PAX has always offered a solid portable vaping experience. This helped drive the portable vape market to a whole new level in terms of aesthetics and market reach.

It comes in a nice box

The PAX 3 is by far their best offering and pushes the PAX form factor to new highs. I’ve been a PAX 2 user for a while and it was always my choice for when I’m out and about. PAX have ironed out the issues that I had with the pretty good PAX 2 and served up a great portable vaperizor in the PAX 3.

Pax 3 Performance

The PAX 3 has an improved battery that has your oven ready to vape in 15 seconds. This is better than the interminable 90 seconds you had to wait for the PAX 2. This improved 3500 mAh battery offers higher temperatures which allows PAX users to now vape concentrates as well as dried flowers. You cannot fault the performance of the PAX 3.

Stealth

Pax 3 Value For Money

The PAX 3 is on the market for the same price that the PAX 2 was. The PAX 2 is still available at a lower price point which is a bargain for those looking for a decent portable vaperizor on a budget. At $274.99 the new version is by no means cheap but with a 10 year warranty, fantastic performance and beautiful aesthetics it is very fair. It’s worth pointing out that it comes bundled with a lot more parts than the PAX 2. These include the all important concentrate insert, a handy multitool for packing and removing dried herb and two different sized oven lids. The second lid allows you to only half fill the oven. It also has bluetooth connectivity and haptic feedback.

What’s in the box?

Pax 3 Build quality

Build quality is impeccable. It is housed in a high-polished anodised aluminium case of which I could not find any flaws. The two pieces that can be removed fit back into place snugly and show no signs of working loose.

Pax 3 User friendliness

– Use

The PAX 3 has a learning curve. The only way to control the device is through pressing a button that is hidden under the mouthpiece activated by pressing the mouthpiece itself. Short and long presses achieve different things and also shaking the device gives it feedback. I think it’s fair to say that someone who has never had experience of a PAX would be completely lost as to what to do to get the thing going. After reading the instructions and watching some videos on YouTube new users will be fine.

– App

The brand new app offers some nice features – such as live feedback on the temperature and selecting different heating profiles. But it falls into the same trap that many apps do – in that it offers more options to the user than are necessary. I’ll be very sad if other vape engineers feel they need to include mini games on my portable vaporizer as PAX does.

USB charging dock

One issue with the app I had is that to view the settings for your PAX 3 on the app you need to activate the device – which being a conduction oven will start to heat anything inside it. It also offers options that offer no functionality – such as changing the app theme colour and games. The reason that you would go into your smartphone (which has the best portable games ever in existence) to activate games on a device used for vaping with only 4 LEDs as a display is completely lost on me. I do like the way you can change the brightness of the lights to make it even more discreet though.

Once your device is loaded, you have found your favourite setting in the App (you could happily leave it at default) and have learnt how to control the device – it is a real dream to use on the go. You simply depress the mouthpiece, hold the device in your hand and wait for the haptic feedback that makes the device gently vibrate to tell you it is ready. This is a massive improvement over the previous iteration.

– Concentrates

The device comes with an replacement oven lid that has a attachment for consuming concentrates. Again, it’s not immediately obvious how to set this up. Once you’ve figured it out – from the slightly cryptic instructions – it seems obvious and easy. It works great with the sticky concentrate that I tested it with. The attachment keeps the melting concentrate in a separate container that is quick and easy to swap out when you want to revert back to flowers. This is the neatest way that I’ve consumed concentrates so far and I’m sure will be the reason many people will buy this device.

Magnets hold it on the dock

The USB charging dock is fine for using in a static position – ie in your house – but it’d be tricky to charge on the go – in the car or backpack – as the magnets which align the connection pins aren’t strong enough to hold it in place. To charge on the go you would need to go low tech and find a sturdy elastic band.

Pax 3 Maintenance and cleaning

To clean your PAX 3 you remove the oven cover that is held in place by magnets and remove the mouthpiece. Empty the oven and pass an included pipe cleaner through the channel that connects the mouthpiece to the oven. This will pop out the screen that sits in the base of the oven. Cleaning is fast and I couldn’t think of any way that it could be simpler.

PAX 3 – oven

The unit is not bundled with any isopropyl alcohol or alcohol wipes.  Therefore, you will need to purchase these to really clean it effectively.

As for maintenance, the PAX 3 comes with three spare screens which are easy to replace. If you have a problem with the mouthpiece or oven lid you can order new ones. As the device is completely sealed there is not anything you can do to maintain further than that. Any internal issues will be covered under the impressive 10 year warranty.

Pros

• Great vapour quality
• Discreet design
• Small and light
• Easy to clean
• Very versatile – full oven, half oven and concentrates
• Multiple heating profiles controlled through the free app
• Quick heat and cool time

Cons

• Learning curve for new users
• App not as user friendly as it could be
• Tricky to charge on the go
• Can get hot on the lips after extended use