Prior to the launch, not much information had leaked about Arizer’s new portable vape, theSolo. It is the third vaporizer coming from the Arizer Tech company, and expectations were high this time. Time to take a closer look at this Canadian made portable vaporizer!
Looks
The Solo comes securely packed with lots of protective foil, especially around the glass parts. All parts are securely and separately packed to avoid damage during transport.
Inside the box we find:
- 1 Arizer Solo Vaporizer (or as described on the instruction sheet, ‘Multi-purpose Battery Powered Micro Heater’)
- 2 glass diffuser tubes
- 1 glass potpourri dish
- 1 charger (and in our case, a EU adapter plug)
- Instruction manual
- Herbal sample
Prior to receiving our Solo, we had read about the unit’s dimensions and knew it was about the size of a small soda can. Of course we had to verify this, and it turned out the Solo is just a little bit smaller than the size of a Red Bull can – the mouthpiece excluded. The vape is quite compact and feels very sturdy. The only plastic parts on the exterior are the buttons and the the part where the LED’s are, which runs onto the base. The Solo looks and feels like it can take a beating.
It is nice to see it comes with a spare diffuser tube, cause even though the glass is fairly thick, it’s still prone to breaking.
On the top of the unit sits a small rubber port, which can be opened to attach the diffuser tube (or potpourri dish).
Function
After charging the Solo for some time (impatient as I am I didn’t fully charge it, which according to the manufacturer takes 4 hours) it is time to put it to use. Curious to know how long it takes to heat up from idle to heat setting 7 (410°F /210°C), I used a timer and found out that the Solo only needs 2 minutes and 40 seconds to fully heat up. Quite impressive!
When heating up, the ‘HEAT’ light flashes, and the heating process is shown by the lights going up from 1 until 7. All in all, operating the unit feels quite intuitive.
When out of the box, the Arizer Solo is set to beep when turned on and when pressing any of the buttons. I was happy to found out that this rather annoying beeping noise can be disabled by pressing and holding the UP button for a second or two.
When loading the diffuser tube I found it helpful to first load the tube, and keep the Solo upside down while connecting the tube, to avoid spilling herb. The glass tube easily fits into the heater, a bit too loosely to my liking. I personally would have preferred a ground glass connection that would hold the mouthpiece a bit tighter, although that would reduce the ability of the glass to rotate. As long as you keep the Solo upright there shouldn’t be any problems.
After loading up the glass stem with some grounded herb and switching it on, it was time to see if the Solo can beat its handheld rivals in terms of efficiency.
At temperature setting 6 the taste is great, all flavours are there and the temperature of the inhaled vapor seems to be just right. The hits are thicker than any other portable vaporizer tried I’ve tried, and there is virtually no learning curve. It is about as convenient as portable vaporizing can get.
The tiny holes in the glass tube didn’t allow for any herb to pass through, but I could see this happen if one draws faster or when the herb is very finely ground.