I've had one of these to test for a couple weeks as well.
Here is my review/thoughts so far (written several days ago):
I must admit that I only had about a week to use and test this device before writing this, though I would normally prefer at least twice that much time to review a device, but here goes...
For starters, the retail packaging is very nice. It’s sturdy, protective, and detailed. I expect that I will continue to use the box for storing this device.
I like the instruction manual that was included in the box. It felt very thorough, and had plenty of images that really helped to understand everything. I also was happy to see the spare parts and accessories that were included. I really felt like everything I would need was in the box.
As far as the first impressions of the look of the vaporizer, It’s sleek and smooth matte finish is something I like. That matte finish doesn’t feel like it will show scratches much. However, I suspect that the plastic piece on the bottom will start to hold scratches quickly, or at least it feels that way to me.
I must admit that when I first pulled it out of the box, my first reaction was that it looked a lot like a small vibrator…not that I have a problem with that. I just found it amusing. That look disappears with the silicone mouthpiece cover on it though.
All jokes aside however, it’s a good looking little vaporizer. It feels like it had a lot of inspiration from both the Grasshopper and the Dynavap vaporizers. Dynavap of course, because of the little digger/packer that sticks down from one side of the cap. I actually like that feature.
The accessories provided in the box really gives you everything you will need for some time, including a spare vapor cooler, spare bowl, and replacement gasket(s) and o-rings.
I really like how the device can be disassembled for cleaning. A lot of small vaporizers in this category are fully sealed, except for the cap/mouthpiece, and you can’t clean underneath the chamber/bowl. So I love how all of the gaskets and the chamber itself are completely removable/cleanable/replaceable.You don’t see that feature enough in these smaller devices. My only worry there is that the two little nubs on both sides of the scoop assembly that snap into place when the scoop assembly is rotated into place will eventually wear down and possibly break off.
I also really love the scoop itself. I rather appreciated being able to use the vape itself to scoop material directly into the chamber without needing a separate spoon/scoop. That was a really good feature to have included!
One thing I did not care for about the cap design is the silicone air cooler inside the cap. I would often accidentally push it to one side or the other with the edge of the scoop when putting the cap on, and then I’d have to jam my fat finger in there to nudge it back into place before carefully putting the cap on without coming into contact with the bottom of the air cooler and pushing it to the side again, which also happened sometimes. So, a design change to the inside of the cap that better held the air cooler straight in place would be a welcome improvement.
I do like that the heater itself is removable/replaceable. I wonder if they will have multiple heater options in the future.
And lastly concerting the outer design of the device, I liked that the fire button is “clicky” in a nice mechanical feeling way, but I did not like how “wobbly” the button felt. It had a bit more play/movement/wiggle in that regard than I would normally prefer.
On to the vapor production itself. The heater in this device is great. I say that because I tend to prefer a little hotter vapor than many people do. I tend to use many of my vapes natively on their highest temperature settings all the time. But not this one. I was very happy with the medium temp setting, and could see myself doing more extended sessions on the low temp setting. The high temp setting was a bit much using the vape dry, but I could see myself finishing bowls through water at the highest setting occasionally when I wanted to pull hard and fast.
I would say that the vapor flavor is decent for a vape this size, and in the price bracket that that this device is being sold at. Though the flavor quality trails off quite a bit after the first two or three pulls. That’s not to say that the flavor is bad after the first couple of pulls, but it quickly mellows down after the first couple of pulls. However, the ABV that I pulled out of this thing was well-extracted, and evenly roasted . I was very happy with the efficiency of this unit. No stirring needed.
And of course, another thing I love about this unit is the incredibly fast heat-up time. It only feels like a couple seconds time between holding the button down and pulling vapor from this device. This aspect of the unit is very well done and appreciated. I feel that feature will be especially appreciated by those newly moving away from smoking to vaporizing. It will make the transition much easier for them.
Of course the elephant in the room is how the mouthpiece (and the upper body) of the device get very hot very quickly. The silicone mouthpiece cover shields ones lips from this, but the top half of the metal body itself easily gets quite warm. It would be a good improvement if anything could be done to lower the heat transfer to the metal part of the body.
The ability to utilize both a session mode, as well as an on-demand mode was also greatly appreciated. Although I normally prefer a session mode, and rarely used the session mode on this device. But it’s still nice to know it’s there.
I would like a removable/user-replaceable battery. I always prefer to be able to take multiple fully-charged batteries with me when I’m on the go, so I can just swap a depleted one out for a fresh one without having to wait for the depleted one to charge. But I also know that’s a difficult feature to implement in such a small device.
And finally, on to using this device with water. I absolutely love that this unit is designed to mate with a water tool right out of the box. That is a great feature! I also found myself using it with the silicone mouthpiece cover, as it makes a great seal with the glass as well. The on-demand, almost instant heat-up of this device makes it ideal for use with water-tools. I can see myself using it largely for that purpose in the future.
All in all, I think this is a very capable and convenient vaporizer that I would recommend especially to someone new to vaporizers, as it’s very easy to use, is efficient, and can churn out larger clouds if you want it to. I wish the vapor could be cooled a bit more though. In that light, maybe something like the zirconia spiral that is found in the mouthpiece of the Flowermate CAP might really help with cooling the vapor.
Well. That's it for now. Let me know if you have any questions!
