Today you’re getting the results of our month-long review of the Planet of the Vapes ONE portable vaporizer. We tested the POTV ONE on every possible metric a vaporizer can be tested on:
- Vapor quality;
- Battery-life;
- Draw-resistance;
- Efficiency, and many other metrics that you’ll learn about today.
Throughout the review, we’ll compare the POTV ONE to different portable vaporizers, to give you a clear picture of which portable vaporizer will best suit your needs.
The best part? You’re getting simple but effective tips to optimize the performance of the POTV ONE.
POTV ONE Review Summary
Pros and Cons
- Best battery-powered vape under $100
- Creates dense, hard-hitting clouds, fast extraction-speed for such a small vape
- Vapor quality great in low-to-mid temperature ranges
- Short battery life: 30 minutes
- Initially, very strong and persistent manufacturing smells
Go to the best deal for the POTV ONE:
Various Stats vs the Average
Design (8)
If you know the Fury 2, the POTV ONE basically looks like a Fury 2 or Fenix Mini.
And that’s not so strange. The POTV ONE, the Fenix Mini, and the Fury 2, all come from the same manufacturer.
Planet of the Vapes took the Fury 2/Fenix Mini as a foundation for the ONE but added a number of features to it, plus changed some of the materials it’s made of.
The result is a slightly improved portable vaporizer. I wouldn’t say the design is anything groundbreaking though.
The most significant improvements/additions of the POTV ONE compared to the Fury 2, are:
- The included glass accessory attachment that enables easy attachment of glass pieces like mouthpieces and bubblers. But it can also be used as a glass air-path/mouthpiece itself.
- Vibration feedback when the POTV ONE turns on/off and reaches the set temperature.
- A mesh mouthpiece screen that clogs less and needs less cleaning.
Compared to the Fury 2, the POTV ONE also has a few changes with regards to the materials inside the vaporizer:
- The heater is now stainless steel instead of nickel-chromium;
- The chamber is now aluminum instead of stainless steel.
As you’ll read a bit later (in the safety paragraph), one isn’t necessarily safer than the other.
Also, both aluminum and stainless steel have been shown to be safe, but also both have been shown to leak metals from cookware into food under certain conditions (more on that later). Again, a stainless steel bowl isn’t necessarily safer than an aluminum bowl. It’s all dependent on the quality of the stainless steel/aluminum.
Onto the aesthetics.
The POTV ONE is a beautiful little vaporizer, and while it doesn’t click into my hand like DaVinci IQ, it’s a true pocket vape that’s very comfortable to hold in my hands. The soft coating on the outside does make me want to keep caressing my POTV ONE.
What I like most about the POTV ONE is that it has a very simple design. There are only 3 parts:
- the base unit itself;
- The mouthpiece, and;
- The glass stem.
There’s literally nothing else. And everything clicks into each other like lego.
Portability (9.5)
Size & weight
The POTV ONE is a true pocket vape.
With its dimensions of 5.5″ (h) x 3.2″ (w) x 0.94″ (d) (8.1 x 5 x 2.7 cm) and weight of 5 oz (130g), it won’t feel like a burden in your pocket like some other ‘portable’ vaporizers (think MIGHTY or Arizer Solo 2).
Because the POTV ONE is mostly made from metal, it’s slightly heavier than you would expect. But I only see that as a positive, because it still feels like you’re holding something with presence in your hand.
Although the POTV ONE is really compact, if you’re looking for something even more compact, I recommend the DaVinci IQ or MIQRO.
Discreetness of design
Anytime you have a mouthpiece sticking out as you do with the POTV ONE, you’re going to have a hard time being discreet while vaping.
Now, the mouthpiece of the ONE isn’t as tall as some other vapes with a glass stem (like the Arizer Solo 2, and the Arizer Air 2), but still tall enough making to make it impossible to fully hide it inside the palm of your hand (while using it).
The good thing though is that a pocket-vape always is relatively discreet because of its small size.
Smelliness
The POTV ONE is a hybrid vaporizer, it combines both conduction and convection heating. Conduction vaporizers are generally smellier than convection vapes, and hybrid vapes are generally in between.
This means I would rate the POTV ONE’s smelliness as average.
Battery life
The POTV ONE has the exact same battery as the Fury 2:
- A 1600mAh internal LiPo battery;
It provides 30-40 minutes of continues use and has a 90-minute charge-up time.
For its size, the POTV ONE has average battery life. There are pocket-sized vapes with better battery life, the PAX 3 for example, but the POTV one has a significantly stronger heating element than the PAX 3. So while the POTV one has less battery life than the PAX 3, it will produce significantly more powerful clouds than the PAX 3.
There’s always one problem with internal batteries:
Once an internal battery starts degrading, which they always do, there’s no easy way to replace it. That’s why some pocket-vapes like the Arizer ArGo and DaVinci IQ come with replaceable batteries. An added bonus of replaceable batteries is that you any time your battery dies, you can replace it and thus give your vaporizer infinite battery life.
Safety (7.5)
A quick recap on how we rate safety:
- What materials are used in the heating element?
- What materials are used in the air path (especially vapor path)?
- Is the air path separated from the electronics?
- Does it have any official (medical) certifications?
- Is there a risk of combustion?
So let’s get started with:
The heating element
The POTV ONE comes with a stainless steel heating element. Although stainless steel heating elements are rarely found in dry herb vaporizers, they are used on a large scale with electronic cigarette-type of vaporizers.
The little research that has been done on the topic of metal exposure in e-cigs shows that metal e-cigarette coils (whether it’s stainless steel, nickel-chromium, kanthal or something else) can leak metal nanoparticles into e-liquids when heated. But the research also shows that there’s a large variability in the amount of metal leakage between different devices, e-liquids, and vaping habits.
Based on the current research on coils of e-cigs, we can’t conclude that any type of coil (stainless steel, nickel-chromium, etc.) is ‘healthier’ than the other. What we do know, is that you risk inhaling metal particles with any type of coil when talking about e-cigarettes.
This doesn’t automatically mean that you risk inhaling metal nanoparticles with any metal heating element found in dry herb vaporizers as well (whether it’s stainless steel, nickel-chromium or aluminum), also because a coil is in direct contact with the e-liquid (compared to indirect contact between the heating element and dry herb in a dry herb vaporizer). But realize that there’s a small risk with dry herb vaporizers as well.
In that sense, the POTV ONE isn’t safer or less safe than 95% of vaporizers, because most dry herb vaporizers make use of metals in their heating elements. Unless we scientifically test these on potential leaking of metals, we can’t really say anything about which one is safer.
If you want to go for the safest possible option in terms of ‘safe’ heating elements, I recommend you either go for a medically certified device like the MIGHTY (and trust that governmental health institutions did rigorous testing) or a vaporizer that has its heating element completely separated from its air-path, like the VapeXhale Cloud EVO (desktop vaporizer).
The bottom line is:
Based on the material of the heating element, currently, we don’t have any reason to see the POTV ONE as less safe than 95% of other portable vaporizers.
The air path
Depending on what type of mouthpiece you use, the air-path of the POTV ONE can be a combination of:
- Aluminum (the bowl);
- Silicone and metal (the mouthpiece connector and the mouthpiece screen), and;
Either:
- Glass (glass mouthpiece) or;
- Glass + medical/food grade ‘PET’ plastic (standard mouthpiece).
As long as you keep your bowl and air-path clean, I don’t see any issue with these materials.
One thing I didn’t like with my particular model was that the plastic smells very strongly and only seems to lessen very little. However, it doesn’t affect the taste of the vapor whatsoever, and that makes me think there are no safety issues related to this strong smell. I still recommend cleaning the plastic part of the mouthpiece well before you first use your POTV ONE.
Separation air path and electronics
The air-path of the Fury 2 is fully separated from the electronics.
The good folks at PuffItUp proved this by taking one of their beloved Fury 2 apart.
And since the POTV ONE is basically the same vaporizer with some added features, we can assume it has its air path separated from its electronics as well.
Potency (9)
This is where the POTV ONE truly shines in my opinion.
While most pocket-vapes produce clouds that are sub-par compared to their bigger counterparts, the POTV ONE produces clouds that are comparable to the CRAFTY’s clouds in terms of potency.
Of all pocket-vapes that I’ve tested, the CRAFTY and POTV ONE (and Fury 2) produce the strongest vapor. Much stronger than the PAX 3 for example.
Of course, there are even more powerful portable vaporizers like the MIGHTY or Arizer Solo 2, but these are not pocket-vapes.
If you’re looking to combine lots of power in a pocketable size, and don’t want to spend more than $130, there currently isn’t a better option than the POTV ONE. The Fury 2 is even cheaper (and the same in terms of power and size compared to the POTV ONE), but the POTV ONE comes with accessories like a glass mouthpiece and mini-bubbler, that easily justify the $20 increase in price.
Flavor (8)
The flavor of the vapor coming out of the POTV ONE is great in the low- to mid-temperatures. The flavor only gets harsh when you dial the temperature up to 400+°F (205+°C). This harshness is probably related to the short vapor path. With the standard mouthpiece, the vapor path is really short, and the vapor has almost no time to cool off. And although using a longer mouthpiece does help a little bit, it’s not long enough to cool the vapor at the highest temperature settings.
If you want to vape at these high temperatures, I recommend using the mini-bubbler. It’s an easy way to smooth out the harshness at these high temperatures. The good thing is that they include the mini-bubbler (including other glassware) with your purchase!
The POTV ONE is a hybrid vaporizer. The heating system is a combination of convection and conduction heating. This means you don’t have to worry much about the ‘burnt popcorn’ taste that you often get after the first few draws with full conduction vapes like the PAX 3.
However, I do recommend to finish your bowl in a single go because the POTV ONE is a session-vape. If you re-vape dry herb that has been inside the bowl and has already gone through a heating cycle, the flavor will be significantly worse than fresh dry herb.
Efficiency (9)
Vaporizer-efficiency can be broken down into 3 types of efficiency:
- Threshold-efficiency (what’s the minimum amount of herb you need to produce proper vapor);
- Session-efficiency (how much herb gets cooked and potentially wasted during your session while you’re not drawing);
- Extraction-efficiency (how even and how quickly the goods get extracted out of your bowl).
Let’s see how well the POTV ONE scores in each of these categories.
Threshold-Efficiency (Related to Bowl Size)
The POTV ONE has quite a small bowl (0.1 grams capacity). Its bowl is so small, that it works decently for micro-dosing.
There are only a few dry herb vapes that you can use even more effectively for micro-dosing:
- The MIQRO, and;
- The VapCap M/OmniVap.
Both these vapes work well with even smaller amounts of herb. But the POTV ONE (and Fury 2 for that matter), is more versatile than the MIQRO for example. The MIQRO works well only for micro-dosing, the POTV ONE, in contrast, works well if you want to consistently produce big and hard-hitting clouds as well. And the VapCap M needs a butane torch lighter to heat up, that’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Session-Efficiency
The POTV ONE is a hybrid vaporizer. It’s hard to say how much % is conduction or convection, but looking at the design of the vape and the taste of the vapor it feels like it’s 50/50.
While most conduction vapes have bad session-efficiency by design (they continuously cook the bowl whether you’re drawing or not and waste herb in the process), convection vapes have a better session-efficiency by their core design (hot air only gets pulled over your herb, while you’re drawing vapor).
The POTV ONE stands somewhere in-between, but its session-efficiency shouldn’t be much better than a full conduction vape. If you don’t want to waste any herb, I recommend vaping small amounts and finishing the bowl in a single quick session.
Extraction-Efficiency
The POTV ONE is very effective in extracting all the goods out of your herb.
I feel like I can extract everything out of a full bowl (0.1 grams) in 5-6 hits. And this experience of mine is backed by visual cues: the ABV (the vaped dry herb) won’t have green parts left after 5-6 good hits.
Also, the POTV ONE cooks the herb very evenly, and you don’t need to stir to extract everything.
Ease of Use (9)
Learning curve
The POTV ONE is very easy to use, and it’s a great beginner’s vape.
We always give 4 main tips to optimize the performance of any dry herb vaporizer:
- Since it’s a hybrid vaporizer, for best vapor production you would have to grind medium-fine. A Santa Cruz Shredder is perfect for the type of grind-consistency that works well with the POTV ONE;
- Pack your bowl loosely compressed to keep a good airflow through the bowl (don’t pack tightly);
- Draw slowly and controlled for at least 5-10 seconds;
- Use the right temperature for your desired effect.
But besides these tips, there isn’t much to learn about using the POTV ONE properly.
The only tip I would like to give you is that before you use your POTV ONE for the first time, fully clean it with a cotton swab and some isopropyl alcohol (including the mouthpiece and the silicone in the mouthpiece) and do at least 5 burn offs to get the plastic taste off of it (let POTV ONE run 5 full sessions at max-temperature, without you vaping anything).
Draw resistance
The POTV ONE’s draw resistance is quite low.
While the draw resistance isn’t as low as with the MIGHTY or CRAFTY, it’s much lower than most pocket vapes like the PAX 3 or DaVinci IQ.
Maintenance/cleaning downtime
It’s important to really ‘maintain’ your POTV ONE to avoid potential problems with herb residue sticking in your bowl and vapor path and potentially corroding the materials.
Best would be to do this maintenance after every session.
How you maintain your POTV ONE is as follows:
Make sure that your bowl is fully empty after every session. Use the included brush to brush out any finer herb parts. It’s important to do this before the POTV ONE is fully cooled down because that’s when the herb resin sticks and is harder to get off.
If you want to keep your bowl clean, I recommend using the included dosing capsules:
Do a deep cleaning session every 10-15 sessions to really keep your POTV ONE performing optimally.
Deep cleaning with the POTV ONE just means getting a cotton swab and some isopropyl alcohol and clean every part with the ISO alcohol-dipped cotton swab (especially the internal parts).
Temperature Control (9.5)
The POTV ONE has a precise temperature control system. You can change the temperature in 1-degree increments.
This is great news for anyone, because the more precise the temperature control, the more control you have over the effects over our vapor.
The POTV ONE has the following temperature range:
- 320°F – 430°F (160°C – 221°C)
Whether you want the light effects that come from vaping at low temperatures or the strong effects that come from vaping at high temperatures, or anything in-between, with the temperature range and precise temperature control of the POTV ONE, every type of effect is possible.
The heat-up time is pretty fast: around 30-40 seconds.
Reputation & Reliability (7.5)
Planet of the Vapes is mostly known as an online vaporizer store.
In the past few years, they have grown to be one of the top online vaporizer stores in terms of customer service. In fact, Planet of the Vapes is one of my most recommended online vaporizer stores.
But being a great online vaporizer store doesn’t automatically mean you bring out great vaporizers as well.
Well, keeping in mind that the base model of the POTV ONE is the Fury 2, and the Fury 2 has been out for 2 years now (June 2019), we can cautiously conclude that the POTV ONE is probably going to be a reliable vaporizer for at least 2-3 years of use, and probably more.
Here’s why:
The Fury 2’s defect rate is low and after 2 years, reports of Fury 2s breaking down are average.
Combine this with Planet of the Vapes’ renowned customer service (9.5 rating with over 5000 reviews), and you’ll quickly see why the POTV ONE is a safe choice in terms of reputations and reliability.
Now, the warranty is a bit on the lower side: 2 years. And once your POTV ONE’s battery starts degrading (which it eventually will), you don’t have an easy option to replace it. So these are things to keep in mind, and if you’re looking to buy a pocket vape that will last you 5+ years easily, I recommend getting either a portable vaporizer with replaceable batteries or with a longer warranty (for example the DaVinci IQ or Arizer ArGo).
Conclusion
After this extensive review, how can we summarize the POTV ONE?
If you’re looking for:
- A small and compact pocket-vape for on the go, that hits very hard, or;
- A budget pocket-vape, that competes with top-tier pocket vapes in terms of vapor potency and vapor quality,
The POTV ONE currently is one of your best options (2019).
What makes the POTV ONE unique compared to other premium small pocket-vapes like the DaVinci IQ and the PAX 3, are mostly 2 points:
- It produces stronger clouds.
- It’s significantly cheaper.
What makes the POTV ONE unique compared to the Fury 2, are mostly 2 points:
- The included accessories like the accessory glass attachment and mini-bubbler.
- The stainless steel heater vs the Fury 2’s nickel-chromium heater, and the aluminum bowl vs the Fury 2’s stainless steel bowl (it’s hard to judge which materials are ‘better’).
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