Venus Vaporizer

[villekille2]

I hugely favor using a nat finish on the Venus! One in a million artists can improve upon wood grain.

Yes, I think you are right! and natural finish is always easy to keep good looking, if there ever is going to be some blemishes, just little bit sanding and some oil and it is pretty again Maybe the Venus could be oiled with Hemp oil

 

[Egzoset]

Pop!

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

Bump It will be easier to share the e-mail straight than pointing out whats to come.
Hi,
it is going fine now, all the improvements for a very strong and
highly performing vaporizer with stylish design and hq materials have
been implemented and within 3 weeks the first bigger production run of
them will be ready for sales. I have to check the price then, now I
have been selling for the people who have wished to get for 249 euro,
but I feel that internationally the competition is tougher and I wish
to get this great product available to as many people as possible, so
if all goes smootly with production and I can start to deliver higher
quantities, the price will come down a lot! It is a nice machine,
according to customer feedback of the lates model, user experience and
efficiency is better than volcano, as is the feel of build quality,
materials include only the best, with full Oak wood body, highest
quality stainless steel panels ' heating elements and bowls,
glasstops, charger with 45 min charge time, very nice battery runtime
and cool to the touch always, and now i am testing in the spain this
with the solar charger option and it is great, out in the wilderness,
batteries charged within 1 hour and portable vaporizing in the nature
with the newest improvements the durability is excellent and abuse
tolerant, survives direct throw agains rocks, anything, only glasstop
can break and replacements can be bought from any supermarket for
emergency

I also wrote him a second e-mail regarding use variations.. Like water filtration and straight Glass on glass connection (no jar) .. after all other Halobulb vapes offer that,, (ape,aromed.. )

 

[villekille2]

OK, finally an update! The 2012 model Venus Vaporizer has been a huge success and all units have been free of problems, and the feedback from customers has been very positive. Changes from the prototype model include:

- Wooden frame is now made of Oak, by professional carpenter in Northern Finland, beewax natural finish
- Metal panels are made of 1 mm stainless steel and hand polished
- Boost button and power dial on the front custom made from aluminum
- Everything is more robust, top panel and a new glasstop holder ringplate both have 4 stainless steel screws and heating element is now locked down strongly. Now it is hard to imagine how could one break anything without the help of power tools!
- Electronics completely redesigned, with more capable microprocessor and new features
- New features:
- internal red LED light which glows trough the silicone tubing on the front. It shows when the vaporizer is ready and warmed up, and also it signals charging and a BOOST-mode.

- Vapor LED under the glasstop, to make the vapor more visible when the user presses Boost-button. Also it looks nice when the LED light shines trough the colored glass

- Charging circuitry and software redesigned, full charge from empty takes only less than one hour. Sophisticated balancing and battery supervisor technology to keep the rechargeable LiFePo4 batteries always at their best operating conditions to maximize their capacity for care free years of use.

- Configuration mode where user can adjust warm up time for different herbs, the default setting is for the most popular one

- 5 different Glass top options, Emerald Green, Aqua Blue, Ruby red, smoky white and clear

- Tubing is now FDA approved silicone for medical use

- Optional Car charger to charge from the cigarette lighter socket.

Here is the link to the website, the english version is still under construction and unfortunately the video is still only in Finnish language but it shows the product nicely from different angles and how it works in real.
http://www.venusvaporizer.com/index_eng.html

Link to youtube video:

 

[Abysmal Vapor]

Is that price lowering happend or still 249 euro ? Btw nice girls you got there .

 

[villekille2]

Yeah, bigger production quantities have allowed us to lower the price, now we are selling Venus Vaporizer for 219 euro in European union, and for other countries price in USD, $219

And thanks, that nice girl is right now packing some vaporizers

 

[villekille2]

Hey, I feel this thread should be in the portable vaporizer category as I think the Venus Vaporizer is one of the best portable vaporizers available and definitely portable and also equipped with superb rechargeable batteries.

Is there a way to change the thread title as this is not "a project" anymore but a ready product already and currently the best selling vaporizer in Finland.

 

[villekille2]

Oh, almost forgot, here is a new video showing the vapor formation with the "real stuff" inside herb chamber.

 

[marduk]

Hey, I feel this thread should be in the portable vaporizer category as I think the Venus Vaporizer is one of the best portable vaporizers available and definitely portable and also equipped with superb rechargeable batteries.

Is there a way to change the thread title as this is not "a project" anymore but a ready product already and currently the best selling vaporizer in Finland.

Sure seems like this should be in the portables section. Nice to see a different design with high quality materials.

I checked out your site, and your online store is showing a price of $288 in US dollars which is a straight conversion from Euros. Will that change to the correct price of $219 if you go through all the steps of entering a US address and checking out, or is it an oversight? Will you be getting any US distributors? And how will you handle warranty claims for international customers?

One question about hands-free functionality: would it be possible to program the microcontroller to boost for a set number of seconds per button press? In other words, after doing a "double tap" or some kind of button press sequence to enter hands-free mode, pressing once and releasing would boost for 5 seconds and then revert to the normal power setting, pressing twice would boost for 2x5 or 10 seconds, and so on.

 

[villekille2]

I think yeah getting a distributor would be essential for really entering the US market. For sure I can directly sell and ship to USA myself but I haven't done that before. Will the customer have to pick the item from the customs or what? Within European Union things are straightforward. I think I need to build on the success of the sales in Finland and get more attention, first in Europe and probably then I can find a distributor in the USA. I haven't yet had the time to find out how to get different prices for US orders, the opencart software seems to make the calculation directly from euros to usd and I don't know how to change that. But yeah while people here feel that the price which I currently have is a bargain for such a product I know that the weaker usd makes price high there and the market is more saturated but also much greater in quantities so I am willing to supply without need for currency conversion.

About warranty claims, so far we haven't yet received a single return even though we've sold hundreds of units since July, not faulty ones and here we have mandatory 14 day "try at home and send it back for free if you wish " according to the law but no one, I mean no one has ever wanted to return a vaporizer

The only thing which has sometimes caused problems has been a halogen bulb with a manufacturing defect. The problem would then appear within first 3 times of use but that's easily user replaceable in 2 minutes. But it seems to happen rarely, 1-2%. So far even the bulbs seem to be very strong, I have customers who have used already more than 2 years daily many times this product and still going with same bulb. So it seems that if it breaks, it does it within first week or lasts for ages. And as the replacement is only few dollars and available easily, it is not really a problem.

What a great idea about the hands free option. I've had some other plans for that but it would require changes to electronics and add cost but I think your idea can be easily implemented and I would only need to update the firmware of the Venus vaporizer. I just have to make sure it doesn't get in the way of normal usage as with just 2 controls one needs to be careful not to make it too difficult to use and make sure that no one accidentally enters modes which they don't want.

 

[Hippie Dickie]

Will the customer have to pick the item from the customs or what?

no. packages from outside USA are delivered directly to customer's door.

 

[hellomyfrients]

Without getting into too many specifics, I'm in engineering and I know a quality product when I see one. This thing looks really, really cool, and if you can get it to my door in the US for under $230 and you take PayPal, I'm sold.

 

[marduk]

One more US customer right here. I'm definitely going to buy one after the US pricing gets fixed and the firmware gets updated for a hands-free mode.

 

[meduser#420]

This looks very cool. I am seriously looking at getting one. Finland is in the race!

 

[Raf007]

Hyvä suomi !
Kohta Venus Ranskassa

 

[marduk]

@ villekille2

Just wondering if there's any news on the firmware update for hands-free operation?

 

[Tweek]

This looks like a really fun way to vape. Hopefully it gets some North American distribution.

 

[natural farmer]

It sure is a looker this one and I like the way it seems to perform too! My only question for the time would be how easy it is to clean all this surface around the herb camber that sould gung up like crazy... Would a paper tower be helpful when it's still warm or does it need a lot of ISO scrubbing with earplugs and pipe cleaners? This aspect is very importNt for the every day vaporist...

 

[axakal]

looks promising. how long do the batteries last while using in a group of 3-4 people?

 

[pakalolo]

... a lot of ISO scrubbing with earplugs and pipe cleaners?

Earplugs?

 

[villekille2]

It sure is a looker this one and I like the way it seems to perform too! My only question for the time would be how easy it is to clean all this surface around the herb camber that sould gung up like crazy... Would a paper tower be helpful when it's still warm or does it need a lot of ISO scrubbing with earplugs and pipe cleaners? This aspect is very importNt for the every day vaporist...

Cleaning has not been a problem, actually the only thing that seems to require cleaning is the glass top and rarely the small metal screen on top, in front of the herb chamber. Vapor flows through that hole to the silicone tube and this is a place where some resin will start to accumulate. I have never cleaned mine, some resin I see there but one of my customers told me that he found out an easy way to clean it and same time enjoy the vapors by having a lighter flame near this hole and inhaling so the resins will vaporize nicely when done properly. But for sure this doesn't need to be done that often as I've never needed to do it. I guess ISO would work too.

The stainless steel top panel around the herb chamber doesn't need cleaning. The vapor flow seems to go smoothly right into that hole and to the silicone tubing. The only thing I've ever cleaned on my own unit is the glass top, as some condensation naturally happens there and the finest particles which get through the screen on the cap of herb chamber stick to the inner surface of the glass top. This of course is beneficial for the user as the vapor is more pure and the glass top is very quick to clean, just a little bit soap, hot water, and wipe it clean.

The same customer told me that after he had vaporized all of his herbs and didn't have anything else left he found out that even this resin left in the glass top can be vaporized and that it works well. He wrote that placing the glass top on a hot stove, open end of the glass facing upwards, the resin that has accumulated there starts to vaporize and he successfully used the silicone tube of vaporizer to inhale this vapor and it worked very well after having not vaporized for a while.

We hand polish all of those stainless steel panels in the vaporizer and the surface doesn't seem to get dirty and also it is very scratch resistant. One customer had bought the vaporizer over a year ago and wanted me to update the electronics as we had introduced some improvements from that version. The vaporizer still lookedl amazing, almost as new and I asked if he had used it at all. He told me he had carried it with him almost all the time as he travels a lot and on average he had used it for one hour per day. No problems and i didn't bother to change the halogen bulb as the original still worked flawlessly, the panels looked as good as new and the oak wood frame was even smoother than originally. So all I can say that in theory it should be very easy to keep in great shape and my own experience and the above mentioned things seems to prove that also in practice.


So to sum it up, the only thing that in practice needs cleaning from time to time seems to be the glass top and for those who don't want to throw anything away even this stuff can be vaporized so it is hard for me to imagine any vaporizer being more efficient than Venus.

 

[biojuggernaut]

So this uses the same LiPo4's that the TV1 uses? Can we see a picture/video on charging and where the batteries actually go? How hot will a user be able to extract terpenes as I am fond of a lot of vapor very quickly?

 

[villekille2]

looks promising. how long do the batteries last while using in a group of 3-4 people?

To be honest I have never used it myself in a group larger than two people but for me the battery life is completely satisfying. single session for me doesn't take many minutes heat up period included, I've never ever been able to run out of battery during one single day if the Venus Vaporizer was fully charged in the beginning. It's little bit over two minutes warming up, then 2-4 times I boost and inhale and turn it off. The vapor quality is great, thick and effective so not that much time is spent in minutes per session and when it is used this way the battery lasts about 45-50 minutes so it is easily 10+ sessions.

I've gotten comments from my customers, at least two have written to me that they've had it with them outside and used in a group of friends and battery lasted without problems. And if staying at home, the vaporizer can have the charger plug connected all of the time and the batteries stay full even with 10 people vaporizing all day and when you leave the house it is ready to go with full battery to the park, beach, whatever. The charger cord is 3.4m / 11 feet but this is a normal IEC standard cord and almost any lengths can be found so at home with even a larger group it can be plugged in and still enjoy relative freedom. Or as I would do it in case I wanted to invite 10 people and vaporize all day together, use it wireless and connect to charger while having a break.

The full charge from empty to full takes about 55 minutes but it slows down towards the end, so actually charging it from empty to half full takes only about 20 minutes. I've had this vaporizer with me in the Canary islands last winter as I was camping there in the mountains. I had a flexcell 20W solar panel with me in my back bag and it was really cool to spend time in the nature and be able to charge vaporizer always when necessary with solar power

I could install larger capacity batteries for longer run time but I really like the fact that these cells I use are exactly similar ones used in world record braking electric vehicles with exceptional durability, safety and life expectancy as well as super quick charging time.

according to the datasheet, with full discharge-charge use the capacity is over 90% after 1500 cycles. And to make it higher, I've intentionally left about 5% of capacity at both ends, the full capacity is not taken out of them and also they are never completely fully charged. This should make their lifetime expectancy clearly better than stated as the cycle life is measured with complete recharge-discharge cycles and the most stressful part for the batteries is discharging near empty and charging near full. So I guess it is realistic to estimate a cycle life of 5000 until 10% of capacity is lost and this in practice would mean tens of years of use - so with Venus the battery degradation will never be an issue.

Also unlike some of the other portable models, nothing prevents using Venus while plugged in so even in a case of some unknown problem with battery someday in the future it will work perfectly when charging plug is connected. And the batteries chosen don't degrade because of heat in the way standard li-ion cells do. I have seen some interesting portable vaporizers in a very small form factor but it is to be seen how they will keep their charge even after one year of active vaporization as the environment shouldn't be any easier than it is for example in high power laptops which lose their capacity quite quick due to the accelerated degradation of li-ion cells in elevated temps as even in an environment with regular temps their cycle life is in the hundreds, not thousands. And thanks to the wooden frame which acts as a great heat insulator, The batteries never feel even warm to the touch even after long vaporizing and charging activity.

 

[villekille2]

So this uses the same LiPo4's that the TV1 uses? Can we see a picture/video on charging and where the batteries actually go? How hot will a user be able to extract terpenes as I am fond of a lot of vapor very quickly?

I am not sure about what they use but these are genuine A123 cells, same cells used for example on this world class bike to break records. I recommend watching it from 0:50 and there should be no more questions about the capability of these batts

Batteries are installed during manufacture process of the wooden frame and cannot be replaced without opening the unit. Also for this reason we chose the best batteries available. As I wrote above, there shouldn't be need for them to need replacement, ever.

The vaporizer produces very thick vapors, I've heard my customers comparing this to many known vaporizers and the comments are always praising Venus and its vapor quality and how quickly it delivers, there's really no need to spend all evening trying to get something out of this

The speed of warming up the vaporizer is currently about 2:20 min, adjustable for the individual preferences. As the batteries are powerful enough for delivering currents many many times higher than we ever use, and as I have designed the electronics to be very robust and chosen components with much higher ratings than necessary, it is not a problem to make the Venus even quicker. I tested it with a 50% higher power halogen bulb and it works without problems and the warm up time is reduced to just little bit over one minute. But as the current heating element seems to work wonderfully and nobody has complained about it being slow or lack any power, quite the opposite, I haven't felt the need to order a new set of bulbs and change the software profile for the power settings.

Of course I could include a user adjustable setting to the software for "power bulb profile" and the customers who are interested in quicker operation can get the more powerful bulb as well but I don't know if that would add too much complexity to the regular user or confuse them.

The changing process of bulb is not difficult, just press the metal screen on top of the heating element loose and lift it, then using something like a crochet hook to lift the halogen bulb and press a new one there and reinstall the metal screen..takes about one minute and as the replacement bulbs are not costly and the only real damage one can do is to break the bulb if something goes wrong.

 

[Egzoset]

Salutations VilleKille2,

Of course I could include a user adjustable setting...

Do you have some sort of JTAG setup on your test-bench which an eventual owner could consider duplicating?