The XMAX Vital has been my trusted thermal extraction device (TED) since early 2017 and it has shown me a lot of good times. It’s the reason that I am now a hardcore TEDhead and pretty much never opt for combustion when indulging in solo sessions.
The XMAX Vital, also known as the XVAPE Vital, is packed with essential features at a very reasonable price which makes it easy to recommend as a starter TED. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to come by currently in India but this review also serves as a guide for the features you should look for in a starter TED.
Unboxing
Style, Materials & Dimensions
The XMAX Vital is a pretty compact and cool-looking TED. It comes in three colours - black, white and camo.
It’s got a sleek pen shape as opposed to some TEDs that are like rectangular bricks. The Vital is easily pocketable (122x31x25mm) and lightweight (240 grams).
The body is plastic with some kind of rubber coating that gives it a matte finish and good grip. The rubber coating has worn off partially with years of use but there is no damage to the body of the device. The build quality is surprisingly good, not just for the price but in general too.
The mouthpiece is hard plastic and I can vouch for its durability as it has survived many horrifying falls that looked fatal. The inside of the mouthpiece has a metallic screen and a silicone o-ring.
The bowl is ceramic, which is among the preferred materials for a TED. Ceramic is durable and inert (ie. it won’t chemically react with the herbs). A ceramic bowl also provides more even heating and better taste compared to metallic bowls that cheaper TEDs have.
The ceramic bowl has also lived through quite a few falls without as much as a tiny crack. It’s fairly deep too, though I only fill it more-or-less halfway. You can fit enough material in it for a two-people sesh.
Display & Controls
One of the cool things about the Vital is that it has an OLED display that shows the Timer, Temperature and Battery.
It has just three buttons - Power, + (Increase Temperature) and - (Decrease Temperature). The main reason I recommend the Vital as a starter TED is that it allows precise temperature control. It has a temperature range of 100° C – 240° C (212° F – 464° F).
There are other starter TEDs that might be slightly cheaper but have fixed temperature settings. The ability to manaully set the temperature is a game-changer though and you should definitely shell out a bit extra for it.
The advantage with precise temperature controls is that you can experiment with the temperature to fine-tune the effects that you want from your herb. Read my temperature control guide to know more about this.
The Vital also has two settings for the shut-off timer. You can choose between a five-minute or ten-minute timer for auto shut-off.
Battery
The Vital packs an impressive 2,600 mAh Li-Ion battery for such a small device. However, I don’t consider it to be perfect for outdoor use. Firstly, being an electronic device it needs to be safeguarded from things like dust and water.
Secondly, it takes 3 hours to reach a full charge but only runs for an hour. This 3:1 ratio means that you will be charging it for much longer than you will be using it. That being said, there’s nothing really stopping you from using it outdoors if you carry a power bank along with you. The device is charged through a micro-USB port which is slightly outdated at this point but not a deal-breaker because a cable is included in the box.
The good thing is it can operate even while being charged. However, I believe that this is not a good practice as it might end up damaging the battery in the long term. I don’t know if this is a fact, so anyone knowledgeable can please confirm or deny it in the comments.
Learning Curve
To be very honest, I was a bit disappointed when I first got the Vital. I expected the experience to be similar to combustion - quick and heavy hit. However, this is not the case with the Vital and TEDs in general.
It took me a full month to figure out how to get the most out of the Vital. I played around with quantities, temperatures and pulling techniques to understand what’s optimal. Read my guide TED Tips for Desi Newbies so that you can figure things out quickly.
Even though the learning curve was steep, it was completely worth it because the Vital provides a cleaner and more satisfying experience than combustion ever can.
Experience
The first reason I say that is because of the convenience. You can completely skip roughly 10 minutes of preparation that you have to do for combustion. No more squinting to find each tiny twig. Just remove the seeds and you’re ready to fly.
The second reason is the money saved. While there is a significant upfront cost, you no longer need roaches, papers, mixing material and lighters. If you are a heavy user, you can easily break even the cost of the TED in the first year alone. Considering that I used mine for something like 4½ years, I have actually ended up saving a lot of money. An extra special mention to the Vital for being a lifesaver during the first lockdown when rolling materials were not available.
The third and most important reason is the cleanliness. There’s no smoke, which means you are putting less unnecessary chemicals into your body. It also means that a lot of the harmful chemicals that are released during combustion are no longer being inhaled and, if you’re an indoor user, sticking to the walls of your room.
There’s no smell which makes it an extremely stealthy way to consume herbs. By adjusting the temperature, you can eliminate even more of the potentially harmful chemicals, making TEDs one of the safest methods to ingest herbs.
There will rarely be visible clouds too (unless you set the temperature very high), which means it won’t bother anyone even if they are sitting right next to you. I have snuck the Vital into movie theatres more times than I can count. However, this is not something I encourage because there’s a good chance you can draw the attention of strangers by adopting the wrong techniques. It could also be confiscated during pat-downs at entrances.
I prefer the Vital over edibles even, because there’s a considerably smaller chance that the dosage might be wrong or of the effects kicking in sooner or later than expected.
Cleaning & Maintenance
You need to empty the Vital's bowl immediately after every session. Loosen up the AVB using a toothpick and clear the bowl's contents. The mouthpiece screen will have some material stuck on it too, which you can remove using the toothpick or the provided cleaning brush.
The mouthpiece will accumulate some sticky brown substance with long-term use. It will also stick to the ceramic mouthpiece but at a much slower rate.
I never really felt any real need to clean the bowl or mouthpiece, but I did clean the mouthpiece a few times just to see how dirty it is. I do recommend cleaning the mouthpiece once every few months because the airflow can get obstructed by the residue.
Cleaning is pretty simple. Inserting a toothpick in the narrow end of the mouthpiece to dig out the residue will help improve air flow. You can clean the entire mouthpiece by removing the O-ring and screen, then washing them all with warm soapy water.
Be careful with the O-ring because the screen won’t stay in place without it. I lost the O-ring for my Vital but there is so much residue around the screen that it is stuck in place and unremovable. So, I just clean the entire mouthpiece without dismantling it.
You can also clean the ceramic bowl using an earbud dipped in Isopropyl alcohol but I never felt the need to try this.
RIP?
A weakness of electronic TEDs is that they may become unusable because the battery no longer holds a charge. This is a problem with any electronic device with a built-in battery. Anyone who has a smartphone knows that the battery degrades over time and eventually needs replacement.
The good news is that the battery could possibly be replaced since it’s a standard Samsung ICR 18650. However, it is difficult to do so without the knowledge, experience or even tools to go about it.
XMAital Price & Where to Buy in India
I bought the XMAX Vital from AliExpress in 2017 for roughly ₹4,200 including customs duty. It was also available domestically online, but the price was almost double at ₹7,800. It was not really a rip-off because taxes and duties will highly inflate the price of any imported item.
Availability is a big issue right now in India. To my knowledge, domestic sellers are currently not stocking it due to legal complications. AliExpress is now banned in India and even sites like Alibaba and Gearbest won’t deliver TEDs here because of legal complications.
Your best bet is to have someone get it here from abroad. It’s not really a risk because TEDs don’t use cartridges and that technically makes them legal afaik. There are many other TEDs with a similar feature set and price as the Vital, so do some research keeping it as a reference point to find similar or better models.
Conclusion
The low price, compact size, hassle-free operation and clean experience make the XMAX Vital an easy TED to recommend. You might rarely see it on lists of recommended TEDs but it is still a strong contender as the best starter TED. It has a rich set of features that allow you to try most of the things that the world of TEDs has to offer before deciding if you want to upgrade.
The Vital also has a bunch of accessories, like a glass mouthpiece for example, but I am completely skipping over those because I don't have them.
The main problem right now is getting your hands on not just the Vital but any TED in general. After days of searching, I finally gave up and ordered a Dynavap M 2021. It’s not a budget-friendly option like the Vital but provides an experience that is comparable and even better in many ways. Review coming soon, probably.
XMAX Vital Spec Sheet
- Battery capacity: 18650 3.7V 2600 mAh
- Charger/Output Volt: 5.0V/1A
- Charging: Micro USB charging
- OLED Display: Timer/Setting Temp/Power/Current Temp
- On/Off: Press the Power button for 5 seconds
- Safety Power Duration: 5 minutes and 10 minutes optional auto off
- Heating Chamber: Ceramic with embedded heating element
- Screen: OLED
- Temperature Range: 100° C – 240° C (212° F – 464° F)
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I have one vital , my fisrt DH vape , i love this thing , i like to use one replacement screen on top of herb , this method helps with cleaning
ReplyDeleteI have one vital , my fisrt DH vape , i love this thing , i like to use one replacement screen on top of herb , this method helps with cleaning
ReplyDelete