Discontinued Zion vaporizer

[trout_fishing_in_america]

@Dramma Lamma : do you feel like your extra airflow (air that flows when the bottom inlet is blocked) is contributing to the “too wide-open” airflow and “too weak/diffuse” heat that other users are describing?

I did the test @Dramma Lamma described, covering the bottom inlet, and isolated the air as coming through the holes between the battery and electronic compartments, where the battery spring terminals are screwed into the bodies. There are 2 separate 1/4” wide gaps, maybe 1/8” tall, that I could get to whistle by pulling through an empty stem, with the bottom air inlet blocked.

So I carved up two little shreds of a wine cork, fit them into the holes above the battery terminals, and my Zion is much happier now. I’d advise anyone having concerns/troubles with too much airflow, not enough heat, try some cork or tape over those holes on the top of the battery compartment, see if that does anything for you. it’s easily reversible, impermanent, and seemed to make a difference.

 

[AJS]

Did a full sesh at 50% while trying to remain as consistent as possible between hits for anyone who cares!

P.S. I hate the big yellow "Discontinued" bar. I keep thinking shit is for sale on the classifieds

 

[Dramma Lamma]

@Dramma Lamma : do you feel like your extra airflow (air that flows when the bottom inlet is blocked) is contributing to the “too wide-open” airflow and “too weak/diffuse” heat that other users are describing?

I did the test @Dramma Lamma described, covering the bottom inlet, and isolated the air as coming through the holes between the battery and electronic compartments, where the battery spring terminals are screwed into the bodies. There are 2 separate 1/4” wide gaps, maybe 1/8” tall, that I could get to whistle by pulling through an empty stem, with the bottom air inlet blocked.

So I carved up two little shreds of a wine cork, fit them into the holes above the battery terminals, and my Zion is much happier now. I’d advise anyone having concerns/troubles with too much airflow, not enough heat, try some cork or tape over those holes on the top of the battery compartment, see if that does anything for you. it’s easily reversible, impermanent, and seemed to make a difference.

Yes, I feel like the air leaking is part of the problem but may not be the full picture.

I did the same as you and put small piece of packaging foam in the battery terminal holes and it did seem to help a bit.

I don't want to make problems for RBT/ryan so I can't detail much past this: I am testing the fix to my unit now in another unit. If it holds up for a few weeks we can probably put this all behind us with the fix.

The test unit with the fix works amazingly at ~60% with no need to restrict draw which is a huge difference from the other which takes 75% or more and heavily restricted draw to work the same.

This test unit I am very happy with and it is working like I imagined.

 

[Cl4ud3]

Yes, I feel like the air leaking is part of the problem but may not be the full picture.

I did the same as you and put small piece of packaging foam in the battery terminal holes and it did seem to help a bit.

I don't want to make problems for RBT/ryan so I can't detail much past this: I am testing the fix to my unit now in another unit. If it holds up for a few weeks we can probably put this all behind us with the fix.

The test unit with the fix works amazingly at ~60% with no need to restrict draw which is a huge difference from the other which takes 75% or more and heavily restricted draw to work the same.

This test unit I am very happy with and it is working like I imagined.

Sounds like what we wanted to hear, so there were some issues with some units in the last batch but it is being fixed, awesome news. Maybe I will get a Zion for Christmas!

 

[Shit Snacks]

Hmmmm yeah I don't know if I can get quite what @AJS can in the vid (thanks again man! knew you would come through) but I am doing more sessions through without bumping to max. Milked at 50% as long as I could before bumping to 75 to continue and finish. Though I am still not sure my max can do what your max can, and it does seem I have to coax mine a bit for proper cloudage below max... So yeah mine could be fine, may need this solution, we shall see. I encourage all owners to conduct extensive testing before presuming it is faulty though

 

[Farkas]

Hmmmm yeah I don't know if I can get quite what @AJS can in the vid (thanks again man! knew you would come through) but I am doing more sessions through without bumping to max. Milked at 50% as long as I could before bumping to 75 to continue and finish. Though I am still not sure my max can do what your max can, and it does seem I have to coax mine a bit for proper cloudage below max... So yeah mine could be fine, may need this solution, we shall see. I encourage all owners to conduct extensive testing before presuming it is faulty though

I saw you all trying some stuff and I figured I'd give mine another shot. Full batteries, super slow draw, covered carb - tried the dial on 50%, 75% and full blast. Unfortunately, nothing. Unit is just not getting to temp at all.

 

[HD Springer]

I saw you all trying some stuff and I figured I'd give mine another shot. Full batteries, super slow draw, covered carb - tried the dial on 50%, 75% and full blast. Unfortunately, nothing. Unit is just not getting to temp at all.

I would send it back to get worked on. The Zion should be able to combust at 100%. That's the standard that was asked for and given as far as I remember. And you shouldn't have to coax anything at any time. IMO. I realize some people have a hard time limiting their draw rate on a clean stem/screen. But we are way way past all that with all the different "tricks" everyone keeps coming up with.

 

[Farkas]

I would send it back to get worked on. The Zion should be able to combust at 100%. That's the standard that was asked for and given as far as I remember. And you shouldn't have to coax anything at any time. IMO. I realize some people have a hard time limiting their draw rate on a clean stem/screen. But we are way way past all that with all the different "tricks" everyone keeps coming up with.

Yep, and I agree wholeheartedly. She worked great out of the box (had a scare with the overheating thing but it may have just been me being overcautious and not knowing the unit yet), but then crapped out. Wish I kept the original packaging, as that is the main issue for me now, finding a good enough sized box to use. Once I get that sorted, I'll pack her up, fill out the warranty page info on the RBT site, and send her off.

 

[KeroZen]

Damn, one of my pair of cells that I bought early on for the Zion crapped on itself! It's my fault and it's the proof that you should not let them sit charged for too long.

I had two pairs of rewrapped HE2 from VapPower, they performed pretty nice. I left one pair discharged in the area where I put the charging "queue". But I fully charged the second pair, and this was when I started using the power adapter exclusively with the Zion. Since I didn't want to break the pair by using them in my other devices, it sat on my desk for some time.

Tonight I tried to use them and one is at 2.53V and the other is flat at 0.08V, FUBAR. I tested the pair that was discharged and it's sitting happily at 3.3V each...

Normally I would dispose the flat cell but I'll try to revive it for science in order to measure how its IR changed using the new gizmo I bought. I'll post the results in the 18650 safety thread for those interested. The other cell surely took a hit too.

So conclusion: if you plan to let your cells unused for more than a month, discharge them under 3.7V first!

 

[AJS]

Just had suuuch a nice sesh in the Zion.

Normally through water I'm using a light, checking abv after every hit, trying to perfect technique, analyzing every variable, trying to get big clouds, etc etc.

Instead, this time I packed a bowl and went outside with my D020D and Zion. Set the dial to 60% and just sat back and vaped. Used the built in stir tool to stir...don't even need to take it out of the Zion to stir, I just keep the tool in there, flip the zion over and use the whole thing to stir as if it's an oversized Lotus adapter.

I never even looked at the bubbler or changed the dial or anything. Just sat back, pressed the button, and pulled at whatever pace was comfortable. Exhaled huge clouds. Flavor never went poor, just turned neutral and stayed that way ...something I couldn't fully accomplish with other vapes.

That was one of my most enjoyable sessions. Just good ol' fashion vaping without any bells n whistle. As I was sitting there, I thought of how much hassle it was getting my LSV to be used in that exact same seat. Bring full duffle bag outside, slide chair closer to the outlet, etc. Now I just grab my zion and bubbler and walk outside and start vaping. No heatup time, literally just go outside and vape. All my vapes with the exception of the Solo 2 (still only a 25 second heatup) are 100% on demand...so it's something I take for granted sometimes. It truly is a blessing to have this.

 

[AJS]

Kinda really want a cheap Chinese hydratube. Seems like it would be super chill with the Zion! They're just kinda bulky ... hmm

 

[Farkas]

Well, Neo is on his way back to his maker. And, of course, I found the original shipping box after the fact. Isn't that always the way?

 

[AJS]

Did a primer hit through water at about 70%, got the herb to a nice yellow, then switch it to 100% to prove to the world that I'm a fucking man.

I had to go pull so hard to keep the temp from spiking and stop the vapor from getting thicker and thicker. The amount of vapor that poured through that bubbler was just completely absurd. Makes the GH look like a nothing vape. Was just ridiculous.

There is NO WAY it should be possible to pull that hard with a convection vape and still get vapor. That shit blew my mind man.

Highly recommended. I'll be using this on max temp much more often. Just. Insane.

 

[cybrguy]

There is NO WAY it should be possible to pull that hard with a convection vape and still get vapor. That shit blew my mind man.

And that would be where the comment "can't overwhelm the heater" comes from. Thanks for the proof...

 

[AJS]

And that would be where the comment "can't overwhelm the heater" comes from. Thanks for the proof...

Was intense man! It's not pulling as hard as I can technically, but waaaaaaay harder than what we are used to with logs or the Milaana or even your standard Zi technique.

I'll get a vid tomorrow most likely....it'll be tough because I have to use different lighting for my cloud videos and that lighting is better for the camera but worse for myself. Gotta be extra careful to not combust.

 

[cybrguy]

In truth going through glass WILL limit how much sucking power can be applied, and it is probably still POSSIBLE to overwhelm the heater, especially with just a stem, but clearly the ZION can take more sucking than most things that one sucks.

And I will leave it at that...

 

[Shit Snacks]

Yeah I've been testing the new one through glass a bit now and a steady strong pull can yield THICK vapor quite quickly

 

[HD Springer]

Yeah I've been testing the new one through glass a bit now and a steady strong pull can yield THICK vapor quite quickly

Are you still thinking it's not running nearly as hot as it should in the upper range of power?

 

[cybrguy]

Yeah I've been testing the new one through glass a bit now and a steady strong pull can yield THICK vapor quite quickly

I look forward to trying that...

 

[AJS]

To those still waiting .. or waiting to get their nonfunctioning one working properly ... you're going to be very pleased once you have a fully working one. It really is the bees knees of portable vaping!

 

[Shit Snacks]

Are you still thinking it's not running nearly as hot as it should in the upper range of power?

Honestly not sure, was able to get herbs dark in one hit on max through my bubbler, but with a longer preheat and more button holding than @AJS' video. It could be an air leak, like others have mentioned (should probably try that cork trick). Maybe it says more about me that I can get nice hits even like this, but yeah its just a little slower and requiring more technique than I am used to right now. As a result (of the long preheats) my battery life is quite low, but as I said the vapor quality I am getting is so good (and the body feels so fucking nice) it is hard to use anything else lately... Waiting to see if RBT wants it back, if there might be another home remedy I should try, or if I should just live with it as is and wait for Splinter. I don't really want to take away any time spent working on stuff for other new customers so we'll see, hell maybe I will just send it on over to AJS at some point to see what he can get out of it on film

 

[Cl4ud3]

Honestly not sure, was able to get herbs dark in one hit on max through my bubbler, but with a longer preheat and more button holding than @AJS' video. It could be an air leak, like others have mentioned (should probably try that cork trick). Maybe it says more about me that I can get nice hits even like this, but yeah its just a little slower and requiring more technique than I am used to right now. As a result (of the long preheats) my battery life is quite low, but as I said the vapor quality I am getting is so good (and the body feels so fucking nice) it is hard to use anything else lately... Waiting to see if RBT wants it back, if there might be another home remedy I should try, or if I should just live with it as is and wait for Splinter. I don't really want to take away any time spent working on stuff for other new customers so we'll see, hell maybe I will just send it on over to AJS at some point to see what he can get out of it on film

It's the same issue I had with mine, the amount of power needed to get extraction meant they were draining so quickly.
And the recent statements about not being able to overpower the heater, well I could feel the temperature drop to nothing with a medium strong pull.
So glad it's back with Ryan for a look and some tlc.

 

[TeeJay1952]

 

[AJS]

hell maybe I will just send it on over to AJS at some point to see what he can get out of it on film

You have my address from that Grasshopper still

Speaking of films ...
https://instagram.com/p/Bbz7IGnAC1_/ Zion at 100% through water. Toying with combustion like a magnifying glass to an ant. Except we only vape the ants in my neighborhood

 

[AJS]

Talked to RBT on the phone for the first time today, for well over 2 hours lol. Super chill dude. Only thing to relay back to the forum is he still highly recommends putting a piece of tape over the inlet hole and poking a hole in it with a toothpick. I tried it while on the phone with him and it is a totally different experience. Something to get used to, but the flavor is much thicker. Still need more experimenting.