Solo thread and if you have any questions, ask away! We're generally a pretty friendly bunch.

Thanks for the info! The Solo was (and remains!) a serious contender for me, despite the abundance of conflicting viewpoints regarding its heating method (I was under the impression that it was more of a hybrid than a conduction vaporizer). Conduction isn't a deal breaker per se but, from my understanding, materials are heated more uniformly with convection and cannabinoids aren't burning off in the same way when the unit isn't in use. I think I simply included that stipulation in reference to models like the Pax, which are more expensive than the Arizers. I got the sense that the Pax was a great vaporizer for anyone concerned with discretion but, not counting myself among them, I have no interest in the size-efficiency tradeoff. Since I'm still VERY new to all of this, please feel free to correct me if I've been in any way misinformed!

I'll give you my current top three in order of what might suit you. For all the reasons you mention, I became an unhappy Arizer Extreme owner after using it on and off several years.

Get an Underdog log vape if you want a low dose, easy to use, inexpensive desktop. No cleaning of vape itself, just the stems and it is very easy to do. Flavor is about twice as good, and it's again just so easy to maintain. You can get a good one for well under $200 right now and the accessories for temp control are very inexpensive. Fantastic and beautiful.

An VapeXale Cloud EVO is superb if your willing to invest a bit more money and want the very best out of herbs, hash, and oil. Also easy to use, but it is all glass so more careful handling is needed and of course the bubbler or Hyrdatube that goes on top requires cleaning every few days, but next to a Tower it's simplicity itself. The EVO itself only needs very infrequent cleaning and it's not hard at all. They are selling them with a tube for about $350-375 right now. That's half of the old price, and this is top of the line medicinal quality vapor.

Last, if you consider a portable, the Haze V3 is versatile, tasty, and way easier to maintain than a Arizer Tower. Cleaning takes 2-3 min tops, even with oil. It woke me up to what vapor should taste like in 2015 and led me to become a vape fanatic. $250 on average but sometimes you can find it a little lower with holiday sales.

I'm so relieved to hear you say that! I have yet to read a single review that mentions any of the issues I've been having and was beginning to think that I simply wasn't using it properly. I'll definitely be taking a closer look at your recommendations. Thanks!

 

[kellya86]

Don't start the solo conduction convection thing off, that seems to never end once started.
I feel you may be dissapointed with a solo after using the v tower. I was....
But you may not be.

This is the thing with vapes. It's an expensive adventure to try new models. If only there was a place to go and try before you buy.

 

[Jinjerale]

@Jinjerale , I think this is a no brainer. You have been happy(ish) with your v tower, why not upgrade to the latest model arizer extreme q, then purchase a @DDave kit. I know you don't want to look into the eq, but I think you should. It's so versitile and affordable. And powerfull, I love my modded eq so much, I just bought another one as a back up. When I could have purchased something different.
The eq can also vape concentrate with some cotton to hold it. And the new bag filling method is good.
I think you should seriously look into an eq. With the mod it eliminates all the issues you were having with flipped screens etc.. please look I to it.

I guess I'm a bit apprehensive about spending what little money I have on something identical to what I already own, save for the fan and remote, when my old one still works well and I can be trying something completely different. Since you aren't alone in recommending this, however, I will be taking it into consideration. I just wish I could get my hands on one of those kits before having to buy it, now that I have a better idea of what I want (and don't!) from a vaporizer, so as to avoid any more nasty surprises. I'd also be interested in hearing how the EQ, with modifications, compares to other units in that price range.

Don't start the solo conduction convection thing off, that seems to never end once started.
I feel you may be dissapointed with a solo after using the v tower. I was....
But you may not be.

This is the thing with vapes. It's an expensive adventure to try new models. If only there was a place to go and try before you buy.

Tell me about it! I really don't know what I'd be doing if I didn't have access to all these reviews and discussions, on top of the devices themselves! I'm so grateful to everyone who's taken the time to respond!

Mind if I ask why the Solo was such a disappointment? While I do find my V-tower to be rather imperfect, I'm definitely not interested in any vapor quality downgrades! What about the Air? Have you tried it and, if so, did you find that it, too, was a letdown? They both come with such high praise that I'd really love to hear more about their shortcomings, before ultimately having to decide. ...especially when the feedback is coming from someone who's familiar with the V-tower!

Mod note: posts merged

 

[kellya86]

First off all, I think you may annoy the mods if you keep making double posts. Just thought I'd let you know before you get a red message.

I did months of research before purchasing my first eq. Out off all the vapes it has the least issues. Reading the threads of other vapes soon revealed alot of issues with them, including the pricier vapes.

I wanted exact temp setting, whip and bags, and a few other small deciding factors like using the common gg joint. For me, I find the eq is unbeatable for its price. Not sure where you are, but I can get an eq for 120 British pound. That teamed with the @DDave kit, really boosts the performance of the eq.

I think a cloud evo may be my next vape, but it's pricey, and doesn't have exact temp setting.

The solo is a extremely good vape for a portable. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying it's shit. But it won't get me to the same level as 1 hit single extraction on my eq. Even if I vape a solo lots. It will never get me to the same place as my eq.

But this may be a personal thing maybe others find the solo more powerfull than the eq, I don't know....

 

[Jinjerale]

Thanks for the heads up (and apologies to anyone I've been annoying)! Vaporizers aren't the only things I'm unfamiliar with...

 

[mikeben]

I think the Solo and Air would be better vapes than the Extreme, but I avoided them because I already tried their desktop and it didn't suit me. I knew that sticking with the same brand wouldn't work for me, that doesn't mean the Arizer brand doesn't have many real happy users. We all have different tastes, yours just might be more like mine.

 

[Grim Chiclets]

maybe others find the solo more powerfull than the eq, I don't know....

That's me
I actually had a friends EQ over here for around a month. I DDave-ified it, and ended up going for balloons most of the time I used it- as the whip mode never really impressed me much.
Honestly I just don't think the 'do-it-all'/'jack of all trades' vapes are for me.
Also it may have been because I hated elbow packs (and used the f-f adapter as the bowl almost 100% of the time), but I find the EQ to be almost up there with the Plenty in the herb-hog department..

I've been rocking an E-Nano and Solo interchangeably for almost 6 months now, though I've got my eye on the Elo

 

[kellya86]

Thanks for the heads up (and apologies to anyone I've been annoying)! Vaporizers aren't the only things I'm unfamiliar with...

No worries, you'll be told when you become annoying...

What is your actual budget here.?

Are you happy to stay stationary with a desktop or are you looking to go walk about with a portable?

 

[Jinjerale]

No worries, you'll be told when you become annoying...

What is your actual budget here.?

Are you happy to stay stationary with a desktop or are you looking to go walk about with a portable?

I live in Montreal and the Canadian dollar being what it is at the moment... I can get an Air for about £100 here (and a Solo for much less) which, in light of my positive experience with Arizer product build, is the main reason I keep coming back to them. As previously mentioned, I'd really like to spend as little as possible but could probably manage something in the $400 price range, provided there was a pronounced improvement in unit and vapor quality over what I have now. Having nothing to compare it to, I'm fairly happy with my V-tower and am simply looking for something with a similar price/performance ratio that, at the very least, fixes the issues I have with my Arizer and doesn't present any major new ones, at least until I can afford to invest in something more high-end.

I'm only interested in portable vaporizers who's build quality and vapor production rival those of the V-tower for their price (hence my keen interest in hearing both sides of the portable Arizer debates). I sense that my choices may be less limited with stationaries...

 

[kellya86]

If that's your budget then I would buy the cloud evo, if you have 30 dollar spare, buy the 18mm @DDave kit for the vtower to cure the problems you have experienced.

 

[DDave]

DDave-ified

A new term! I LIKE IT!

PM Sent.

 

[kellya86]

@Jinjerale , after thinking some more, maybe you should buy the @DDave kit first. Spend a week with it. Then reevaluate if you even need to upgrade anymore.

You will probably be happy enough with your modded tower. As for bags, I wouldnt feel too hard done by not having a fan. I find bags wastefull, stale and inefficient in my experience. Never use them.

 

[Jinjerale]

@Jinjerale , after thinking some more, maybe you should buy the @DDave kit first. Spend a week with it. Then reevaluate if you even need to upgrade anymore.

You will probably be happy enough with your modded tower. As for bags, I wouldnt feel too hard done by not having a fan. I find bags wastefull, stale and inefficient in my experience. Never use them.

Well, the kit certainly fits my budget... It's an option I never even knew existed, let alone had considered and, with all the people recommending it, will definitely be giving it some serious thought. Thanks!

 

[kellya86]

You may as well go for the full kit, it's nice to have so many options available, it will really give your old tower a new lease of life.

The 14mm is good for an economic single extraction from a tiny amount of herb.
The 18mm is good for the greedy boy like me.
And you have tall and short adapters and different ways of loading the herb, many options.
And then caus you have a wand, you can put cotton in it and collect oils. I suppose you could do this in an elbow too.
I love watching the vapour streaming up the wand, like a fast flowing upside down river of sweet, tasty, vapour...mmmmm im going to vape.

 

[Jinjerale]

You may as well go for the full kit, it's nice to have so many options available, it will really give your old tower a new lease of life.

The 14mm is good for an economic single extraction from a tiny amount of herb.
The 18mm is good for the greedy boy like me.
And you have tall and short adapters and different ways of loading the herb, many options.
And then caus you have a wand, you can put cotton in it and collect oils. I suppose you could do this in an elbow too.
I love watching the vapour streaming up the wand, like a fast flowing upside down river of sweet, tasty, vapour...mmmmm im going to vape.

Haha take a big hit for me!

 

[nondarb]

Thanks for the info! The Solo was (and remains!) a serious contender for me, despite the abundance of conflicting viewpoints regarding its heating method (I was under the impression that it was more of a hybrid than a conduction vaporizer). Conduction isn't a deal breaker per se but, from my understanding, materials are heated more uniformly with convection and cannabinoids aren't burning off in the same way when the unit isn't in use. I think I simply included that stipulation in reference to models like the Pax, which are more expensive than the Arizers. I got the sense that the Pax was a great vaporizer for anyone concerned with discretion but, not counting myself among them, I have no interest in the size-efficiency tradeoff. Since I'm still VERY new to all of this, please feel free to correct me if I've been in any way misinformed!

Its conduction, of course there's hot air in the there but its mostly (by far) conduction. There's ways to fiddle with it (dome screens raised off bottom of bowl to reduce conduction, taking the solo off and on the stem between hits ect) and increase convection but not enough for me to consider it a serious hybrid. Regardless that said the solo is a sweet little unit. Great for low temp flavor chasing or cranking up to 7 and throwing it on a piece!

It's not the heaviest hitting vape out there but its very versatile and efficient. For desktops I'd consider a logvape or 7th floor product (I fancy lsv!), but then again I prefer vaping through glass with no whips or bags, so I may be overlooking some things you may enjoy. I've recently ventured into butane vape territory and LOVE it, most are pretty cheap and small.

Oh yeah, the arizer air is pretty much a mini solo with interchangeable batteries, I don't own one so I can say its truly just as good but it's certainly more portable if you're into/need that.

Edit: Get a ddave mod for your vtower! I haven't used it but have heard nothing but great reviews for all of his mods. I'm not with everyone saying get an EQ, I love arizer but am not a fan of all the plastic on their desktops and can't help but feel you have most of an EQ (save the bag function) in your fully functional V tower.

 

[Stevenski]

I second the calls for getting a DDave kit for your Vtower. He also has a kit that suits the 7th floor range of vapes if you decide on one of those. For under your budget you could have a DDave modded Vtower a new modded DBV/SSV/LSV & an Air/Solo portable. Being in North America with $400 to send on a vape the world is your oyster really. I would be modding the Vtower & getting an Evo myself.

I Love my Air & love my EQ but the EQ is a much, much heaver hitter. I can do single rip extractions of .15 in the EQ. It would be at least 4-6 full rips in the Air by comparison with both through a bubbler.

 

[Dank Sinatra]

If you happen to have any 14 mm glass already I would consider the Lotus (a lighter-powered vape). Haven't tried the V Tower but I much prefer the Lotus to my Arizer Air. Not to mention you can get everything you need for ~$100 (assuming you have a bong/bubbler already).

 

[nondarb]

I second the calls for getting a DDave kit for your Vtower. He also has a kit that suits the 7th floor range of vapes if you decide on one of those. For under your budget you could have a DDave modded Vtower a new modded DBV/SSV/LSV & an Air/Solo portable. Being in North America with $400 to send on a vape the world is your oyster really. I would be modding the Vtower & getting an Evo myself.

I Love my Air & love my EQ but the EQ is a much, much heaver hitter. I can do single rip extractions of .15 in the EQ. It would be at least 4-6 full rips in the Air by comparison with both through a bubbler.

Heavier hitter how? I've used both and whip vs whip didn't notice much if any difference?? I'm not into bags, at all so that's a moot point to me.

I wasn't hating on arizer or the eq necessarily, but if you aren't into bags (or fan assist) the eq offers very little over the vtower in my experience. There's both significantly better whip vapes and better bag vapes out there, granted the eq is an attractive budget jack of trades type model.

I see some hate on the air/solo, I love them. They aren't the heaviest hitters but they are great flavor chasers and if used properly will thoroughly milk a pretty goodsized piece (check threads/yt for proof neighsayers!). Let alone they are super efficient in their use of herb, some people may knock that as "slower extraction" but the ability to take it low and slow and savor the taste over numerous hits or jack it up to 7 and milk a small bong/bubbler is pretty sweet and kill a .1 load in 2-3 rips isn't too shabby either!

I've recently developed a hardon for flame powered vapes and I can certainly appreciate the quick high powered bong hits they can deliver but not a one of them can replace my solo for sheer versatility..

That said I'm usually doing big ol' rips through glass and am fixing to procure a lily or VM mica. Hell at his budget he could buy a Vapman/triihouse/lotus, a solo/air, a ddave mod for his v-tower and still have cash left over to pocket or buy WPA's/Glass/Meds and it'd be like 3 new vapes. From what I gather ddave mod will eliminate nearly every issue he has with vtower.