Zephyr Ion

[Bruce@Zephyr]

Hello
There has been some discussion about the Zephyr Ion, but I thought it best to start a new thread.
Questions I feel have yet to be answered.


Air Path:
The air channel is ceramic
the heating element is encased in ceramic
the other materials used are Teflon
304 surgical stainless steel (Baskets and screens)
All of the materials in the entire air path are non reactive at the temperatures involved.

Bag/Whip:
When we first created the Ion we thought the whip was a novelty that only we would be using ourselves. The first units to ship did not include a whip although any customer who asks can get their first one free, sort of a upgrade I guess. The newer units will include a custom glass whip that will work fine with or without the air pump.

China:
I understand there is a lot of folks who don't like Chinese made vapes and the connotation they have. This is not a vape in that vein. We own the factory in China where our product is manufactured, it is not outsourced third party to the lowest bidder. Quality control is very important to us. (You don't get repeat customers if you kill them off with lead poisoning, just a bad business model all around)

Vapor Leakage:
The leakage is an issue that we feel we can constantly improve upon. While 0% leakage would be ideal, there are a lot of factors to consider.
On the Ion mouthpiece itself we have incorporated a grommet that is slightly teardrop shaped where the bag meets the mouthpiece. If the zip tie is not seated proper on the grommet it will leak from there.
On the inside if the o-ring is not seated properly in the top part of the lid, there will be leakage.
If the bag itself is covering the intake hole there will be leakage.
These are all easy fixes but we are constantly working to improve everything so even that will not be an issue as we move forward.

Defects:
This is something that has not been addressed but I think it is fair in the spirit of honesty. The Zephyr Ion is very new and we have had a 3% defect rate. We are not happy with this but we stand behind and honor our 2 year warranty. There is not a big complicated process to get your unit fixed should something go wrong. The typical things that go wrong have to do with circuit board issues and have been addressed.

Price:
Suggested retail price for the ION is $360 and we do not sell them directly from our site as it wouldn't be fair to the distributors.

I think that is about it. If I have missed anything please let me know.

Check out our contest on one of these pages...somewhere....

 

[DevoTheStrange]

How loud is your unit as it is working? How long is warm up time? how long can the unit be left on?

How durable is it? can it take a fall off a coffee table or desk no problem?

 

[Bruce@Zephyr]

How loud is your unit as it is working? How long is warm up time? how long can the unit be left on?

How durable is it? can it take a fall off a coffee table or desk no problem?

The air pump is extremely quiet, when I have access to my files at the office I will give you an exact db reading. In short,.. I don't have to turn up the tv when I turn on the Ion.

The warm up time for a totally cold unit is roughly 3 minutes.

The unit has an auto shut off feature that can be set anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. It comes set with auto shut off after 1 hour.

It is durable and the unit itself weighs 6 lbs,..It can be knocked around a little and be ok but. it does have sensitive electronics and ceramic parts. That being said, no I would not advise dropping it from waist high or higher. Also do not run it through the dishwasher. I only mention this because it has been tried.

 

[DevoTheStrange]

How loud is your unit as it is working? How long is warm up time? how long can the unit be left on?

How durable is it? can it take a fall off a coffee table or desk no problem?

It is durable and the unit itself weighs 6 lbs,.. it does have sensitive electronics and ceramic parts. That being said, no I would not advise dropping it from waist high or higher. Also do not run it through the dishwasher. I only mention this because it has been tried.

now was that found out in testing? or a customer tried?
never thought too put a vaporizer in the dishwasher... But I could see how there would be a small percentage that might try.

 

[lwien]

never thought too put a vaporizer in the dishwasher... But I could see how there would be a small percentage that might try.

Check out some of the PD durability video's.

 

[DevoTheStrange]

true forgot about those... stranger things have happened.

 

[lwien]

Bruce, what is the least amount that I can load up in the Zephyr and get a nice bag goin? Reason that I'm askin' is because I can load up a PD with 0.025g and get 3 to 4 nice hits from it. Can I do the same with the Zephyr? It's a really a question about the Zephyr's efficiency.

Also, with whip vapes, one can harvest the condensation that occurs in the whips. Is there any way to harvest the condensation that occurs in the bags?

 

[Bruce@Zephyr]

Bruce, what is the least amount that I can load up in the Zephyr and get a nice bag goin? Reason that I'm askin' is because I can load up a PD with 0.025g and get 3 to 4 nice hits from it. Can I do the same with the Zephyr? It's a really a question about the Zephyr's efficiency.

Also, with whip vapes, one can harvest the condensation that occurs in the whips. Is there any way to harvest the condensation that occurs in the bags?

You can fill a bag well with 0.05g but the second bag will be very weak. One bag is 4-6 good draws.

If you use the whip the efficiency should be at least as good. I prefer the whip method if it is just me and I am not sharing. I put the smallest pinch in and get a few good draws, I think it is because the basket is large enough that with the direct draw you get great airflow around the biomass.

Since the top nozzle/nipple is Teflon it is very easy to harvest any oil build up, and quite fun to do so I might add.

I have heard of people using 151 to clean their bags and produce a tincture at the same time.

 

[Bruce@Zephyr]

In case I was not clear before the Zephyr Ion is a dual system it can be used equally as well as a forced air/Bag vape and a direct draw/wand/whip vape. The new units come with bags and a whip. Spare whips will cost ya heheh

 

[Bruce@Zephyr]

Couple other things that could go wrong,.. based on calls I have already fielded.

If you do not plug the unit in, it will not work.
If you do not turn the unit on it will not work.
If you do not put a bag or a whip on the Teflon tip, the vapor will be hot and may scald you.
If you do not place the basket into the ceramic chamber the bag will not fill up.
If you do not push the air button, the bag will not fill up.

 

[vtac]

How about the approximate minimum, maximum and ideal load sizes? What are the dimensions of the bowl/crucible? Pics would help.

 

[Bruce@Zephyr]

Bruce, what is the least amount that I can load up in the Zephyr and get a nice bag goin? Reason that I'm askin' is because I can load up a PD with 0.025g and get 3 to 4 nice hits from it. Can I do the same with the Zephyr? It's a really a question about the Zephyr's efficiency.

Also, with whip vapes, one can harvest the condensation that occurs in the whips. Is there any way to harvest the condensation that occurs in the bags?

How about the approximate minimum, maximum and ideal load sizes? How big is the bowl?

The bowl will hold comfortably from .05g to .75g without packing it in too tight. It is best to fill the bowl(basket) no more than 3/4 of the way full to ensure maximum airflow. Pack it too tight and it won't vape as consistent as it should.

With .05g I get 1 real good bag and one weak bag.
With .75g we have filled a 10 foot bag with ease.

With .05g I get 1 real good session for 1 person with the whip.
With .75g and the whip, I vaped my ass off all the way through "Inglorious Basterds" without adding to the basket. ( that is 2.5 hours of vaping on one basket not including the dvd extras.)

Ideal load size depends on your vaping habits but the unit works equally as well with the above mentioned quantities and everything in between.

 

[Konrad_Zuse]

Bruce, what is the least amount that I can load up in the Zephyr and get a nice bag goin? Reason that I'm askin' is because I can load up a PD with 0.025g and get 3 to 4 nice hits from it. Can I do the same with the Zephyr? It's a really a question about the Zephyr's efficiency.

Also, with whip vapes, one can harvest the condensation that occurs in the whips. Is there any way to harvest the condensation that occurs in the bags?

How about the approximate minimum, maximum and ideal load sizes? How big is the bowl?

The bowl will hold comfortably from .05g to .75g without packing it in too tight. It is best to fill the bowl(basket) no more than 3/4 of the way full to ensure maximum airflow. Pack it too tight and it won't vape as consistent as it should.

With .05g I get 1 real good bag and one weak bag.
With .75g we have filled a 10 foot bag with ease.

With .05g I get 1 real good session for 1 person with the whip.
With .75g and the whip, I vaped my ass off all the way through "Inglorious Basterds" without adding to the basket. ( that is 2.5 hours of vaping on one basket not including the dvd extras.)

Ideal load size depends on your vaping habits but the unit works equally as well with the above mentioned quantities and everything in between.

I really thought I made a response last night, but I guess I was too vaked hahah.

The quantities of .05g and .75g are really different. So for me I want to ask would you be able to test other quantities? For me I know that with .2 I can fill a few bags up with ease, and to me each of the bags on my extreme are about 2 feet long, so in reality if I use .2 for 3 bags, that's 1 6 foot bag, compared to .75, which we can say about 4x as much for a 10 foot bag which is about half? How much vapor is in this "10 foot bag?"

Also with .75g in a vape, I could go for a long, long time. Usually I can go 1.5 hours with .2g, I went about 4-5 with a half elbow filled with kief in my extreme, and that took me 2 sessions.

Not trying to bash your product in any way, I just want to see what each amount will give, and if your tests are "accurate" or what is 100%?

I'm really interested to see some full tests at each amount, and see what gives what .

Again I am in no way trying to bash your product, but trying to help, by saying what I experience with my current vape.

modnote: edited to remove contest discussion.

I also what to say it's a really nice name Zephyr .

 

[Bruce@Zephyr]

First, let me say I do not feel like you are trying to bash my product. I understand that the answers to these questions are important to the members of this site. Better informed makes better purchase... no worries.

I have not done testing with some of the specific amounts you are asking about. The fact of the matter is there are too many variables to positively say the exact amount of vapor that will come from a particular amount of biomass. With the same unit depending on the quality of the biomass, you could get a variety of "bag fills". My point was that the unit works just as well with whatever amount of biomass I vape in it as long as I don't overfill the basket.

At home with a half full basket, I get 4-6 bags depending on how high I set the temp and how complete I am trying to vape my biomass. A buddy comes over and with his different biomass I may get 6-8 bags,... different buddy different biomass 2-4 bags. IMHO the amount of quality vapor you get depends on the biomass you are putting in the unit. Good In / Good Out.

In regards to the 10 foot bag that we filled... This is a party bag and mostly done for effect. We filled the 10 foot bag and reloaded the basket between bags. There was plenty of biomass around so we weren't trying to squeeze every vapor out at that time. I am sure we could have filled a second bag but don't have any evidence to back that claim up, and don't want to be accused of BS.

 

[Konrad_Zuse]

First, let me say I do not feel like you are trying to bash my product. I understand that the answers to these questions are important to the members of this site. Better informed makes better purchase... no worries.

I have not done testing with some of the specific amounts you are asking about. The fact of the matter is there are too many variables to positively say the exact amount of vapor that will come from a particular amount of biomass. With the same unit depending on the quality of the biomass, you could get a variety of "bag fills". My point was that the unit works just as well with whatever amount of biomass I vape in it as long as I don't overfill the basket.

At home with a half full basket, I get 4-6 bags depending on how high I set the temp and how complete I am trying to vape my biomass. A buddy comes over and with his different biomass I may get 6-8 bags,... different buddy different biomass 2-4 bags. IMHO the amount of quality vapor you get depends on the biomass you are putting in the unit. Good In / Good Out.

In regards to the 10 foot bag that we filled... This is a party bag and mostly done for effect. We filled the 10 foot bag and reloaded the basket between bags. There was plenty of biomass around so we weren't trying to squeeze every vapor out at that time. I am sure we could have filled a second bag but don't have any evidence to back that claim up, and don't want to be accused of BS.

I figured as much. Yeah each amount put in will produce different amounts, but I guess the quality, which I forgot to figure into my equation, also makes a difference. I figured that the 10 foot bag was just a test, not really to see "Will this amount JUST produce a 10 foot bag" but I do believe you probably got more off of it.

So I should have asked "What quality of herb have you used during testing phases?" Also have you tested the temps by which I mean have you tested if the temp of the heating unit is = to the herb temp, or how does that go about? Also what is the max temp this unit can go to, and what temps do you recommend for each amount/quality? Sorry if the questions were asked before, I didn't see anything really pertaining to this.

Also for the whip, how will that work with the unit? Right now it looks like the bag fits nicely onto a little piece where the air comes out. Will the whip sit on that, where will the herb be placed?

.

 

[vtac]

The fact of the matter is there are too many variables to positively say the exact amount of vapor that will come from a particular amount of biomass.

This.

Bruce, can you post some pics of the unit and parts? What are the dimensions of the unit itself? Looks pretty compact.

 

[Bruce@Zephyr]

I am going to go ahead and try to ad some pictures here. Before I do, let me answer the above questions.

So I should have asked "What quality of herb have you used during testing phases?"

I only use top notch medical grade quality biomass that has less than 5% moisture to vape with.

Also have you tested the temps by which I mean have you tested if the temp of the heating unit is = to the herb temp, or how does that go about?

Usually the biomass starts at room temperature, once in biomass chamber it takes 30 seconds to 1 minute to have the biomass and the unit at the same operating temperature. (*Note if using the bag method, we run the air pump for 3 seconds instead of waiting, prior to placing the mouthpiece on the nozzle)

Also what is the max temp this unit can go to, and what temps do you recommend for each amount/quality?

The max temp the unit will reach is 440F the lowest is 100F.
Herein lies the rub, all biomass vaporizes at the same temp. The 512 chemicals in your specific biomass have a variety of temperatures that the specific chemicals turn to vapor. for instance if you only wanted THE chemical out of your biomass, I wouldn't turn it past 180 degrees. 180 is the vaporization point for that chemical. there are 511 other chemicals with a wide range of vaporization points. I generally set the unit at 360 and raise the temp 5 points whenever I fill a bag. I never vape hotter than 400.

Right now it looks like the bag fits nicely onto a little piece where the air comes out. Will the whip sit on that, where will the herb be placed?

The whip plugs right into the same port/nozzle that the bag plugs into. I will put pics of that up soon.

Bruce, can you post some pics of the unit and parts?

on the way..

What are the dimensions of the unit itself?

6 lbs 11in tall 6in wide (without the bag in place) The basket is 1 1/4" wide by 1/2" tall.

Pictures,.... not sure if I did this right....

 

[Konrad_Zuse]

What exactly is the 2nd to last pic? Looks like some cartridges?

 

[Bruce@Zephyr]

What exactly is the 2nd to last pic? Looks like some cartridges?

The pictures in order are:

1. The Zephyr Ion and bag (promo shot)
2. The lid and nozzle (closed)
3. The lid and nozzle (open)
4. Filling baskets (bowls)
5. Spare bags
6. Mouthpiece Valve System (one with bag attached, one without)
7. Back of the Zephyr Ion
8. Front of the Zephyr Ion

 

[the electrician]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uze-7C-rQhI a video of some guy using it. there is a fair bit of leakage going on, is he doing it wrong? was this discussed ages ago and i just didnt bother to look? answers both question and more coming soon

oh would you look at that, right in the first post. heres what the weed report says: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D3mHxZ6H4U good for in action shots and that. any more for any more? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O74QK2JjZAg

 

[Bruce@Zephyr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uze-7C-rQhI a video of some guy using it. there is a fair bit of leakage going on, is he doing it wrong? was this discussed ages ago and i just didnt bother to look? answers both question and more coming soon

Even with some leakage I must say it is a good video

there is certainly some vapor leakage. I won't try and tell you that the Zephyr Ion is 100% leak free, but we are certainly working toward that goal. Most all of the leakage issues are fixed quite easily, please see the first post on here where I address this issue.

The leakage in that video seems to be a direct result of the basket not being seated properly prior to closing the lid. If you look at the 34-36 second markers on the video you can see the basket sitting slightly askew just before the guy closes the lid. From where the vapors are coming from it looks like the guy only needs to adjust the grommet on his Ion and sit the basket flat in the filling chamber.

Not so sure why he thinks that would only happen on the first bag or why he says that the first bag is the thickest. Sometimes I find my second bag is more milky than the first.

 

[the electrician]

It all depends on how you set it temperature wise if you ask me, start lower and youll get less vapour. I vote you stick to around 205 C for a consistently full vapour experience. Then again i do not use bags so who am i to talk.

To address the leakage you could just make a change to how the draw stem attaches to the bag. The one going looks awfully convenient but id rather put in a little more effort to ensure a total seal.

 

[Bruce@Zephyr]

It all depends on how you set it temperature wise if you ask me, start lower and youll get less vapour. I vote you stick to around 205 C for a consistently full vapour experience. Then again i do not use bags so who am i to talk.

To address the leakage you could just make a change to how the draw stem attaches to the bag. The one going looks awfully convenient but id rather put in a little more effort to ensure a total seal.

Again perhaps I was not as clear as I could have been.

99.99999% of any leakage I have come across has been due to operator error. The three issues I brought to light in my first post on this forum should have that explained. When everything is put together and the operator of the unit is following the instructions there should be no leakage whatsoever.

ooo oo wait a minute,.. there is a little leakage when removing the bag from the nozzle but again that is just a bit of the learning curve when removing the bag from the nozzle. ( don't squeeze the bag when removing it from the machine)


A side note here,... I never really hear anyone complain about leakage from combustion,... that steady stream flowing from the end of a cigarette or pipe. HAHAHAH

 

[quomist]

I like the bowls.

Take one level bowl every 30 - 60 minutes for relief.

 

[the electrician]

"the problem is the wind smokes half of it for you" from a man called wedge on the topic of spliffs.


heres one actually because i like being a nuisance and noone reads the last post on a page anyway, why dont you make the system easier to use if all this leakage is due to user error? it doesnt take a genius like me to figure out that much