shadybeep

I bought a vapolution vaporiser a few weeks ago because it was nice and warm and it had me tempted to smoke outside, so here is a little review of it
Well, I havent yet come across a vaporiser I didnt like (thanks entirely to the forums here), and the vapolution is no exception, as I will get to at the end
It has the potential for both a battery adaptor and a car adaptor, giving it a portability unavailable in most vaporisers. This comes at a cost, in that the area you put your herb in is rather small which somewhat limits the size of hits you can get off it.
The unit itself is average size, plastic coated but very solid feeling, it appears to be filled with some kind of insulating stuff making it heavy and solid enough to not feel cheap or easily breakable. This keeps the whole unit very cool at all times, with no exposed or warm surfaces. Its not as pretty as some other vaporisers, but it definately matches them in function as far as design of the unit is concerned. And all glass vaping is always nice.
The narrow design of the vapolution causes some problems in that the amount of herb is limited, as is the airflow. The heater is quite capable of burning herbs on a very low setting if you just leave them in there, and the bottom of the whip, where you fill the herbs themselves, has no end on it, so if you dont stuff the weed in right, itll fall out. (this doesnt always make it burn though, as i think theres a gap below the heater). Its annoying to begin with, although rarely happens now i have had a little practice. Whilst people have said the hits are small, id have thought it probably depends on how you like it, I get less hits off the vapolution than my da buddah, but they are reasonably big. Only time it might be a problem is when there is a group of people, the refilling (and there is a knack to it) might get in the way.
The glasswear, being thin to accomodate, might be more breakable, although i havent broken anything yet, apart from the glass straw thing, which was very nice indeed, but fell off my table on the very first day and snapped in two.
I never did get around to taking it outside (foiled by the weather), but i did test it using the battery pack. I didnt time it or anything useful like that, but it did last the two hours they claimed im pretty sure, (at least, it was long enough for several lots of vaporisation hence the bad timekeeping)

Aside from all that, the vapolution is my favourite vaporiser of the moment, for one reason only: you can leave it on forever! It just doesnt get very hot, so any time you feel like you can fill up a little hit, pop it in and there you go. I have been turning it on in the morning and just leaving it around. I dont really feel able to do that with the da buddah, cause its more exposed header and parts would worry me, and my herbalaire shuts off after 30 minutes or so. The small hits really arent an issue when you use it like this, and the 12v supply means it wont be using too much power or be particularly dangerous whatever crisis might happen.
I do find you have to pay a bit of attention to it when vaping, as the heater itself gets a lot hotter than the air temperature, so just leaving buds in it WILL burn them (even at low temps), but i just insert whip, one toke to heat it up, then vapor till i stop and remove.
With the right sized load you can fully and perfectly vape an individual amount and discard it, so theres never any half vaped herbs around, which i find convenient.
Shipping from the manufacturer was relatively quick (im in the uk, so i dont expect magic and they were fast to respond to emails (within minutes the first time) and helpful with it.

Cant think of anything else to add, so there you go. Its well priced, sturdy and nice, and theres both benefits and compromises from the low powered design. If you want a portable but electric vape, theres not much real choice, but even if you didnt, the vapolution is a nice addition to any collection.

5drive

It's not plastic coated. The shell/housing is ceramic. That's the weight you feel. The inside is semi-filled with mica flakes. The heater is like a big test tube down the center of the unit, with the heating element wrapped around the outside of the tube, so the vapor path is insulated from everything inside the shell. Outside air comes in through the top of the tube where the bowl is inserted.

Yeah, this vape has a higher learning curve than some other direct draw units because your herb is deep inside the heating chamber. More variables to deal with to avoid burning your product. I wouldn't pack the bowl too densely, as that will result in uncooked herb at the cool end of the bowl. The dimple in the glass will stop even small pieces from going up the bowl and turning the unit on its side will prevent small loads from coming out. For ground herb, put a piece in first to act as a screen, then load the ground herb behind it, using the unit horizontally again.

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beezleb878

I look forward to future versions of this vape. Thank you for your review.

tokinGLX

at the factory, there is a ssv that has been running on high power for 6 and a half years straight, turned off only when they moved into a bigger building. the innards of the ssv and dbv are the same(if not upgraded since that initial ssv was made and turned on), so you have nothing to worry about with leaving it on all day. my unit gets turned on once in the morning and is kept on until i go to sleep that night. after a year of this, there is absolutely no difference in its usage from when it was new.

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united we toke, divided we choke.

beezleb878

Yea, one can leave it on but why if its not being used, electricity isnt cheap.

shadybeep

Theres two reasons why I dont leave the da buddah on permanently
1. Its not a cheap thing by any means, and exposed glass gives me the fear (not that i have come close to damaging the da buddah, its sturdy and everything, im just paranoid)
but mainly
2. If I fill the da buddah up to the level I normally would, im always pissed off when im half way through vaping a load, I go off and do something, and when i get back i drop all the herb in the whip on the floor. Its not that is easy or a bad design, im just incompetent, and with the vapolution I only need to fill it up a very small amount. (To me, putting only a little bit in the da buddah is like driving to a supermarket in a ferrari )

5Drive: I didnt realise it was a ceramic case, but I liked the way it was built regardless, specially the clever heater mechanism you mentioned (which has got me looking up test tubes and heating wire in curiosity) after all, no part of the casing is even touched by hot air. Also, its your comments which led me to buy a vapolution to begin with, so thanks

jhpfunk

Not sure if everyone saw my long saga with Gotvape.com and the broken Stealth II units. That story ends with everything being returned and my credit card company nixing their charges. After much research on this board and the others, I decided to buy a Vapolution. I am glad that I did. I bought it directly from the company and they were great to deal with. I ordered over the phone and they were cool to replace the basic package's plastic tubing and straight bowls with one glass all-in-wonderbowl...which to me makes all of the difference. I elected not to get the rechargeable battery because it looked bulky and doesn't attach to the unit. With the cigarette lighter adapter and regular power cord, I think I should be fine. Plus, I can't image holding the AIW bowl and a battery pack and trying to vape at the same time. I'd need three hands.

The digital temperature readout is a nice thing to have for sure in some of the more expensive models, but the ability to avoid all plastic tubing, plastic pieces, plastic bags and metal screens is huuuuuge. It tastes so much better. All for $150 delivered!!! I did elect to buy a second all-in-wonder bowl because they seemed fragile. Maybe at some point, they'll make a case for them. It would also be nice if they incorporated some kind of device to secure the AIW bowl in place so that it doesn't slide around.

Overall, I really like the unit. It seems a lot more sturdy than the Stealth II...and a ton more portable. They recommend that you set the unit at 12 o'clock but mine doesn't seem to work above 2pm. I spoke to the guy at Vapolution and he said that beacuse they are all hand-made that the units don't always run the same. Does anyone have any recommendations with heating at lower levels? It definitely takes some getting used to and technique. But for taste alone, I'm not sure if it gets any better.

beezleb878

Trying going from low to high and then high to low and determine you unique sweet spot so to speak.

Happy Vaping!

AnotherToker

Nice review. Thanks for sharing your experiences with it. I have tried several vapes myself. Maybe I should do some reviews..

Time for a performance evaluation!..

jhpfunk

Does anyone else need to set the dial past 12? Mine doesn't seem to work at less than 2.