Welcome to High Tech, iDigitalTimes’ new cannabis-focused gadgetry review column. Each month, we’ll have updates on new/popular vaporizers, electronic smoking devices and other cannabis-related gadgetry, always with the same thoroughness you’ve come to expect from all of iDigi’s gadget reviews
The PAX 2 has everything you'd expect from a premium portable vaporizer, including an expensive price tag, but I'm not completely sold on the latest iteration of PAX Labs' loose-leaf vaporizer. The PAX 2 improves upon the original in several ways but not enough for most to justify spending the extra cash.
If you’re not familiar with the PAX line, don’t worry, you aren’t alone. Until a few weeks ago, I wasn’t familiar with the growing line of portable vaporizers, either. That said, it hasn’t taken long for the PAX family to make an impression on me. But it’s probably not as strong of an impression as Vape World was hoping for when they sent me $480 worth of vaporizers.
The PAX 2 meshes functionally-minimal design with a modern aesthetic comparable to any mobile electronic on the market; the perfect realization of that Mike Skinner line about creating new smoking devices with the assistance of an engineering degree. Its outer shell is brushed aluminum, with an eye-catching matte black finish that wouldn’t look out of place on a new tablet or smartphone.
A distinct lack of external inputs may prove confusing on first use but, given just a few minutes with the instruction manual, it doesn’t take long to warm-up to PAX 2’s appearance. In many cases, the lack of defining features makes it easy to use the PAX 2 in spots where discretion can’t be overvalued.
Users interact with the PAX 2 in two places:
- The top of the device, which doubles as mouth piece and housing for the PAX 2’s only button
- The bottom of the device, where you load/unload whatever you’re vaporizing
The PAX 2’s lone button is used to turn the device on/off, or adjust the heat of the oven, and a four-stage, configurable heating element gives users some control over the temperature of their flower. In most cases, I found the lowest setting more than adequate for getting a bowl started and usually only needed to turn up the temperature for the last two-three hits (out of seven-10).
This is good, primarily, because the PAX 2 can get a bit too hot to hold if the oven is maxed out for long. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for the device to cool down again and it never gets so hot as to require setting down the device. Thankfully, the device’s increased temperature never seemed to affect the taste of the vapor it produced.
One of the first things that existing PAX fans will notice is that the PAX 2 doesn’t feature a mouthpiece by default. There’s one in the box, for those who don’t like the new lip-sensing mouthpiece that helped PAX Labs' significantly reduce the total size of the PAX 2. But, without the mouthpiece, vapor is pulled directly from an opening about the size of a headphone jack, found next to the PAX 2’s only button.
A great idea in theory, the device’s lip-sensing technology proves to be more of a burden than a feature; primarily, because the PAX 2 gets hot enough to be physically uncomfortable after a few hits. It’s never hot enough to burn the user but it is warm enough to make extended sessions unpleasant.
Even using the included mouthpiece doesn’t do much to mitigate the heat after a couple of extra puffs. Again, we’re not talking about enough heat to leave scars or anything. But it’s more discomfort than I’d expected from a portable vaporizer that costs $20 less than an iPhone 6 Plus.
There are a handful of other goodies in the box, too; including some appropriately-sized pipe cleaners and a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol. I was also pleasantly surprised to see the PAX 2 ditched the standing charger of its predecessor in-favor of an impressively tiny charging block.
If you own the original PAX, you might be disappointed to hear that the PAX 2 actually features a slightly smaller oven than its predecessor. It’s only a nine percent difference, so we’re only talking about a 2-3 hits per bowl, but it’s another misstep I didn’t expect to encounter when the PAX 2 hit my door step.
Changing bowls is relatively simple, thanks to the magnetic oven lid that keeps your plant material from falling out. That cover is made entirely of plastic, so impatient users won’t need to wait for the PAX to finish cooling before changing bowls. It’s still not great for passing back-and-forth between users but I don’t suspect an individual user would need more than two bowls to get the job done.
Cleaning the PAX 2 is about as easy as you could hope for from an electronic gadget. All it takes is a quick blast of air in the oven, to remove residual plant matter, followed by an isopropyl-dampened pipe cleaner through the delivery channel. The whole process takes about two minute; a blessing, of sorts, since you’re going to need to clean the device pretty frequently. Some PAX enthusiasts on reddit suggest cleaning the device multiple times per week.
There are plenty of ways in which the PAX 2 improves on its predecessors, from both a design and technical standpoint; however, I’m not convinced that the PAX 2 is actually better than the original.
For the last two weeks, both the original PAX and its second-generation counterpart have sat within arm’s reach of my desk chair. And the only time I’ve loaded fresh bowls into the PAX 2 has been on the rare occasions when the original needed to charge its batteries. Like most, I appreciate the extra couple of hits I can get from the larger oven. But the deciding factor has generally been my lack of desire to feel like my lips are cooking.
Comfort aside, there’s also no getting around the price. For $280, a cost-conscious consumer could buy a decent tabletop vaporizer, a great portable unit and still have leftover cash to put towards keeping the damn things full. Granted, the perceived value of a feature set is always going to vary from person to person. But you can count me among those who think the PAX 2 is a bit pricey for the time being.
All things considered, the PAX 2 is pretty much the textbook definition of a premium gadget. It certainly does some things better than its less-expensive competitors but the PAX 2 is hardly the sort of device that will redefine your idea of excellence. It’s an expensive-looking gadget, with a price tag to match, and more than capable of getting the job done. Just maybe not in quite as luxurious a fashion as you’d expect from something positioning itself as the premium portable vaporizer on the market.
Those interested in purchasing the PAX 2 can do so by heading over to VapeWorld.
(Full Disclosure: Vape World provided the PAX 2 used for this review.)
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for more cannabis-related gadget reviews throughout the remainder of 2015 and for however long the industry continues to churn out new/interesting gadgets in the years to come.
What did you think of our PAX 2 review? Disagree with our assessment of PAX Labs' latest loose-leaf vaporizer? Want to share tips that you’ve picked up while using your own PAX 2?
Let us know in the comments section
