Baron23
Well-Known Member
Recently or was this the chamber that was shipped with the unit early on?
And, has S&B RMA you a new housing and, if so, did it melt/deform also?
Volcano Hybrid
- Thread starter caliganja420
- Start date
Recently or was this the chamber that was shipped with the unit early on?
And, has S&B RMA you a new housing and, if so, did it melt/deform also?
tennisguru1
EXCELSIOR!
They just BS me in email and do nothing talk talk
I'm going to start putting some heat on them on Reddit lol
This place too classy for that shit, Reddit perfect as so many unhappy
conanOrien
Well-Known Member
How have you got this set up? I'd be interested in trying it out.
In my time with the VH I've had a chamber housing melt. It melted so bad the tabs broke off... Check out below.
At that time I ordered a replacement immediately (POTV). The replacement came, and I started using it. I also RMA'd my original housing with S&B, who replaced it swiftly (less than a week, but this was during the height of Aluminium gate and the package included my ceramic coated chamber). Still have that one in the original packaging.
As I look at the housing I've been using daily since early March, I have a bit of concern. Looks like the plastic is starting to develop some signs of melting. Tell me if I'm crazy:
I'm hoping I just got some older stock from POTV. For what it's worth, the packaging was exactly the same from POTV as the packaging from S&B...
Also I don't think this is caused by my usage of the device. I'm very meticulous about removing the chamber when not in use. I use both the whip and bags frequently.
Modnote: Edited to display images
Seriously terrible luck, 4 replacements and counting sounds brutal. Again, no melting here. However my bowl doesn't hold into place with the clips anymore. That happened around the 2nd week i owned the new hybrid for me. I tried wiggling the clips by poking it with a dab tool, but it is extremely brittle and partially broke. I run mine between 330-410f, whip and balloons 50/50, always with an obsidian water perc.
SquirrelMaster
Well-Known Member
I pulled out my Hybrid last night for the first time in quite a while. The last time I had it in use was after I got the new parts installed. At that time I was really disappointed as the flavour was very poor after a near complete clean however my bag was in need of replacement and it's been shelved since then. It's seen very little use this year.
It was like I met an old flame, our passion rekindled immediately
. Of course I went hard and a full bowl later I was emptying the pantry, my stomach transformed into a bottomless pit that could not be filled, but I was loving every minute. This is how I remember the Hybrid and I feel good about owning this vape again.
I have some "older" plastic housings that were purchased on Green Friday that I'll monitor for signs of melting. My first housing chamber had some very mild melting so I hope these are the new versions. If not I'll RMA them as needed.
It was like I met an old flame, our passion rekindled immediately
. Of course I went hard and a full bowl later I was emptying the pantry, my stomach transformed into a bottomless pit that could not be filled, but I was loving every minute. This is how I remember the Hybrid and I feel good about owning this vape again. I have some "older" plastic housings that were purchased on Green Friday that I'll monitor for signs of melting. My first housing chamber had some very mild melting so I hope these are the new versions. If not I'll RMA them as needed.
Poostuff
Please delete
Okay so it turns out a few people are having this problem. Dude, you might need to point that finger elsewhere.
I kind of expected people to say this is user error because most people are idiots & this is always a possibility.
I think I vape more than some people so it did get used quite a lot, but I only ever had very quick high temperature sessions & the bowls were only left on for the duration of the session then emptied immediately.
I use a lot of vaporizers & haven’t had a user issue with any of them barring a couple of butane ones like the StickyBrick & the Eleva8r. I can’t can’t get either of those two to work satisfactorily which possibly could be my heating technique, but I completely dispute these problems with the hybrid are due to user error.
I don’t think S&B have even acknowledged the melting chamber issue but they were reasonably quick to respond to the aluminium thing.
I was the first person to bring up the chamber issue here & posted the pic of the damaged chamber that I sent to S&B, this was after I posted a pic of the scratched conduction ring but before aluminium dust became a known problem.
S&B replaced the housing but the same thing happed after a couple of weeks of use.
I bought a bunch of housings in their Black Friday sale & same thing happened to all of them. They’re the ones I was trying to replace.
Simple fix would have been to introduce a high temperature chamber, it’s very clear to me this plastic is unstable at the temperatures the hybrid reaches.
Like @tennisguru1 the clips give way & the hot bowl just falls out after a while, & it’s best not to try to catch it. By the time this happens the top rim of the orange housing is charred or melted.
I posted about all this last year & it’s getting old now so I won’t go into it any further.
I don’t hate S&B yet, in fact I just ordered the Plenty but only because their premium priced vape is fucking up & no one should have to do that.
Maybe they will fold, no email responses here either.
These European companies do seem to love using this modern technology called plastic. If it goes that way I hope S&B merge with Brita & Lego & then release the worlds first Purified Water Filtered Interlocking Plastic Building Block Vaporizer
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Vaporcussion
Well-Known Member
Looks like ZOOM has teamed up with S&B
How have you got this set up? I'd be interested in trying it out.
In my time with the VH I've had a chamber housing melt. It melted so bad the tabs broke off... Check out below.
At that time I ordered a replacement immediately (POTV). The replacement came, and I started using it. I also RMA'd my original housing with S&B, who replaced it swiftly (less than a week, but this was during the height of Aluminium gate and the package included my ceramic coated chamber). Still have that one in the original packaging.
As I look at the housing I've been using daily since early March, I have a bit of concern. Looks like the plastic is starting to develop some signs of melting. Tell me if I'm crazy:
I'm hoping I just got some older stock from POTV. For what it's worth, the packaging was exactly the same from POTV as the packaging from S&B...
Also I don't think this is caused by my usage of the device. I'm very meticulous about removing the chamber when not in use. I use both the whip and bags frequently.
Modnote: Edited to display images
Hey Conan. I had heard about this problem before of that part melting. Is this still a problem today?. Since I'll be purchasing the Volcano Hybrid very soon, I'm kind of worried about it. Is this a QC issue do you think?. You would think with a $700 MSRP they would use heat resistant or some material that doesn't melt. For reference for me, being a newb what can I do to prevent this?.
conanOrien
Well-Known Member
For what it's worth, look at those two pictures above again. The plastic housing in the second photo has been used on my Volcano for a longer total time than the one that melted. To me, that indicates that some improvement had to have been made to the product.
It kind of scares me that the plastic is scoring from the heat. The housing itself costs 10$ to replace, but I'm thinking of those fumes in muh body.
I agree that such an expensive device should not have this happen under normal operating circumstances. I don't feel there is any way I can use the bowl and not experience minor damage.
I still love the usage experience, and I'm confident S&B are still working on this in the background. Most of their devices receive minor updates over their life span.
If not, the Hybrid is so popular someone will probably create one open source and release it. There's a pretty prolific maker community that follows S&B products!
At this point though, there's really no way around it. In my experience, if you use one of these things as a daily driver your chamber housing will probably melt to some degree. This is not affected by how nicely you treat it.
Please please please somebody refute this with a pic of a chamber housing that has been used extensively and not faltered
For what it's worth, look at those two pictures above again. The plastic housing in the second photo has been used on my Volcano for a longer total time than the one that melted. To me, that indicates that some improvement had to have been made to the product.
It kind of scares me that the plastic is scoring from the heat. The housing itself costs 10$ to replace, but I'm thinking of those fumes in muh body.
I agree that such an expensive device should not have this happen under normal operating circumstances. I don't feel there is any way I can use the bowl and not experience minor damage.
I still love the usage experience, and I'm confident S&B are still working on this in the background. Most of their devices receive minor updates over their life span.
If not, the Hybrid is so popular someone will probably create one open source and release it. There's a pretty prolific maker community that follows S&B products!
At this point though, there's really no way around it. In my experience, if you use one of these things as a daily driver your chamber housing will probably melt to some degree. This is not affected by how nicely you treat it.
Please please please somebody refute this with a pic of a chamber housing that has been used extensively and not faltered
So should I purchase extra housings when I order the Volcano Hybrid?. Seems silly for me to worry about before I even purchase though. I'm just crazy like that though. I know my Arizer Extreme Q doesn't have this or any other problems and it costed less than half of the price of the volcano hybrid. The Volcano Hybrid does have a 3 year warranty though so that's not bad at all. Supposedly the Volcano Hybrid "does everything better" according to some people though.
idboehman
Well-Known Member
If you're not 100% dead set on a desktop vape that does both bags and whips or wouldn't mind a separate whip vape if you want that functionality, you might be interested in the Volcano Classic. It lacks the modern niceties like PID temp control, improved heater, app control, bluetooth, etc, but if you can:
* deal with those drawbacks
* find a solid deal on a new one (20% or more off) or a good deal on a used one on craigslist or something
you'll have a vape that's proven to be solid that you can enjoy while waiting for S&B to fix the issues w/ the Hybrid which you could upgrade to later down the road. That's kind of where I find myself right now, I got a good deal on a classic before the hybrid released and while some of the upgrades seem nice they don't seem worth the extra $400.
* deal with those drawbacks
* find a solid deal on a new one (20% or more off) or a good deal on a used one on craigslist or something
you'll have a vape that's proven to be solid that you can enjoy while waiting for S&B to fix the issues w/ the Hybrid which you could upgrade to later down the road. That's kind of where I find myself right now, I got a good deal on a classic before the hybrid released and while some of the upgrades seem nice they don't seem worth the extra $400.
Hey I just did a little searching. It seems they have upgraded the chamber and maybe made some other minor fixes?. Not sure but I looked on a page to order and it says ,
website said:
Most places seem to be out of stock and I believe the reason why is they are getting ready for new stock of the new versions. Most places say 3-4 weeks. So I guess I'll pre-order.
SquirrelMaster
Well-Known Member
Yeah they supposedly fixed this problem with this new 2020 version(build).
conanOrien
Well-Known Member
I've been using the same plastic housing for 60+ hours of vaping. At this point it hasn't degraded to the point where I'd buy a new one. The clips hold the bowl, only the damage shown in the second photo.
I know what you mean lol. I have a spare plastic chamber. In the future I'll probably buy the metal oven pieces for that one as well, so as to have a spare bowl. I would hate to be unable to use the thing for any reason
idboehman
Well-Known Member
Considering S&B is located outside the USA (though they do have a presence here but seems they do their manufacturing abroad), I don't think it's crazy at all to want a small cache of spare parts, in fact I would encourage it. Always be prepared and all that jazz. For example I have a lever espresso machine I use called the Cafelat Robot, great high quality device but they're manufactured and shipped from Hong Kong. Anyways last fall there was an integral replaceable part that I accidentally busted and then had to wait several weeks for a shipment to arrive from HK since it's the only place parts are available, leaving me unable to use it in the interim.
All this to say, what you're thinking about happens and it makes sense to prepare for it if you can.
All this to say, what you're thinking about happens and it makes sense to prepare for it if you can.
I've been using the same plastic housing for 60+ hours of vaping. At this point it hasn't degraded to the point where I'd buy a new one. The clips hold the bowl, only the damage shown in the second photo.
I know what you mean lol. I have a spare plastic chamber. In the future I'll probably buy the metal oven pieces for that one as well, so as to have a spare bowl. I would hate to be unable to use the thing for any reason
I want to make sure I get a new fresh "off the line" version and newest build. I figure the sites that do have stock have the older versions or builds to sell off first. The sites that don't have it in stock are the places that will ship the new builds when they come in. I love electronics and computers and have background fixing them. A lot of computer parts and accessories have more than one hardware version. So I figure this appliance is an electronic device and is similar.
Another thing, isn't there a way to upgrade the firmware on the volcano hybrid?. New firmware can fix a lot of problems with hardware devices and I always recommend to upgrade the firmware ASAP on new devices that have that option. Upgrading firmware can fix some problems and make things more functional.
What bubbler do you use? Do you start at 435f or do you temp step to it? Love running the hybrid through water though, it feels like the perfect vapor in my lungs with it.
conanOrien
Well-Known Member
S&B have an app that can be used to control two of their products via Bluetooth. The Hybrid is one of those.
It will force you to upgrade your hybrid to the newest firmware the first time you connect to it.
I find the app to be really spotty... Some days it works fine, others it doesn't. I think they don't thoroughly test each version so patches always break it for a few weeks. Right now I'm able to use the web version from a laptop, but not the mobile from my Android.
Don't give S&B any ideas... If they wanted to fix melting chambers with a software update they would probably just limit the maximum operating temp.
I think this is the only thing that would hurt me worse than losing the Hybrid.... Americanos keep it moving even moreso than the vapor
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I didn't know they had a web app. Thanks for that!. I purchased a usb bluetooth adapter for my pc a little while back. Forgot what I got it for so now I have the option of using my pc to connect. Wish they would actually have someone write a program for pc and keep it updated. Everyone has to use "cloud" apps nowadays. Guess I'm just an old school kind of guy.
conanOrien
Well-Known Member
You must be! I try to install as little as possible on my machine
.The web app can be "installed" on your PC and run offline. Chrome has this functionality baked in. I believe you can also just download the webpage for use in other browsers.
The app is all JavaScript for portability between iOS/Android/web.
The web app is actually a recent development. They released it as a workaround for iOS users. Apple blanket banned all vaporizer apps from their platform in the end of 2019.
SquirrelMaster
Well-Known Member
The 2020 or V2 is the same machine with the coated part already placed if I understand correctly. Someone a few pages back said their new unit pushed the bowl up if the top piece wasn't screwed on so that leads me to believe they didn't alter manufacturing to make a new vsersion. I haven't seen a new one in person to compare so I could be wrong.
Well guys I've got my pre-order in. Should have it in 3-4 weeks supposedly. Don't really have the extra money for accessories or extra parts right now. I'll order a few extra housings and accessories in a few weeks. I'm sure I'll be happy with my purchase. Plus with the 3 year warranty period I should be fine for a while.
Question, does anyone know where I can find a 6 foot silicone whip for the volcano?. 1M or 3ft is a bit small, or it seems like it would be anyway. I found 10 meters on the Storz & Bickel site but that's way more than I would need. Want to find 6 feet or 2M pre-cut. That way I don't cut it crooked by mistake and end up wasting some of it.
Question, does anyone know where I can find a 6 foot silicone whip for the volcano?. 1M or 3ft is a bit small, or it seems like it would be anyway. I found 10 meters on the Storz & Bickel site but that's way more than I would need. Want to find 6 feet or 2M pre-cut. That way I don't cut it crooked by mistake and end up wasting some of it.
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Yeah the whip it comes with is long enough to put the hybrid between you and a buddy on the couch, but it's pretty short. I ordered the really long tube from s&B's website (10m or so) and cut it with scissors. It doesn't really matter if it's that crooked when cutting it, you don't have to be perfect with it... The unit is pretty forgiving when you attach the tube to the mouthpiece and adapter.