I put about 6 pods and 3 chamber load’s through the new device, after a good cleaning. In between loads I’d use a damp QTip to get off the tiny bit of resin oil that collects on the surface of the ceramic cooling insert. For a real clean, It’s easy enough to pull it out with your fingernail from the soft silicone that holds it in the mouthpiece.
NOTE: After removing the ceramic filter, I was SHOCKED at the about of reclaim resin oil that was inside the silicone path to swivel mouthpiece. You can get to both sides with an ISO soaked QTip, by removing the swivel MP. That’s a lot of cleaning for so few bowls.
While I soaked the actual removable ceramic filter in 190% ethanol, used a toothbrush to scrub, then hot water flushed, I couldn’t even fit a thin pipe cleaner into it, especially the micro holes on both ends. This piece would best be cleaned in my ultrasonic cleaner now and then. It dried pretty quickly.
I believe this fast buildup of oils are mostly due to the limitations of the nice and small device size. Comparing it my HUGE sized Mighty, the cooling unit alone is almost as big as the Starry-4, all the channels in the Mighty are huge by comparison, which means some extra cooling, but more time between having to clean it before a reduction in draw and some nasty flavors. The design of the IQ2 handles this the best for a similar sized tiny device, but is much more expensive, and it still needs a fair amount of attention to cleaning.
Overall, considering it’s under $100 price point, it seems well constructed, and gets hot enough to get dark roasts if you like. I’ve got more experimenting to do with some various strains, but so far for flavor at the low temps I’d place it 3rd of my conduction portable devices behind the IQ2, then Mighty. If I really want a flavorful session, I’d choose one of my convection vapes.
But it does heat up quickly, and is nice and small, fits the hand nicely with the AIRFLOW control right by your thumb. The IQ2 has a bottom airflow dial, and no AF control on the Mighty, so I’m finding I like it open, more vapor and flavor, so that’s a big plus on a tiny device!
Bottom line, it’s gets the job done, just be prepared to clean it a more often….
I do notice when using pods there is oil residue on the filter cu piece and inside but it's not as bad as without pod, without pod tiny specks of Scooby snacks end up in cu filter path.
With pod I do not have this issue, however resin reclaim is abundant I do wipe any visible reclaim left on cu, if I start to feel slugging pull from cu filter I will deep clean it again in Iso, I am loving the pod capsules surprisingly they fully roast my herb and still get very good flavor, I'd say flavor is better than pax mini, pax mini does have a much cooler vapor because of long airpath.
However pax airpath requires deep cleans because of Scooby snacks and resin reclaim built up.
Starry 4 is easy to deep clean the mouth piece. Starry 4 has better flavor then a pax mini.
Temp control is nice, however herbs will still get roasted long enough while baking. Abv color is satisfactory, I am starting to tell when session is done, ended up finishing a bowl slightly faster packed 0.125g (125mg) in dose capsule finished it under 3 minutes. Sure I could have kept hitting but it was at the point where I new abv was roasted to a coffee brown.
Dose capsules cool down under 3 minutes (2min to 2.30mins). However starry 4 metal body remains warm even after dose pod cools down.
Mouthpiece was hotter than starry metal body.
Vapor clouds depend on botanical humidity, grind type, how its packed, variable temperature, how you inhale, how long you inhale.
Overall it has really good flavor for a conduction I'd say it competes with the Fenix mini for flavor. I do not own a craft or mighty so I cannot compare it to that. I can compare to an xlux roffu, the xlux roffu with glass chamber has better flavor slightly, while starry 4 does trade blows. Starry 4 extracts the resins better the cannabinoids hit harder and faster.
And if that isn't enough you can even sprinkle hash on your botanicals and turn up temps for a moonrock style high.
Also bowl size is big enough for higher tolerance users, recently took a t break to lower tolerance, so I don't need much botanicals for medicinal reasons.
However when I was in a lot of pain I packed a little bit more indica for pain and rest and turnt up temps, the flavor still was good at 390f ~ 400f temps shockingly.
Xmax / topgreentech managed to deliver a premium conduction vape at low prices. This isn't garbage or junk don't let the 100 price tag fool you!!!! This reaches mid grade level at low prices. It's up there with a fury edge vape, I do own a fury edge however my starry replaced my edge and pax mini, I haven't even reached for my roffu lately, if you enjoy getting all your cannabinoids fast go for the starry 4, if you only care about having the best flavor even though extraction takes longer inhales than go for a roffu/v3 pro.
If you want over all better vapor efficiency (extraction speed/quality with good flavor) go for a starry 4 with dosage pods.
Starry 4 is really a great value vape. It may not be a crafty or mighty, but it trades good blows with the top brands.
If you own a ball vape than of course you are already at ultimate efficiency, if you want a very efficient portable the starry 4 can't be beat, you don't even have to use a tight pack. Loose packs get extracted well.
Also airflow is adjustable. So far I have like 25% open airflow. The starry 4 isn't a ball vape, it is a very efficient oven for your botanical, you can even vape hash at hotter temps.
