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Baron23

Well-Known Member
Again, another old review reprint to provide some initial info and perhaps a place for further discussion to land

Source Orb 4 Review

Hi folks and @SOURCEvapes – as I mentioned in my review of the Source 10cig, or some reason that still completely escapes me, Source asked if they could send me some of their product to review and I agreed on the stipulations that; 1) I would only report exactly what my honest experience has been and; 2) I would need Bud’s agreement as I would have to post the review on his site (which he enthusiastically supplied). Also, please note that I in no way have any financial agreements or relationship with Source. They just wanted to give me a bit of kit and see what I thought and have me share that with you. They sent me a TON of stuff.

Also, while I smoked hash oil in the late 60’s and early 70’s, I don’t have the most experience with concentrates (about a year and a half with modern concentrates) and now pretty much use a Liger enail (soon to get a D-nail SiC Halo also). Since I got the Liger, my pens (Linx Hynos Zero, Kandy Pens Galaxy, and DT2.5 on an Eleaf box) have not been used as often.
But, setting up the enail takes a bit (no, I don’t leave the rig out all of the time, just not appropriate in my house) and often I just want a bit of concentrate to power up a flower session. So, pens still definitely have a place in my general vaping.

My last review was of the 10cig which is a $10 pen kit (yes, there is no typo here…it’s basically a use and toss device). This time it’s the Source Orb 4 Premium kit. They also sent me their nail and bubblers but I already have a good box mod and didn’t need the Signature Kit in order to get a battery box (and I don’t want to take advantage of anybody including Source).

I know this pen has been out for a while and there are reviews on it already. As a matter of fact, instead of creating a new thread, I have posted this to the excellent review thread started by AntManMax1. But I owe these guys a review for giving me this stuff, I’m very delinquent with them, so please forgive me if all of this is old news.

I will try to keep this concise (P.S. – apparently I failed) since there is so much already posted here on this pen.

The Package
Attachment-1.jpeg


Ok, it’s a nice display box. Very nice for merchandising and display. But are you really going to keep your kit in this box? I don’t think so...it’s kind of a pain and would think that if you get one that you consider the need for some other case or box to keep all of this stuff in. I would compare this to the Kandy Pen metal snap case or even the Linx box which is compact and well made. This thing is huge and I don’t think it’s really suitable for day to day storage. This is very minor comment but as I continue to buy vapes I have all kinds of boxes and other detritus collecting around the house and storage, organization and size is getting to be an important factor (where did I get all of this shite from!! LOL)

The Contents
upload_2017-8-3_16-41-17.jpeg

Well, you get a lot of stuff in this kit. On the left hand side is the battery and just to the right of it is the “Orb” where you screw your atomizer in. It comes with an actual fairly decent dab tool (not great but way better than most that you get in a kit), a 510/UBS adapter, a wall wart for charging, and six different atomizers (to be discussed more below). Now, you may think that the bit of paper shown is the operating instructions… but you (and I) would be wrong. Not much to operate but nonetheless any info you need you will have to get from their website. No instructions included really. Source, really….no instructions at all? You can easily remedy this, yeah?

The Assembly
Below is a picture of the entire assembly. Very nice. Basically, you have a battery, an Orb which screws on to the battery, the Orb top and bottom halves are held by magnets, and inside the orb you screw in your atomizer. The magnets work very well and are strong, but be sure the top of your Orb is seated properly or you will have air leakage.
upload_2017-8-3_16-41-47.jpeg

A tip for you: screw your Orb onto the battery BEFORE screwing in the atomizer. There seems to be spring loaded contacts in there and screwing the Orb on gets a bit balking if the atomizer is already screwed down tight.

upload_2017-8-3_16-42-15.jpeg


The Orb 4 is, however, largish. Below is comparison to my Linx Hynos. Size is not an issue for me, but if looking for highly discreet and stealthy vaping, perhaps not this device. Perhaps the Orb 4 Slimline that just came out

upload_2017-8-3_16-42-28.jpeg


The Battery

Generally there is not much to say about a pen battery. But sans directions I didn’t even know how to turn it on. First, it did come pretty much charged up but I topped it off.

Charging tip – this is for the Orb, any other electrical vape, or really any electrically driven device. Put the charger on the device first, THEN plug the charger into the wall. The reason being is if there is any sort of arc and surge when plugging in, it will be between the receptacle and the changer and not the charger and the device. S&B recommends this and it should be your standard practice, I believe, for all electronic devices.

So, checking the web site I found it’s a standard five times real quick on the button to turn it on. The button glows blue when fully charged and changes color as the charge dissipates (see their website for details of color code scheme).

Now, I was puzzled about how to change temp. This is my one main gripes about the battery. The voltage output is adjustable via the very bottom ring on the battery from 2.7 v to 4.2 with universal adjustment (no detents or click). It is not easy to see that there even is a ring and its shiny finished like the rest of the battery with no knurls so it’s a bit difficult to adjust. For any patients with movement or dexterity disorders effecting the hands, you will hate it. They just need to add some knurling to the adjustment ring and all would be much better.

Also, the voltage markings on the ring are very difficult to see, particularly in any glare off of the high polish finish. This is also an area that Source can easily improve on.
The voltage adjustment ring:

upload_2017-8-3_16-42-44.jpeg

The Atomizers

The kit comes with six different atomizers show below. A Ti bucket (really has a little bucket in there), a ceramic plate they call Quartz Plus because the it’s a plate at the bottom of a quartz chamber? (not removable), single and double quartz rod coils, double white ceramic rod coil, and black ceramic rod coil (is that six?? LOL). They also sent me some Terra OG atomizers shown in the picture below above the six kit atomizers. These are all ceramic chambers but are NOT the Terra 2 with the removable ceramic bucket that sits on top of a donut heater. They look like a ceramic plate bonded to ceramic chamber walls. While the knurled ring will screw off of them, the ceramic is NOT removable and the bottom of it is in fact the heating plate (rather than a bucket bottom). In the Terra 2 they took this to its conclusion by putting a ceramic bucket that sits on top of a ceramic donut heater.

For this review, I only used the Ti, Double Quartz, and Quartz Plus atomizers (sorry guys, I have only so many brain cells and need to get this review started. I will add any pertinent comments on other atomizers later but I’m not sure how much there is to say about a ceramic metal coil atomizer at this point).
upload_2017-8-3_16-43-0.jpeg


I do want to talk about atomizers and heaters. This is a pen kit. This is not a honking, powerful box mod although you can certainly mount the Orb on any 510 equipped box. Where this comes into play is with these “bucket” or “cup” atomizers. I, Aventus, and many others have longed for a leakless, sealed pen atomizer. Basically a banger in pen form. Leaks may come from many areas, but heaters need electrical wire leads and that is a prime leak path IMO. So, bucket type atomizers are very exciting to me…..HOWEVER, because you have the heating donut sitting beneath a separate dab cup and trying to get the whole thing hot in almost no time, they take much more power than generally available in a pen form (this pen is only 650 mah). For example, Source recommends in the 27-30 watt area for the Source Nail Ceramic and even higher for the Terra 2. The Ti bucket atomizer is a bit of an exception due to Ti’s high heat transfer coefficient. I still personally think it will work better on a box with more power, the pen battery can drive it because Ti is such an effective and efficient conductor of heat.
Ti Bucket Atomizer disassembled:
upload_2017-8-3_16-43-18.jpeg


My thoughts on the atomizers:

1. The Ti – I liked it. You need to run it on the battery’s max output of 4.2 V but it will work. I didn’t get enail type clouds, but I did get good visible vapor, consumed the dab well in 4 draws or so, and got high as hell (which is one of the challenges of doing vape reviews…after trying the product, who the hell can write!! LOL).

2. Double Quartz Coil – Wow, should have done a burn off on this one before using. First dab gave me 3-4 burnt tasting draws. Ugh! However, after running it dry, the next dab was wonderful with no bad taste. Bigger clouds out of the double coil but had to run to the hot side on the battery (3.7 V).

3. Quartz Plus – basically a ceramic plate atomizer and I think this was my favorite so far. Very nice flavor, middle of the road in cloud density, and it really reminded me of the Linx Zero…with a bit more power available, perhaps. 4-5 nice draws out of a dab.

All of the atomizers worked acceptably well and I have no problems with them. However, with the Ti bucket atomizer I found that after just a couple of dabs, the screw ring that holds the bucket in was already glued stuck a bit by condensed concentrate vapor. This will be an issue for all of these removable dab surface type atomizers, I believe. At some point you will probably find it hard to open it up and will need to pre-heat or soak it upside down in a 1/16” or so of ISO to get it lose.

Operation

This pen…pretty much like all pens…is pretty straight forward to operate. Five clicks on the battery button turns it on/off. Temp, as described, is adjusted by rotating the ring at the bottom of the battery tube. Set your air flow using the adjustment on the Orb. Pretty much all that’s left then is to load the atomizer, push the button, and vape.

This is a close up of the air flow control feature. You can select up to five holes to be open or all of them closed by rotating the Orb. This shot is without an atomizer installed and as a result, you can see the air hole open all the way into the chamber:
upload_2017-8-3_16-43-50.jpeg


But don’t panic and wonder what happened to your air holes once fully assembled (as I did stoned on my ass one day LOL). In the pic below, as you can see (or as I hope you can see), the knurled top of the atomizer is now behind the air hole.

upload_2017-8-3_16-44-6.jpeg

This is a good thing as definitely air flows into the orb below the top of the atomizer and then is sucked up. This is better than just the hole we were drilling into Kandy Pen Galaxy’s, above the atomizer, when they first came out, IMO.

I have been using it with two holes open, max. For me, more open air is just too much air. But, in general, I like a rip rather than a sip and for you sippers and lovers of real light and cool vapor, open the air holes up and the Orb 4 will deliver.

Now, a caution on the air adjustment mechanism. This will, IMO, also definitely get gunked up and stuck with reclaim with enough use. But it can be soaked in ISO (it’s all metal) so I don’t see this as an issue.

This is how much I put in at a time. I think a lot of people mess up their pens by overloading them. Just a small bit at a time will do it.
upload_2017-8-3_16-44-21.jpeg

And the dab in an atomizer
upload_2017-8-3_16-44-33.jpeg


Also, like all pens, try to remember to keep drawing for a second after you come off the button (don’t know why this works but it seems to with all pens) and leave it in an upright position to cool so hot viscous concentrate won’t drip out.

Also, I have NOT had any internal spatter out of the atomizers. None. This is probably due in part to the deepness of the atomizers (deeper to the heating element than most, I believe) and the Orb which is stood off a bit from the atomizer. So far, I got none of that spatter up into the mouthpiece that I would expect from a pen. This was VERY nicely done, Source.

On the subject of leaks, with the exception of the Ti bucket atomizer, I would think there is some risk of leakage as with any standard coil, donut, or plate atomizer. I think Aventus indicated that he has some leakage with these devices. I have not but I have not put a lot of product through them so it’s not something I can comment on. The Ti bucket one definitely will not leak as will not any of the quartz or ceramic nail atomizers that Source makes. However, this pen battery is just not enough to drive those higher wattage requirement atomizers.

What’s Next
Well, next up is to just screw the Orb onto my Eleaf box mod with variable wattage and much more power and see what I can see. I will try the Ti bucket and the Nail quartz and ceramic bucket atomizers.

Also, Source sent me their entire enail kit (sans box mod) and a couple of water attachments to try. But that’s for the next installment of “How Baron’s World Turns”. Like sand through an hour glass, so goes the concentrates in Baron’s life. LOL
 
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