More Vapor For Less: Top 5 Portable Vaporizers Under $200
Vape mods for herbs and wax come and go but the classics stay on page one of eCommerce sites, receiving 4 and 5 stars from consumers. Their makers realize there is no point changing something that works, but prices have also come down in some instances.
Certain well-liked, well-made portable vaporizers used to cost $200+ but have now dropped to just below that watershed. You can afford a good portable vaporizer now. Maybe the Crafty and Mighty are still out of your reach, but these lighter and cheaper mods are great value all the same.
The Top 5 under $200
I would like it if every mod here was a convection vaporizer. On the positive side, each one is designed so that users can control their own temperature, thereby preventing combustion. That’s the primary complaint about cheap models of handheld vaporizers.
1. Davinci Ascent
Here is one of those machines you formerly paid more than $200 for. The price drop does not signify that anything is wrong so take advantage of the lower cost and make your vaping dreams come true.
You wanted temperature control? Now you have it with a screen to show you settings and battery power as well. You wished there was some better way to access the herb or wax chamber without stabbing a cleaning brush into the dark: Davinci supplied the answer.
They made a chamber that swivels out so you can see, empty, clean, and re-fill the chamber with ease. Its ceramic bowl is very large too, matching a long-life battery. Select one of their pre-made colors or create your own design. The only downside is that Davinci uses conduction heating. But with temperature control, it’s easy to prevent combustion and to conserve your battery.
Buy: http://www.davincivaporizer.com
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2. Vapir N02
This unusually shaped vaporizer resembles a black microphone until plumes of vapor start coming out of the top. Use the rechargeable battery over and over to heat a brass element which creates vapor. It was made to work with dry herbs and to operate as a direct-inhalation device (no fan assistance). This user-friendly handheld vape provides button-adjusted temperature control and uses a screen to display settings. It will also inspire people to ask when karaoke starts.
3. Vapium Summit
Hikers and campers take note: this vaporizer was made for you. A price of roughly $150 buys a tough little wireless unit created to handle extremes like very low temperatures, high winds, and altitude (i.e. in the Colorado Rockies). Its ergonomic shape feels natural in your hand and LED display gives you insight into the mod’s performance.
When you own a Vapium Summit, the pressure is on to pick up a healthy habit like mountain climbing although its performance is still great at low altitudes if you prefer a gentle stroll at warmer temperatures; in Florida, for example.
4. Kandypens K-Vape
You are nudging the boundary here at a touch under $200 but this temperature-controlled handheld vape by Kandypens will not let you down. It is stylish and reliable like all Kandypens products, with a 2200-mAh battery and accurate digital controls. Consumers select a heating level between 350F and 430F.
Gently fill your chamber with up to half a gram of loose leaves which your mod will not burn, thanks to convection technology, always a pleasurable find in small mods. The K-Vape also remembers your last setting so you don’t have to puzzle over what number you picked when you had that fantastic vaping session. The battery lasts 3 hours before you have to charge it again.
5. Atmos Transporter
The cheapest mod on this list comes from a familiar name in vaporizers: Atmos. Their selection is wide and the range of quality is equally varied. The unique Transporter resembles a whisky flask and works with dry herbs for about $110. Fill the ceramic heating chamber with loose leaves and select a temperature for warm, moderate, or very hot vapor, stopping just short of combustion-level heating. Prepare for people to ask if they’ll share your Scotch.
Five Best Portable Vaporizers Over $200
Add a vaporizer to your 2016 wish list: a new item, more high tech than what you have been using so far, or maybe something that frees you from your usual desktop mod. Sometimes it just takes a while to decide if vaporizers are right for you and until that time you don’t want to spend a lot of money on a portable device. Now that you are convinced this is the way to go, here are some factors to think about when shopping and a list of the top 5 portable vaporizers over $200 for 2016.
Pay More for Better Tech
Spend more than $200 and you open the door to a completely new world of vaporizer technology. You encounter durable machines with exceptional features and smooth design like the PAX 2 and Mighty by Storz & Bickel. They feature temperature control and are made from the best and safest materials for high-temperature vaping without smelly plastic fumes.
1. Mighty Portable Vaporizer
This is a weighty unit, not something you can just drop in your pocket, but it is still wireless and technically portable. While not as stealthy as the PAX 2 in terms of its size and shape, you could pass the Mighty off as a radio or walkie-talkie. Moreover, the Mighty is just a mighty good machine — period. Storz & Bickel always does things right.
The Mighty lets you know it has reached your desired temperature by vibrating gently, but the big bold screen also tells you the time is right to take a puff. That should take about 60 seconds. The entire time, slats are letting out hot air to protect the battery and you. This is a fully adjustable unit with a rotating straw, durable build and, admittedly, the highest price on this list (about $400). Yes: you will need to save up for a little while.
2. PAX 2
Enjoy more power with less weight and a smaller profile from the second PAX. Its predecessor was sleek and sassy, but this one is even better. Choose from 4 temperature settings by pressing a single button. When your herbs are ready the light on one side glows an appropriate color. Recharge the battery using a proprietary dock and refill herbs at the base, lifting off a powerful magnet. That does away with fiddly little screws.
3. Firefly
Touted as one of the most elegant vaporizers you can buy, the Firefly is also practical and a strong performer. In just 10 seconds, it reaches a temperature of up to 400F. Originally, it was designed for use with herbs only but you can buy pads and vaporize concentrates as well. The innovative magnetic front portion comes off to reveal your entire vapor pathway, at least one side of it. The other is in your lid making this one of the easiest vaporizers to clean and refill. It also uses a removable battery.
4. Arizer Solo
Canada’s Arizer vaporizer manufacturer always puts on a decent show with their portable and desktop units. The Solo lets you vape while mobile and sets a high standard. One fantastic feature is their pass-through vape-and-charge system. Plug in the USB cable to replenish the battery but don’t stop vaping. If you do this it’s not a portable vape anymore, but only for a little while. You can’t always trust companies to use materials that don’t smell bad when they get hot but Arizer has employed glass, ceramics, and stainless steel to manufacture a top-rated device capable of 7 temperature settings.
5. The Haze
Choose one of several colors for this fun-shaped, light vaporizer featuring many adjusted features in its third incarnation. This is the original portable dual-heating vaporizer allowing consumers to heat concentrates and dry herbs at the same time. Switch between them without changing your vaporizer. The four settings are appropriate for your materials: hotter temperature for oils or wax and lower ones for herbs. When you hit the sweet spot, there is a heat exchange system that cools your vapor en route so you don’t get burned whether you select conduction or convection heating. It is also worth noting that battery life is exceptional.
Plan For Portable Vaporizers In 2016
As you think ahead to the New Year, consider what you are going to do with your old cigarettes, cigar, or ancient vaporizer. Are you still lugging around an old, inefficient portable device or relying only on a desktop unit for home? Do you smoke the rest of the time because you haven’t found a handheld vaporizer worth the money?
Next year give yourself a belated Christmas gift and buy one of the newer, more advanced products with longer lasting batteries and made from higher-quality materials. Make this a year where you enjoy vaporizing herbs and oils even more than ever before.
Go Portable
Perhaps this year you want to add a new way of vaping to your existing methods. Your tabletop vaporizer is a fine machine but you can’t take it with you camping.
How do you solve that problem?
Buy a portable vaporizer. This device does not have to be plugged into the wall to operate. It is light enough to carry places in your pocket or a small bag. While there are butane and fire-lit vaporizers too, the most convenient types use rechargeable batteries either built into the base or removable from the back or bottom of the unit. Some (like the Arizer Air) even come with a micro-USB-port which allows you to recharge the cell at a computer and still vape while the battery is being topped up.
The Combustion Question
There are two types of heating methods in the portable class: conduction and convection models. Convection is more efficient and safer as it does not burn herbs and also heats materials evenly when compared with conduction. It’s like an oven: a convection oven bakes cookies evenly and you don’t have to move cookie sheets around.
Conduction does not necessarily burn herbs but there is more chance of that happening as a vaporizer becomes very hot and wherever a machine cannot be regulated. Devices which operate via conduction are cheaper than convection units but convection vapor is more satisfying and you use up almost all of your herbs if this is a dry-leaf device.
Ranges of Portable Vaporizers
When you visit a vaporizer store and decide to purchase a handheld machine, you are faced with even more options. Certain units are very cheap and are designed to last until the battery runs out. Their build quality is flimsy and herbs tend to burn. They cost in the range of $40 and less.
In the arena of $40 and up you get a little bit better quality but not something you would expect to last two or three years. This is an introductory category and a decent place to start. Many items are copies of a simple template sold under numerous brand names (like the VaporFi Orbit). Prepare to drop more than $100 for a machine of any lasting significance.
Between $100 and $200, designs become clever, interesting, and varied. There are products with OLED screens and temperature adjustment like the Davinci Ascent which also utilizes a pivoting chamber for herbs and oils.
Pick up pipe-style units and inhalers plus lots of other excellent choices. You could stop here but the one caveat is many of these machines will use conduction heating. If you learn to operate them efficiently and choose the optimum setting before vapor turns to smoke, you don’t have to spend more than $200.
Many of these products contain heating chambers made from top materials like ceramics. One, the Ascent by Vapium, was crafted to withstand difficult conditions like high elevation and extreme cold. Its purpose is to serve people who vape when they hike in the mountains.
Over this price range you are starting to encounter high-tech materials and options. Spend $399 and you own the most advanced portable vape money can buy: the Mighty. Some consumers would say that a PAX 2 is just as good but there is nothing as durable as the Mighty by Storz and Bickel. It vibrates when your chosen temperature is achieved and uses auto-shut-off to preserve the battery. Vents all around let out hot air and a 60-second heat-up time gives you vapor in a hurry. The Mighty is as heavy as its name suggests but the Crafty, its younger sibling, is a lighter and slightly cheaper option.
Three-in-One
A number of machines released in 2015 were designed for use with more than just herbs or only oils. You can change the material in your chamber by switching the chamber, but each one threaded to the same battery. These removable chambers are very handy to have around since they allow you to clean more efficiently and also give you more options.
When you clean you do not have to poke around in the dark and most handheld units don’t come apart to this extent. Although there is no chamber on the Firefly, the entire front comes off, providing full access to its vapor pathway so as to keep the unit clean. This is the exception, not the rule.
E-Cig Vape Mods
A number of vape mods made by Sigelei, Smok, Kanger, and others are useful for people who vape with oils and waxes because their 510-threading well is compatible with many types of tanks. They are regulated devices, so one can choose a perfect temperature or wattage to vaporize a given material.
Since the base is a battery (or even just a shell) with a microchip but no tank, they frequently cost less than $70, at least Chinese ones do. If you buy an American-made device like Hana Modz which contains the Evolv DNA 200 temperature control chip, you’re looking at a $200 investment or better.
Sometimes these machines are sold on vaporizer websites. Usually, you would just go to a vape store and look around there or visit one of their internet stores.
Just check that a vape mod and your atomizer tank will work together as some tanks were not designed to handle very high temperatures. That is the advantage of shopping with a vaporizer specialty store: vendors are experts at helping their customers choose compatible equipment.
