Since their very first product release, Davinci have been leaders in the vaporizer industry. Since 2012, Davinci has released three vaporizers: the original, the Ascent and most recently, the Davinci IQ. Davinci keeps outdoing themselves every time they release a new vaporizer, and the IQ is the perfect example of that. Featuring a zirconia mouthpiece, ceramic bowl and something never seen before, a zirconia flavor chamber. the flavor just about the best possible outcome for a conduction heating vape.
Main characteristics
- Brand: Davinci
- Model: IQ
- Size & Weight: Weighs 145 grams, 3.5” x 1.65” x .94”
- Temperature Range: 250 – 430 ℉
- Heat production (Convection/conduction): conduction
- Heating time: ~16 seconds
- Oven Size: 1500 uL (1.5 mL)
- Battery (duration and average charging time): Replaceable 3500mah 1850 battery, lasts 60-80 minutes, charges from empty to full in 2-4 hours (depending on the method of charging the battery)
- Colors: Black, Gunmetal, blue and now a limited olive edition
- Warranty: 10 years manufacturer’s warranty
And if you love all the features and characteristics of the Davinci IQ but you want a lighter vaporizer, let you know that some months ago Davinci Vaporizers released a new device that may interest you: the Davinci MIQRO.
Davinci IQ Review
Contents
- Main characteristics
- Davinci IQ Review
- What’s in the box? – Davinci IQ Unboxing
- Davinci IQ Size and design
- Heating, vapor quality and temperature settings
- How to use it
- The Davinci smartphone app
- Davinci IQ Battery
- Cleaning the vaporizer
- PAX 3 Vs Davinci IQ
- Final thoughts, Should you buy the Davinci IQ vaporizer?
What’s in the box? – Davinci IQ Unboxing
The Davinci IQ now comes in four colors! There’s the originals Black, gunmetal and blue and a limited edition Olive color. When the first released the product, there was an option to buy the collector’s edition, which came with all kinds of goodies (like a tshirt). Whichever color you choose, the contents of the box are the same:
- A Davinci IQ vaporizer
- A rechargeable and replaceable battery
- A USB charging cable
- A zirconia flavor chamber
- 2 mouthpieces (one recessed and one 10mm adapter)
- A carry can
- A keychain tool
- A cleaning kit
Davinci IQ Size and design
When it comes to size, this vaporizer gives its competitors (namely the Pax 2 and 3) a great run for its money. It’s a little heavier than the Pax 3 Vaporizer, weighing in at about 145 grams, but it’s shorter – meaning you can completely palm it when you’re using it, even though it’s also thicker. The perfectly discreet vaporizer.
Davinci did not stinge out on design elements on the IQ. Taking it to the whole next level, they fashioned a zirconia ceramic mouthpiece, oven and vapor path. These additions are definitely a welcomed upgrade from the glass vapor path of the Davinci Ascent, which was easily breakable and expensive to fix. But zirconia ceramic is just about the most robust kind of ceramic you can find, making it durable inside and out. The exterior shell is made out of brushed aluminum. The added weight of the unit is a testament to the durability of the IQ. The added ceramics are probably what accounts for the little bit of extra weight in comparison to other vaporizers, but it feels solid to hold.
The Davinci IQ easily slips into a pocket or handbag, and doesn’t have the bulky vaporizer look of the Davinci Ascent. It’s a good looking tool indeed. It has a 51 LED light display, too, which is functional and techy-looking.
Heating, vapor quality and temperature settings
As we mentioned, the oven, vapor path and mouthpiece are all made out of zirconia ceramic, which basically revolutionizes flavor quality in a conduction vaporizer. An interesting design mechanism of the IQ is the glossy ceramic ball on the inside of the oven lid. Davinci said they added it to reflect the heat inside the chamber so that the buds would vaporize evenly.
The zirconia flavor chamber also gives the user a full flavor experience. It efficiently cools the buds down on the way up, too, giving a cool dense vape cloud, an also lets you modify the taste of your herbs adding for example mint if you’d like to get a minty vapor.
At lower temperatures, the Davinci IQ seems to give a more flavorful experience. When you jack up the heat, you get a much nicer vape production, but the flavor decreases quickly. Lucky the Davinci has Smart Path technology inbuilt in the machine, which lets you start your session off at lower temperatures and slowly increase.
Smart Path Technology
There are four different Smart Path options to choose from. The way it works is by starting off your vaping session at the nominated minimum temperature. Over 10 minutes, the temperature will steadily increase to the nominated maximum. For example, Smart Path option 4 starts you off at 410 ℉ and works you up to 430 ℉ over a ten minute period.
The four options for Smart Path are (in order):
- 351 – 370 ℉
- 370 – 390 ℉
- 390 – 410 ℉
- 410 – 430 ℉
These four options are available from the device itself, but are fully customizable using the Davinci IQ smartphone app (more about that later). This is awesome for those who are familiar with vapor stepping and those who know which temperatures they like to start and finish at.
Of course, if you’re not into the idea of vapor stepping and just want to vape at your preferred temperature, you can set it anywhere between 250 and 430 ℉. The IQ will heat up to your selected temperature and you can start vaping away.
The flavor chamber
The Davinci IQ has an extra “layer” inside the unit called the flavor chamber. It sits right in the way of the vapor path, right before the vape gets into your mouth. The idea of the flavor chamber is to load it up to express flavor rather than for getting cooked. It’s quite far away from the oven, so it doesn’t get overly heated in there.
You can put some extra buds in the flavor chamber to increase the flavor. Or on the other hand, you can throw some other aromatic herbs in there that you like the taste of. For example mint or sage or whatever.
The flavor chamber definitely adds some resistance to the draw when you’ve got it loaded up – there’s no need to grind the herbs – just throw them in chunky. You always have the option of leaving it empty if you don’t fancy any extra flavor.
Overall, the machine takes about 16 seconds to heat up to 250 ℉ which is pretty damn fast. It turns itself off automatically after 10 minutes to avoid itself overheating, but you can basically turn it straight back on.
How to use it
Loading the oven is easy. Just swing the door open on the bottom of the unit to reveal the ceramic oven and throw your herbs in there. It works better if you grind your herbs quite fine and pack them tightly, but not so tight that you restrict the airflow. (Here you have our top weed grinder article if you don’t know which one to choose). To turn on the IQ, press the circular button on the side of the device 5 times. As soon as you turn it on, the LED light display will tell you the charge remaining and will start heating up to the temperature or Smart Path you last used it at.
Press the same button once to enter the temperature control mode and use the up and down buttons to select the temperature you want to vape at. If you want to use a Smart Path, press the circular button once more to enter Smart Path mode. Use the up and down buttons to scroll through options 1-4.
To power off, press the circular button 5 times!
This device is extremely easy to use, whether you’re using it with the app or without the app. However, there are more customization options available if you’re using the IQ with the smartphone app, something techys love.
The Davinci smartphone app
The Davinci IQ smartphone app can be downloaded from iTunes or Google Play for Androids. This app is really cool – mainly because it lets you switch your vaporizer on or off purely from the app. This is a first for the vaporizing industry.
Nifty little things aside, you can do some other very cool things with the app. If you like the idea of Smart Path technology but don’t like any of the premade settings, you can customize your own through the app. Select your minimum temperature and your maximum temperature, and the IQ will perform in the exact same Smart Path manner – steadily increasing over ten minutes. You can only select temperatures within the minimum and maximum range of course.
You also have the ability to track your usage with the Davinci IQ smartphone app. It tells you things like how often you used a certain Smart Path and show you a graph of your recent sessions. It’s a pretty cool tool for seeing how you interact with your vaporizer over different sessions.
Finally, the Davinci IQ smartphone app also lets you update the software in your vaporizer simply using the app. This is handy for when the company releases patches to fix any glitches that they become aware of without having to plug your device into a computer or anything.
Davinci has covered just about all the bases when it comes to the smartphone app, which is easy to use and a great communication tool for the user to have between themselves and their vaporizer.
Davinci IQ Battery
The option to replace a battery! Hallelujah! It’s something every vaporizer enthusiast loves about a vape. Given that the battery is usually the first thing to go in a vaporizer, it helps when it can be replaced. The Davinci IQ comes with a fully replaceable 3500 mAh 18650 battery – which is also rechargeable.
Depending on the temperature settings you use, the Davinci IQ can have a battery life anywhere between 50 and 80 minutes. However, it takes quite a long time to charge up using the cable that comes in the box. To use the USB cable for charging, the battery has to be inside the vaporizer – obviously. It can take 3-4 hours to recharge from empty. And don’t fear, serial vapers – you can use the Davinci IQ while it’s charging.
If that just doesn’t cut it for you, there’s a way around it. You can buy portable charging units that you can put the battery into. Somehow, these charge the battery in around 2 hours – up to twice as fast as when the battery is inside the vaporizer itself.
It’s not the best battery life when it comes to vaporizers, but the option of a replaceable battery makes things pretty appealing for the Davinci IQ.
Cleaning the vaporizer
To avoid having to do major cleans on the Davinci IQ all the time, you should give your oven a quick clean after every use. Make sure it’s empty and give it a good blow or wipe. The ceramic oven and vapor path don’t get really dirty really quickly, so if you keep the rest of the vape in good condition you can keep cleaning to a minimum.
The mouthpiece and flavor chamber can simply be removed and thrown into some isopropyl alcohol to soak. To clean the silicone gasket just beneath it, remove and clean with some soapy water. To clean the oven, just wipe it with a paper towel soaked in alcohol. And as for the space between the flavor chamber and the mouthpiece, that’s what the pipe cleaner in your box is for!
Cleaning is pretty simple and easy with this device. If you use the flavor chamber, it does seem to create some extra cleaning. But overall, it’s not hard to keep the Davinci IQ clean.
Davinci Accessories
Davinci has a range of accessories you can use with your IQ – more exciting than a portable battery charger and a car charging option, although these are also accessories you can buy.
There is a vertical bong replacement you can add to your IQ, ideal for water filtering your vape. It can definitely make the flavor of your hits more pronounced and it’s basically pocket sized. A pretty cool attachment to have on your vape, although the flavor of the Davinci IQ is already pretty good!
PAX 3 Vs Davinci IQ
The PAX 3 and the Davinci IQ are, in our opinion, the best looking and most innovative vapes available right now in the market and we have to admit that choosing one is a hard task, both are conduction vaporizers with best in class vapor production. In terms of vapor production and flavor we pick the Davinci with its zirconia Aroma Chamber, being able to get a more tasty and fresh vapor.
Both vaporizers have bluetooth connection with a smartphone app to completely customize each vaping session but the Davinci App is a bit more complete giving us the opportunity to fully customize each hit.
In terms of size and usability we prefer the PAX 3, it is smaller, lighter and easier to use.
The battery life in the PAX 3 is better with a shorter charging time but the replaceable lithium battery in the Davinci Iq is a huge WIN!
Final thoughts, Should you buy the Davinci IQ vaporizer?
Okay – this unit is not cheap! At almost $275, it weighs heavily on the wallet. However, there are definitely some very cool qualities in the IQ that make it pretty appealing to buy. The choice of materials to build this thing seems to give it one of the best flavor hits amongst portable vaporizers – and we all know vaping is not just about getting high. The fact that it has inbuilt vaping cycles with Smart Path technology means that this machine is for people who really care about vaping but still want the portability of a hand-held.
Davinci deserves some props for this well-engineered vaporizer which, even after years from its release, is still one of the best vaporizers on the cannabis market. If you’re not shy about spending upwards of $250 on a vape, then this one should definitely snag your attention.