Your experience with the vape definitely sounds negative enough to make the experience quite "meh," as you said. Can you speak to the vapor quality? The Z team really seems to believe it's a total game changer in regards to volume, taste and efficiency, and I'm much more interested in tangible discussion of a vaporizer's traits than I am in vague exclamations of witchcraft and genius, which are not "claims" in the sense that they say anything beyond "I love this vape!"
For example, I am obsessed with my Herbalizer. I tell people it's magic, but what I actually mean is that it has the purest convection signature of any vaporizer I have used, which actually leads to fairly variable cloud production based on what I put inside of it. My Underdog is also a convection vaporizer, but the heater core's mass, thin airpath and stainless steel bowls add just enough conduction (IMO, call it radiant heat, whatever) to make it a consistent cloud producer, even with shake. Meanwhile, the Herbalizer will only respond to what you put in it. I have purchased bud that looked very pretty, but once I tried vaping it in the Herbalizer it was clear to me that the aesthetic quality of the weed far outranked its ability to get me high. The Herbalizer has a 10 second heat up time (another fact), and has outlived countless drops and water spills--even spills that went down the grate, onto the heating element, and into the vaporizer. The pureness of its convection heating means that it works much better with the fan on + an inhale when working with a water pipe or bubbler, because the weed is truly only heated by the draw of halogen-heated air over the weed. I wouldn't even recommend the Herbalizer to someone in an illegal state, because lower quality buds do not shine through it--while in a conduction vape like my Boundless CFX, pretty much anything I throw in there will give me clouds. I loved the Cloud Evo for different reasons. It, too, has fairly pure convection, especially with a cold ELB, but IMO a lot of the reason for the cloud production is the slight tinge of conduction from a hot ELB that really milks water pipes, mixed with intensely flavorful convection vapor. I don't even use the Evo anymore because it was VERY consistently getting me WAY too medicated! I'm a young person who is trying to use cannabis responsibly while progressing professionally (I'm a short story writer), and the Evo's vape signature and huge hit capabilities are actually far too powerful for anything beyond night time or weekend usage.
Anyways, my main point is that this thread's derailing into absurd arguments over shipping, the personality of someone that I have never met, and the quality of a vaporizer only 10 people have seen is as much on the testers as it is on the complainers, who have reason to be upset even if they are not voicing their concerns with much respect or decorum.
Testers: Can we have some cold, hard, FACTS about the Zion? I know it's supposed to be amazing, I believe that it's amazing...but no one seems to want to explain why I should be so excited by RBT's technology that it's worth waiting a year for. I recognize that the heater design is patented, but there has to be something more technical you can give us than porn shoots (which I <3) and assurances that once we try it we, too, will be blown away.
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THE FULL POST: There's a lot of vaporizers out there and a lot of them work very well. I don't get why we (potential pre-orders who are watching the drama and trying to figure out what to do) can't get some technical explanation of
why it's better than anything else. I'm not just open to a game-changing vape, I'm wide open. It makes my mouth water to hear experienced vaporists talk like this. But can't you tell us anything? Airflow construction, something about the speed at which the heater reaches critical mass, the way that the placement of the bowl affects vapor production. I'm a proud fanboy of my favorite vapes and I totally understand the desire to say "This thing is fucking sick, you MUST BUY IT." But I have that reaction nearly every time I purchase a new vape. WHAT is it about the Zion that makes it so good? I think that a breakdown--even a few words, or a traditional-style review from the Z-team--would do a whole world of good for the company, the people waiting, and the people who are riding the fence about the Zion. It's honestly just hard to believe all of the positive claims without something to back it up. Seibo runs a much larger company in VXL, but he managed to pull off a turnaround from near bankruptcy and has explained in great detail the way that turbulence in the Evo = huge vape production. So give us some facts. Please, anything! I've read this entire thread, most of the posts more than once, and I know about as much about the Zion as I did when the thread was made a year ago.
EDIT: or at least some type of admission that you guys aren't allowed to discuss technical details, which would be a mistake on RBT's part IMO but at least understandable.
@Shit Snacks can you give me anything?
How about "trade secret", or "patent pending"?
I really appreciate the effort you put into responding to my post, and your videos are awesome. A portable with a similar vape signature to the Herbalizer really does sound disruptive! I'm not surprised that the flavor is better, considering materials--it's not something that I get too worked up about personally, but a lot of people are against whip vaporizers for silicon related reasons. Do you find that there is an "upper limit" to how big of a hit you can get because of optimal bowl packing? Or can large-ish bowls be killed in just a few hits?