Baron23
Well-Known Member
This is a reprint of my first attempt to review my first vaporizer (well, my first good vape, that is). Just reposting to provide a place for discussion of this great device which has withstood the test of time for the very good reasons that it was well designed and well built.
My Volcano Blog - or my GREAT vaporizer and how I bored you senseless about it
Hi Boys and Girls – yes, the incredible endless poster, with his equally endless posts, is back again. If you need to blame anybody, try Flipz as he made the mistake of complimenting me on a post and allowed as how I should try to contribute more. Silly man. He clearly doesn’t know what kind of narcissistic ego he’s dealing with here!
If you just can’t stand it, please just do not read them. X-)
The subject of today’s screed is the process I went through to buy my Volcano and my initial experiences with it. This is actually going to be a bit of blog as I intend to keep coming back and updating this thread with the results of my continuing experience with the Volcano.
THE DEAL – I bought my Volcano via Vapor Nation, the retailer that Bud recommends in his review article. I looked around and could find what I wanted for a slightly better price, but some of these sources were eBay e-stores while other sources needed to be closely examined to see if it was an equal offering (e.g. found a source for the Digit that was about $100 cheaper…but it didn’t include any valve starter set which cost….wait for it, about $100). Also, different sources had different ‘freebees’, some of which I just didn’t care about, but all of this needs to be taken into consideration when evaluating price.
So, I went to Vapor Nation last Saturday and found their website to be clear, professional, and they carried everything I wanted to buy. I did have a choice of free shipping (NOT free overnight shipping though) or a Volcano soft bag. I opted for the soft bag as shipping by UPS was about $37 and the bag was $59. I did mention in the notes section of my online order that The Vapor Critic site showed free overnight shipping if ordered via his link but that I didn’t see this on their site. I indicated that I was ok with the deal as it was, but if they could do anything to speed my shipment to me without further charges, that would be way cool.
The first business day after I placed my order (Monday), I get a call from a nice chap at Vapor Nation telling me that they were going to ship overnight air at no additional costs. This was more than I expected and, quite frankly, more than I really deserved. Of course I accepted gratefully and I’ll let you in a little secret…stuff like this absolutely cements customer loyalty and I feel very favorable toward Vapor Nation and will buy from them as a first source, all else being equal or better.
THE ORDER - I ordered a Digit for the additional money over an analog (the Classic) as I am very interested in zeroing in on temps versus effects vs taste vs efficiency, blah, blah, blah. Hey, I have no life and I get excited about this kind of stuff. So, I wanted to have a very accurate temp reading and controller which is what I have.
For both the Digit and the Classic, the vaporization temperature range is adjustable between 104°F and 446°F (40°C and 230°C). For the Classic, the temp range is 266°F and 446°F (130°C and 230°C). Hard to see this as a significant difference.
Likewise, temperature accuracy for the Digit is ±2,7°F (±1,5°C) while for the Classic its Temperature accuracy ±9°F (± 5°C). Again, hard to make a Federal case out of this.
Bottom line, I like buttons and flashing LEDs so I ordered the Digit…that and the Digit should theoretically give me better precision in reproducing temp settings, but we are talking about vaping herb here, not a lunar space shot.
I ordered it with the Easy Valve Starter Kit included. Although I can see myself making bags on a solid valve, and the solid valve seems like a real piece of machining and craft, the Easy Valve is, well…easy and I’m a beginner. I can always order a solid valve at a later date if I find the need.
I also purchased an additional box of Easy Valve balloons (6 ea./box), Easy Valve Wear and Tear set for a whopping $12 (like a boy scout, always be prepared), and a set of fine screens (not sure what I need them for, but they were cheap and would probably cost more to ship than cost if I found a need for them later. Hey, anybody have any input on the fine screens and what to use them for?).
Figure 1- The stuff I bought
THE SHIPMENT – My shipment arrived at 10:30 am eastern the next business day so I not only got overnight from Torrance, CA I also got AM delivery. Vapor Nation is awesome!
THE PACKAGING – not sure why this is such an area of interest but I do see this factor evaluated on a number of review sites. To me, if it showed up in one piece and working then the packaging obviously worked…what more can you want? But, people seem interested and the packaging is very nice so why not give up some kudos. See pics below:
Figure 2- Sturdy and Well Packaged Volcano Digit
Figure 3 - yes, more packaging...sigh
Figure 4 - check for unbroken seal to ensure new from manf
Figure 5- Easy Valve Starter Kit - very nice
THE MANUAL – can you believe that this vaporizer actually comes with a coherent, comprehensive, and understandable manual….in real English!! Wow, try that with your made in China box mod. LOL
Figure 6 - Manual is in real English and Everything!
Bought my Volcano - thanks for the advise
After a number of ridiculously long posts and questions from myself, kindly answered by Flipz, AJ85, and others, I pulled the plug on a Volcano Digit and purchased it from Vapor Nation.
I went for the Easy Valve as after I get more experience with this vaporizer, I can always buy the solid valve later if I find the need.
The Vapor Critic site, as well as input from individuals, was extraordinarily helpful and I would like to offer my thanks. Many review sites seem to me to just be shills for manf's. Bud is upfront about his commercial relationship with vendors but these relationships certainly do not seem to impinge on his objectivity making his reviews an invaluable resource to me.
I'm an older guy and buying a very expensive vaporizer won't break the bank for me. Nonetheless, it is a fairly expensive purchase for this purpose and I did want to feel totally comfortable that I was making the right choice.
Like perhaps many on this site, I started with a lower end box mod and an "herb" coil/tank that somebody gave me. Then followed a series of small purchases of stuff I will never use for herb (a Cloutank M4 for example) which improved my knowledge and first hand experience but in many cases was money for nothing except my further education. Hey, experience....you can't buy it, but you will pay for it. LOL
Where I am at now is I have a nice rig for concentrates (eLeaf iStick TC 100W with Divine Tribe ceramic atomizer which works great) and a Smite which is a re-branded Flower Mate Pro for a herb portable.
The Flower Mate (Smite) has actually provide pretty acceptable performance for me after a bit of experience and using some of Bud's tips. In particular, fine grind and tamping down (no matter what the manual says) works well with this unit. I have also found that stepping up the temp every couple or few draws (from like 360F stepping up to 420F) seems to gets the maximum out of my product and provide the desired result.
But the Flower Mate still didn't hit my sweet spot so after a lot of research I decided to pull the trigger on a Volcano for home herb vaping and I'm looking forward to it.
My next direction will be to buy a Fire Fly 2 when they are available and some field experience is out there. I think between the Volcano, the concentrate rig, and the FF2 I will be set....but I have been down this road before with other enthusiasms and wouldn't be surprised if I end up with a whole collection. :-)
Once again, thanks to everybody for all of their patience and support.
NOTE: after the FF2 came out, I not only didn't buy it, I'm very glad I didn't buy it. This review is pretty old.
My Volcano Blog - or my GREAT vaporizer and how I bored you senseless about it
Hi Boys and Girls – yes, the incredible endless poster, with his equally endless posts, is back again. If you need to blame anybody, try Flipz as he made the mistake of complimenting me on a post and allowed as how I should try to contribute more. Silly man. He clearly doesn’t know what kind of narcissistic ego he’s dealing with here!
If you just can’t stand it, please just do not read them. X-)
The subject of today’s screed is the process I went through to buy my Volcano and my initial experiences with it. This is actually going to be a bit of blog as I intend to keep coming back and updating this thread with the results of my continuing experience with the Volcano.
THE DEAL – I bought my Volcano via Vapor Nation, the retailer that Bud recommends in his review article. I looked around and could find what I wanted for a slightly better price, but some of these sources were eBay e-stores while other sources needed to be closely examined to see if it was an equal offering (e.g. found a source for the Digit that was about $100 cheaper…but it didn’t include any valve starter set which cost….wait for it, about $100). Also, different sources had different ‘freebees’, some of which I just didn’t care about, but all of this needs to be taken into consideration when evaluating price.
So, I went to Vapor Nation last Saturday and found their website to be clear, professional, and they carried everything I wanted to buy. I did have a choice of free shipping (NOT free overnight shipping though) or a Volcano soft bag. I opted for the soft bag as shipping by UPS was about $37 and the bag was $59. I did mention in the notes section of my online order that The Vapor Critic site showed free overnight shipping if ordered via his link but that I didn’t see this on their site. I indicated that I was ok with the deal as it was, but if they could do anything to speed my shipment to me without further charges, that would be way cool.
The first business day after I placed my order (Monday), I get a call from a nice chap at Vapor Nation telling me that they were going to ship overnight air at no additional costs. This was more than I expected and, quite frankly, more than I really deserved. Of course I accepted gratefully and I’ll let you in a little secret…stuff like this absolutely cements customer loyalty and I feel very favorable toward Vapor Nation and will buy from them as a first source, all else being equal or better.
THE ORDER - I ordered a Digit for the additional money over an analog (the Classic) as I am very interested in zeroing in on temps versus effects vs taste vs efficiency, blah, blah, blah. Hey, I have no life and I get excited about this kind of stuff. So, I wanted to have a very accurate temp reading and controller which is what I have.
For both the Digit and the Classic, the vaporization temperature range is adjustable between 104°F and 446°F (40°C and 230°C). For the Classic, the temp range is 266°F and 446°F (130°C and 230°C). Hard to see this as a significant difference.
Likewise, temperature accuracy for the Digit is ±2,7°F (±1,5°C) while for the Classic its Temperature accuracy ±9°F (± 5°C). Again, hard to make a Federal case out of this.
Bottom line, I like buttons and flashing LEDs so I ordered the Digit…that and the Digit should theoretically give me better precision in reproducing temp settings, but we are talking about vaping herb here, not a lunar space shot.
I ordered it with the Easy Valve Starter Kit included. Although I can see myself making bags on a solid valve, and the solid valve seems like a real piece of machining and craft, the Easy Valve is, well…easy and I’m a beginner. I can always order a solid valve at a later date if I find the need.
I also purchased an additional box of Easy Valve balloons (6 ea./box), Easy Valve Wear and Tear set for a whopping $12 (like a boy scout, always be prepared), and a set of fine screens (not sure what I need them for, but they were cheap and would probably cost more to ship than cost if I found a need for them later. Hey, anybody have any input on the fine screens and what to use them for?).
Figure 1- The stuff I bought
THE SHIPMENT – My shipment arrived at 10:30 am eastern the next business day so I not only got overnight from Torrance, CA I also got AM delivery. Vapor Nation is awesome!
THE PACKAGING – not sure why this is such an area of interest but I do see this factor evaluated on a number of review sites. To me, if it showed up in one piece and working then the packaging obviously worked…what more can you want? But, people seem interested and the packaging is very nice so why not give up some kudos. See pics below:
Figure 2- Sturdy and Well Packaged Volcano Digit
Figure 3 - yes, more packaging...sigh
Figure 4 - check for unbroken seal to ensure new from manf
Figure 5- Easy Valve Starter Kit - very nice
THE MANUAL – can you believe that this vaporizer actually comes with a coherent, comprehensive, and understandable manual….in real English!! Wow, try that with your made in China box mod. LOL
Figure 6 - Manual is in real English and Everything!
Bought my Volcano - thanks for the advise
After a number of ridiculously long posts and questions from myself, kindly answered by Flipz, AJ85, and others, I pulled the plug on a Volcano Digit and purchased it from Vapor Nation.
I went for the Easy Valve as after I get more experience with this vaporizer, I can always buy the solid valve later if I find the need.
The Vapor Critic site, as well as input from individuals, was extraordinarily helpful and I would like to offer my thanks. Many review sites seem to me to just be shills for manf's. Bud is upfront about his commercial relationship with vendors but these relationships certainly do not seem to impinge on his objectivity making his reviews an invaluable resource to me.
I'm an older guy and buying a very expensive vaporizer won't break the bank for me. Nonetheless, it is a fairly expensive purchase for this purpose and I did want to feel totally comfortable that I was making the right choice.
Like perhaps many on this site, I started with a lower end box mod and an "herb" coil/tank that somebody gave me. Then followed a series of small purchases of stuff I will never use for herb (a Cloutank M4 for example) which improved my knowledge and first hand experience but in many cases was money for nothing except my further education. Hey, experience....you can't buy it, but you will pay for it. LOL
Where I am at now is I have a nice rig for concentrates (eLeaf iStick TC 100W with Divine Tribe ceramic atomizer which works great) and a Smite which is a re-branded Flower Mate Pro for a herb portable.
The Flower Mate (Smite) has actually provide pretty acceptable performance for me after a bit of experience and using some of Bud's tips. In particular, fine grind and tamping down (no matter what the manual says) works well with this unit. I have also found that stepping up the temp every couple or few draws (from like 360F stepping up to 420F) seems to gets the maximum out of my product and provide the desired result.
But the Flower Mate still didn't hit my sweet spot so after a lot of research I decided to pull the trigger on a Volcano for home herb vaping and I'm looking forward to it.
My next direction will be to buy a Fire Fly 2 when they are available and some field experience is out there. I think between the Volcano, the concentrate rig, and the FF2 I will be set....but I have been down this road before with other enthusiasms and wouldn't be surprised if I end up with a whole collection. :-)
Once again, thanks to everybody for all of their patience and support.
NOTE: after the FF2 came out, I not only didn't buy it, I'm very glad I didn't buy it. This review is pretty old.
