Vaporiser Review - Da Buddha, Arizer V-Tower & Arizer Extreme-Q

[FullCircle]

I'm sitting here vaping, and thinking about which vaporiser I'd like to try next. Figured I'd write a review of the ones I've owned

 

Da Buddha

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160521/9d1d7c170da8e3502046de9fcb7cf41f.jpg

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160521/3f1645ab7899a4a945276619b1943573.jpg

 

I got my Da Buddha in around July last year, and fell in love with vaping instantly! I'd had 3 bouts of tonsillitis in a year which I believe was due to having a constantly sore throat from smoking from a dry pipe or bong.

 

I bought it from Australian Vaporisers who are based in Brisbane (www.australianvaporizers.com.au). I seem to recall it was $220 plus shipping, but I might be out a little.

 

It took a little bit to get used to the dial, as it doesn't have a digital control or temperature markings, so you don't know the exact temperature you're setting it to. That is my main complaint with this one.

 

It is a basic whip style with no fan, so you suck the air through the whip to take a hit, and you can't fill bags with it.

 

You actually fill the glass bowl on the end of the whip and then plug it into a ground glass joint on the side of the unit. The angle is a pain, as you have to hold it 90degrees and it's a bit awkward when stoned!

 

The bowl is a bit small, you go through it too quickly (well I do, but I'm greedy!).

 

Despite the design flaws, I still enjoy using this one. The company is based in Colorado, and they've been very good when I contacted their support to ask about some accessories.

 

I probably wouldn't recommend this one, to be honest. I just find it generally a bit too fiddly to use, but my main gripe is the lack of an accurate temp control.

 

Arizer V-Tower

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160521/b44fe05fa390f5804054212d523bc2f8.jpg

 

These two Arizers are very similar. The V-Tower is the most basic version, and the Extreme has extra features.

 

I hadn't thought to try this one before, but when I was in the states for holidays I wanted a cheap vape to use while there, and saw a brand new V-Tower in box unopened on Craigslist for 80 bucks (They retail for $210 here). Best 80 I've spent I reckon! It was indeed completely brand new with all it's accessories. The temperature control made it so apparent that it's an important feature to get the most from vaping.

 

This is also a whip style vape, but the bowl on this sits on the unit itself. It's a very cool design, with two different wire screens which make it a perfectly clean vape with no material getting through, which wasn't the case with da buddha. The bowl is big so you can fill it up and I can vape for an hour or more off it and still be getting hits.

 

I've done a lot of experimenting with grinding to different consistencies, from blender to coffee grinder, to regular grinder. The absolute best way is to pop a whole piece of bud in, no grinding at all. Starting out low and stepping up the heat. I use the poker (his name is pokey, and my husband and I laugh because pokey is always getting misplaced and my cat steals him. I'll post a picture of my pockey as well . Ummm ok I got sidetracked. Should have done this straight!

 

Anyway, it's also very handy that the ground glass connectors where the whip attaches to the unit, that part rotates 360 degrees, so passing the whip is really easy with this one, if you're sharing with someone else. When I'd try to pass the da buddha to my hubby, it would be tricky because you had to turn the whole unit. Also easier when it's just you vaping too, cause you can move around and it doesn't tip the unit over.

 

It has a digital display, with back light, and a timer so you can set it to turn off after a few hours, in case you go night night [emoji14]

 

It came with a generous number of screens, but they are cheap to buy. I just got 8 of the special dome screens for less than $10 on ebay, and they last so long If you rinse in iso to get the resin off it. My current screens have been used daily for 3 months, just cleaned in iso. Finally nought more this week haha.

 

I'd definitely recommend this as it's excellent quality for the money. It's a nice looking unit, it looks more expensive than it is, I think. For about 40 bucks more you can get the Extreme Q, which I think is worth the extra.

 

Arizer Extreme Q

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160521/e46ab6ca8a965d0c190a1773b71e0784.jpg

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160521/509bae8d929c414ea342af7a4eeb0b22.jpg

 

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160521/f3155fde5742e7d53951e1c31d6099d5.jpg

 

This is the one I use every day now, and I absolutely love it. Seriously can't rave about it enough! I was considering investing in a volcano, but then I saw that Arizer did one with a fan as well. It's pretty much exactly the same as the v tower to look at, just with extra features.

 

The fan allows you to attach a bag/balloon (it comes with 2,and the attachments) and inflate it with vapour, just like the volcano. But, unlike the volcano, you can turn the fan off or on, enabling you to use it in the regular whip style, taking a hit when you want it.

 

If you're feeling lazy, you can sit there with the whip in your mouth and turn the fan on (the fan also has high, medium or low settings), and your lungs get inflated. I love this hahaha.

 

You also get this little glass attachments used to fill the bags... But there is also a mouthpiece on this, so you can use it as a mini whip (actually that's it's name) and hold the unit and take a hit, and it's just like hitting a bong, but with vapour

 

You can get lots of accessories like bags and stuff, and they also have a battery pack to make it portable.

 

I bought this one from Australian Vaporisers also, and it was $250.

 

Out of the 3, the Extreme is definitely my favourite, and I cannot actually think of anything about it that needs improving. Temp seems very accurate and can be adjusted by 1 degree increments, and in either Celsius or Fahrenheit.

 

Hope this is helpful to someone! Cheers

[Naked Monk]

I too am an extreme Q fan, love the thing. I still can fault little things on this unit compared to the Volcano, which are as followed:

 

Temp setting:

Yes you can dial in the temp setting via a digital LCD display on the Extreme Q, the actual temp on the herb and the temp displayed on the LCD panel are out by roughly 5-8 degrees Celcius. The reason is that the ceramic element that is on the unit is the temp being measured and the ground herb sits about 25mm above the ceramic element, this distance and with the fan on cools the air slightly that makes contact with the herb giving a slightly false temp reading, As long as your aware of this variable then you can set your temp accordingly. The Volcano (digital version) on the other hand only has a +/-2 degree variable, so your pretty spot on for what ever temp you dial in.

 

The balloon setting vs the Volcano:

Extreme Q, brilliant way to pass a vape around when in a group setting or to even solo it, but it requires the manual "finger over the top" to plug the glass mouthpiece when passing the balloon for the next toke. While not so much of a drama as such, I have had someone with grubby fingers share a balloon and when it got passed back to me, I could taste this grubby rank crap that rubbed off the fingers onto the mouthpiece. While the volcano uses a brilliant mouthpiece valve to trap the vapor inside the bag until needed. 

 

The WOW factors that I like about Extreme Q over the "God father of vapes" the Volcano.

As FullCircle mentioned, the whip (Volcano does not have this feature). The whip can be used both with manual inhalation or assisted with the fan, absolutely brilliant set up as I have found a 3rd way to use the whip which I will try to explain without breaking into a full tutorial for how to use the Extreme Q. Most people that vape on digital units with whips have a 2 or 3 temperature stage program they use (i.e. - start off on a lower setting and bump it up to finish off the ground herb to get optimum extraction without getting that toasted popcorn flavour from over cooking your herb). With this 3rd method you avoid this temperature stage and go back to a single temp like you would use for the balloon. You purchase a spare elbow (which has a 14.4mm ground glass male fitting) used for balloons, and put it on the other end of the whip where the mouthpiece normally is, then place this 14.4mm male on a 14.4mm ground glass female fitting bong and turn temp up to max temp and pull the vape thru your bong.

 

The Extreme Q is a smaller unit than the Volcano and thus doesn't crowd your table, the choice of whip or balloon, decently respectable size bowl,  half the price of the Volcano, comes with a potpurri bowl (and yes the wife an I use the potpurri bowl with botanicals like lavender when I am not vaping) a good selection of accessories and rebuild parts, both locally and internationally. 

 

Easily affordable compared to others on the market with less features.

 

The not so WOW factors:

easier to control the unit with the remote than the actual on board controls. temp setting variable, no valve on the balloon. 

 

I give the Extreme Q a 4 star out of 5, but saying that I also give the Volcano, which I refer to as The God Father of desk top vaporizers, a 4 out of 5 for not having a whip feature and being big and bulky and most of all THE PRICE. 

[FullCircle]

Good to know about attaching a bong to the Extreme Q. I need to try this. I have a very sensitive throat and even vapour irritates it a bit when I vape every night. A bubbler on it would be awesome, I believe there is small bubblers you can attach to the whip also. Thanks for your feedback mate