Over recent years there has been an explosion in the vaporizer market, everyone and their granny knows what a vaporizer is, they’re so popular that oxford dictionaries even crowned ‘vape’ their word of the year for 2014.
We thought it was time to bring ourselves up to date with the latest tech so we’ve got the Ascent portable vaporizer from the guys at DaVinci to put through it’s paces.
Gone are the days when you needed to be hooked into a power supply to vape your weed, now we have portables, and the DaVinci is reputed as one of the best.
When we unboxed the Ascent the first thing you notice is the weight, it just feels like a quality product, it feels great in your hand. We fell in love with the design, this thing just looks slick, you just want to hold it all the time.
You’ll be pleased to know that the Ascent has a two hour battery life, though it does take 5 hours to charge…don’t worry you can blast it while charging.
Heat up times are great, it took 1 minute and 15 seconds to reach the highest temperature of 430 Fahrenheit.
Our favorite feature is being able to set a vape cycle, starting off low then moving to full temperature to make sure we get every last beneficial bit of vapour from our bud. Another nice feature is the customisable automatic switch off which you can set yourself.
Splitting the unit to gain access to the ceramic chamber feels sturdy, I’d assume this will stand the test of time.
The Ascent comes with 2 glass capsules that have their own lids, these are for putting your oil or other concentrates into, a feature that puts the Ascent ahead of it’s competitors. We’ve not had a chance to try any oil with it ourselves but have been assured by several ‘dabbers’ that ‘it’s the shit’, though can get messy.
When it comes to emptying your vaped weed from the ceramic heating chamber it can be a bit of a pain, if it weren’t for the little pokey that’s neatly hidden away in it’s own wee sheath beside the mouthpiece, the poke or picky is also for pulling out the hot glass oil capsules after use.
The picky is a handy tool for helping clear the small holes in the glass vapour path when you’re on the go and haven’t got the clean spare handy or can’t be bothered doing a full clean.
Using the Ascent felt as though there could be more of a restricted draw…a bit of Goggling and we found a great tip, which was to pack the bud in tightly rather than loosely. Some people use the glass oil chamber to pack their bud in there, others leave the glass chamber in to further restrict the flow.
In the end we were happy just packing the bud in rather than leaving the glass chamber in. Like all vaporizers, pipes, bongs or even plain old joints you need to find your own happy medium.
By the end of our session the battery indicator was showing the last bar but had a fair bit of usage left in it. When the battery is totally empty the vape started loosing temperature, dropping steadily, it must be needing a recharge. Plug it in…and keep on going 🙂
Features:
Glass on Glass Portable Vaporizer
Dual Mouthpiece
2 Hour Battery Life
All Glass Pure Vapor Path
Vaporize Botanicals & Oils
Functional OLED Screen
Programmable Vaporization Profile
Included:
Ascent Vaporizer
2 Glass Mouthpiece Stems
2 Glass Internal Stems
2 Glass Oil Jars
1 Carrying Satchel
2 Year Manufacturer’s Warranty
We may test other portable vaporizers, but then…what’s the point ? The Ascent does everything we need from a portable vape.
Are there any others that can compete? Let us know in the comments below.
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