The mobile evaporators are usable

After tabletop devices became suitable for everyday use more than ten years ago, mobile vaporizers have increasingly come onto the market in recent years. We now want to test these intensively. Here is the first test report about the Arizer Solo.

The Arizer Solo basically consists of two elements. First, a cylinder (11 by 4.5cm), which contains the heating element and the control, and a glass tube (11.5 by 1 to 1.5cm), which contains the compartment for the herbs at one end and the mouthpiece at the other. On the cylinder it has a round recess, there the glass bulb is inserted, or rather inserted (usually it has some play). The cylinder fits well in the hand, it stands stable (even with glass tube on top) and it also lies stable (when charging it must lie, because the power supply happens from the bottom).

The Arizer Solo is set by simultaneously pressing the two buttons on the block, which it announces with a beep. Then, the left button is used to set the temperature to the desired level. Seven LEDs indicate the heating levels (we very often worked with level five). With the right button you can reduce the temperature again. Then the heating starts, which is indicated by its own LED.

The Arizer Solo is quickly ready for use. At a realistic temperature setting of level five (which corresponds to a measured temperature of about 190 degrees on the bottom of the heating element), it is at the desired temperature within two minutes. But you can also draw before that, when level three or four is displayed (i.e. already after one minute), and will be able to inhale the first clouds of steam. So you do not have to wait long or can start inhaling immediately after filling and inserting the glass bulb.

Now you draw as you wish. When the temperature drops, the device automatically heats up again to the set level. The device can also be quickly put down when you just do not want more.

Pressing the two buttons switches the device off or leaves it running until it switches itself off again 12 minutes after being switched on (which it also acknowledges with a beep). Then the steamed food is also “dure”, it is then perfectly beige-brown-blackish, depending on the temperature and type of material. However, we never noticed ash, so there is actually no combustion.

The worst thing is that the filling chamber has only one “sieve” with four relatively large holes in the glass bulb. Thus, many and also larger plant parts fly up to the mouth, which is now really not good.

However, the remedy for this is simple: a good metal sieve, as available in any head store for various pipes, placed on the glass holes keeps these pieces back, depending on the sieve density even completely. Thus, the inhaled is really only vapor, without unwanted particles in the mouth.

The fact that the standard device is delivered without a sieve and that this weak point is not pointed out anywhere by the manufacturer, I consider to be more than a cosmetic flaw. Even if it can be fixed really easily. The other flaws are much more minor:

The second weak point in the Arizer is the transition between the cylinder, the heating block, and the glass tube. If the glass is too tight, it can break if you pull it out at an angle. If the glass sits too loosely, it wobbles around, which does take some getting used to. Screens can help with this as well: Additional, at best curved, screens can improve the stability of the glass bulb in the block. An additionally inserted O-ring can also be helpful (but the material must be able to withstand temperatures above 200 degrees).

Furthermore, the glass tube at the end where it is inserted into the heating block is hot after operation and remains so for quite some time after it has been removed from the block and the steam product has been shaken out. It is quite possible to burn your fingers. It has proven itself to simply let the vaporizer stand for a while after switching it off and only take out the old filling when it is next needed. Since there is no combustion, nothing stinks…

For further improvements, but not as crucial as the sieves, there are many special supplements available from various suppliers: tubes made of wood and metal (which can hardly break), as mentioned various sieves and O-rings, special attachments for water filtration and so on.

The test device now has many charging cycles behind it, was lugged around for weeks: on hikes, trips, to the office. It has always done its job, whether at the lake or at 1,500 meters above sea level.

Once I broke a piece of glass, but if you use glass, you have to expect it. A replacement glass costs around 15 francs. So the part works, even very stable. It never smelled like metal or plastic (as some portable vaporizers do). It produces dense, pure, fine vapor.

Both tobacco and hemp can be vaporized (if you use a separate glass tube for each, the respective flavor comes out clearly). Mixtures of tobacco and hemp also work. The glass bulbs can be cleaned very well with some rubbing alcohol and a pipe cleaner - that is the advantage of glass.

The only additional cost is the strainer. Without such it seems to me simply not to go.

The battery lasts a few vaporizations: Around six, seven vaporizations I could perform each time before the battery had to be charged again. That's enough for a good day.

So all in all, a very pleased device!

In the retail trade, the instrument is offered for 235 to 250 francs (e.g. at some of our company members, see last page). They also offer sieves, and replacement glass tubes are also available, usually within a few days. Thus, the instrument is well available in Switzerland.

At home, with friends or outside in a secluded place you use it with pleasure. But in a pub, on a busy square or at the train station, I had inhibitions about using it. The part is still too big for the public, the glass bulb reminds too much of a pipe or a bong.

But it is really transportable: The device and two glass bulbs incl. protective plastic have loose space in a flat Tupperware. If you have to take the charging cable with the plug, it needs a bit more space. But that is also feasible. Thus, it is a stable mobile device that works reliably and accompanies you everywhere. The weight is around 230 grams (incl. glass tube).

We would now like to test other vaporizers. The only condition is that they are mobile and can safely produce no combustion (i.e. are easy to use, without tinkering). We are probably most interested in the smallest possible variants, with which one can steam most inconspicuously. In addition, the tested devices and any necessary spare parts should be readily available in Switzerland.

Test reports about vaporizer experiences are always welcome. Both reports about successful conversions from smoking to vaporize, but also about the phenomenon that only a few become pure weed vaporizers, some can partially incorporate it into their lives, but many still prefer the smoke.