Thanks for the answers.
I had many convection vaporizers or like 3/4 convection and 1/4 conduction like the solo, the air, the inhalater xp, the arizer iq, the fierce and i'm forgetting something for sure and almost any of them kinda lose some vapor even if i don't hit directly but they were all session type vapes so that can partially explain the leaks
So the Arizer Vapes, arguably, are more conduction hybrid, certainly not 3/4 convection, they do not have the power, limited watts cannot keep up with your draw for convection and the slow heat up... IQ? is DaVinci and pure conduction session, oh EQ, the plug-in desktop, yeah that is a very limited way to experience convection, in my experience it just doesn't have the power... Fierce is true hybrid convection conduction, and inhalator was supposed to be pretty pure convection with those capsules I guess session style, never tried that one so I can't say for sure though!
also some reviews i saw for the xmax v3 (sneakypete being one of them) said that there is small part of conduction and that's why i asked, from my brief research my conclusion was that it's pretty fudging hard to get perfect convection with zero conduction because the oven always retain some hotness from the hot air that pass throught the weed, especially in session type vapes where the oven never really has time to cool down if you do repeated hits and the heater never stop working.
Yeah so that is the case when using session style, you're going to get a tiny bit of conduction, but if you are using on demand convection with this vape, you can have zero conduction, the heat of the middle bowl really is negligible, and I think that is why I may be some people here struggle to get the same vapor they can get in say healthy rips vape because of the added manual technique involved with more pure convection in my experience... Trust me there are pure convection on demand vapes that have zero conduction really, like glass stem-based in particular, portables and plugins, most of them are just not mass produced and are more artisan made style, some fully analog, even without electronics...
Also like i said, in all of them it was never a good idea to pack tight, i always had restricted airflow and uneven roasting.
Yeah you don't want to restrict the airflow too much, more fine grind tighter pack works best for pure conduction, there is some convection situations where you can do it well too, but yeah this isn't one of them.
The only on demand vape i had was a pricey and super techy grasshopper (so a bit of a step up in class from the xmax3 in theory) but since the device was hot af during the use, i'm not sure if even that one had some small leaks tbh, but probably not, the problem was the harsh vapor, small bowl, a body hotter than a super model and the laughable battery life, other than that it was THE perfect device for my needs, it was basically an electric joint.
Yeah GH is another special case really, pure convection on demand, but with the small metal body and heat depending how you use it, there could be a fair amount of conduction as well... Agreed though it is basically unusable stock style, they ruined the device trying to make it tiny and a pen, aside from the hot harsh vapor, the mouthpiece burns you haha, the clicker is a terrible power button for an on-demand vape especially if you're trying to be stealth and quiet, the bowl is tedious to load, empty and keep clean... Add to that the battery life and terrible customer service, the convenience aspects and performance benefits are totally ruined lol although to be fair I have a working fine IO now and plug in GH as well, I hardly ever use them, and I am enjoying the xmax v3pro much more actually! You are right in theory, it feels like a step down superficially from the GH in many ways, but the practical performance makes it surprisingly superior imo
For your other question, i don't know man, usually reviewers and many people in here consider a vaporizer efficent when they are powerfull and can finish a bowl in a couple of hits, the mighty or the tiny might are usually considered the top session and on demand portable vaporizer because they are fast with their extraction, like i bought a mighty when i was in amsterdam but that thing exhausted my weed in less than half the time of my solo or inhalater xp so i returned the mighty to the shop and never looked back.
I clearly remember reading the topic for the fierce in here and watching the reviews on yt ( i think troy was one of them) and a lot of people was talking about how the mighty had way better extraction and efficency because the fierce needed way more hits to finish a bowl, it was one of the reason why i bought that thing and he was in fact a powerhouse of a vapor producer in terms of number of hits achievable.
The irony is that i consider the volcano from the same brand the most efficent vape i ever tried, i was able to get like 11-12 ballons with 1 gram of weed starting from 160° C and stepping 5 degree each time until max temp (and it was the old analogic volcano, not even the newest version), i'm on the edge of buying that thing since that day
But listen man, mine was just my thoughts on the argument, like you said many people enjoy long sessions like me, it probably just happened that i read a majority of opposite opinions during my research, i'm sure that everything you say is absolutely truth, i have my fair knowledge about vaporizers but i'm basically an ignorant illiterate bum compared to some of you
So I don't put so much stock into those mainstream reviews personally, yes that is a feature that many people want, and it can demonstrate the power... Personally what I love about the TM though is the full temp dial, I start as low as possible, and the pure materials with the glass stems, milking bowls... Sure I can turn it up and do one hitters through water as well, so really it is the versatility that I value! The power helps make everything else better, you don't need to use all of it, but you want it, along with the heater itself and other design elements, you will see there is a lot more to it really vape to vape... Mighty is not my style because of all the limitations compared to the TM, slow session hybrid large not versatile, it can have slow extraction although not like on demand style control... Fierce is plenty capable, there are really a lot of ways to use these things, for slow or fast extractions, certain vapes are just not as versatile (the non hybrid session conduction primarily) Also oftentimes a session feature on a pure convection vape really just means it is like holding down the button for you, auto fire, sure there are ways to build up conduction, but a good pure convection vape is only really heating when you inhale the hot air through the herbs, and it is possible, they are not all hybrids like the ones we've been discussing mostly now here (a bit off topic too... Sorry!)
Anyway yeah you can't compare to a volcano really either I guess, pure convection in a sense, but with an air pump and gigantic bowl into a bag, truly its own thing imo but some of the modern pure convection portables I described, are almost like a handheld volcano hit for hit, getting the most out of a tiny bit of weed, which I guess you can do with the volcano, though I never tried it that way lol honestly I would never pay the amount of money they go for, I'd take one for a couple hundred maybe or for free, it just doesn't have practical use for me, compared to the other vape I enjoy, especially the plugin and portable units that are top-tier pure convection (like TM, TP80, RBT, VapBong, Cloud Connoisseur) still very unique, the style and function, reputation of course...
Haha yeah the more time you spend here you will see there are every type of user, and every type of product really, the industry has come a long long way and most of it is still very far under the radar! Everything here is an opinion too, founded in factual experience, so the more research you do the more you take it all in, you can become an expert in vapes you never try haha you will get there my friend, I think this xmax v3pro will be a good next step in your vapor journey