Mine was in the mailbox when I got home Friday. Nice box. You can tell from the package quality that this vape is made by a company that has money and an established infrastructure. Let's hope Oglesby & Butler's experience with butane fueled products will make this vape safe and reliable.
The box shows a white unit, but I think only black with an off white trim is available now, at least in the US. Looks like they'll have yellow, orange, green, and the white available next year. The black one is what I would have chosen anyway.
Haven't seen any measurements posted, so here goes- almost 4 1/4" long and 2 1/2" wide, about 7/8" thick. If you include the installed 'stem' it's about 5 3/8" long. The mouthpiece extension (and white removeable mouthpiece) takes the length to 7 1/4". You really do need the mouthpiece extension and/or tubing, since the 'out of the box' vape with just the installed stem, gets pretty warm. I call it the 'stem' (since it's not long enough-heat wise-to use by itself), but they call it the "multi option mouthpiece". Extending the mouthpiece isn't an option, but a necessity, unless you like hot lips. It won't burn you but it gets pretty warm (some would say hot), and an extension cools the vapor as well. The vent half of the vape also gets very warm with extended use and I found a 3 fingered hold at the bottom where the on/off switch is, to be a good position.
I added about 6" of typical vape tubing (3/8" diameter, 1/4" inner diameter). You have to wiggle the tubing on-tight fit-, but once on, it shouldn't come off. I agree 100% that adding some tubing makes it a much more enjoyable experience. You at least need the mouthpiece extension-haven't tried that yet.
It can give pretty good hits. Depends on how much you load. Advertised capacity is .5g. My first load was .1g. Got some nice hits from that. It's pretty efficient. I put the .1g remains in my SSV and got another hit or two, but at a higher temp. I-inhale temp is limited to 374 F (190 C), so you can get a little more if you revape at a higher temp. There's no burning, so the I-inhale's thermostat works well. Loaded the bowl up later on and let my wife try it. She got quite a few hits and reported it hit smoothly. Her review- "This little sucker's great!"
The vape is really pretty easy to use. You just have to figure out the loading process as far as what suits you. It hisses (the manual calls it a 'roar') with a static sound when it's heating up-noisy enough to hear from across a small room if it's quiet. Turn on the TV and you can't hear it. The thermostat cycles it on/off, and you hear it a little after turning it off, as it dissipates the butane that's already been dispensed. Definitely quiet enough to make a great stealth vape at a concert, or in a movie theater where you don't have anyone next to you. Stick it in your shirt pocket with tubing attached, and it's totally hands free.
This vape mostly closely competes with the Volatizer VM3. Haven't used the VM3, but from reviews I've seen, the I-inhale hits better and long term, the butane system should outlast the VM3's battery, where you'll get shorter charge times down the road. It's about the same size, and if it holds up (it should-proven catalytic system), they should sell a lot of them, since it beats the VM3 price by $200.
The drawbacks-a lot of plastic and small parts, so it'll take care to avoid accidents, stripped threads, or losing small pieces. For example, if you unscrew the two sections of the mouthpiece before you ever use the unit, the moisture condenser may well fall out. It did with me. It's so small you may not notice it. It doesn't need the condenser for dry herb and you can remove it if you like.
It looks like this vape will do better with frequent cleaning. The condenser that fell out of the mouthpiece when clean, had to be poked out after the first night's use. It was sticky with condensed vapor, as was the tool after poking it through. You get an extra mouthpiece (including the condenser) and top and bottom screen. The screens don't have a real fine mesh, so small particles of herb will add to the cleaning chore. Parts will be available on the i-inhale.com site but are not listed there yet. I sent an email to the company today, asking about parts pricing.
Overall, it seems to be a really nice stealth portable. Time will tell for long term reliability, and I still have questions about how the butane catalytic process works and the safety of the plastics used. Because of the plastic construction and all the parts this vape will need careful use and cleaning. I plan to use it as a portable for brief sessions, so we'll wait for reports from heavy duty users to see how it holds up with frequent use.
