DaVinci IQ Review: Its Not Perfect (But Almost)

Key Features 

• Ceramic vapor path and chamber that significantly cools vapor before reaching your lips
• Conduction heating- we love this
• Dry herb vaporizer - not for wax & concentrates
• Replaceable battery system - you can charge one while using the other
• Haptic feedback - vibrates when ready 
• Dimmable LED lights on the front - for extra discretion 
• 3 temperature modes which are fully customizable

What's in The Kit

DaVinci IQ Discretion 

The DaVinci completely fits in the palm of your hand making it easy to be discreet when you’re out snowboarding. It's actually a little shorter than the Pax 3 so you can cup your hand totally around it. Whereas the Pax is small but its longer so the top kind of sticks out when you close your hand. 

The DaVinci comes in several colors including a stealthy black and while it does have LED lights on the front, they made them totally dimmable so you can tone down the light output significantly.

Overall, it's a super stealthy vaporizer you can easily use to vape on the down low. 

Portability and Vaping Capabilities

The Davinci IQ is specifically meant for dry herb. If you're a concentrate user, you may prefer something like the Firefly 2, Pax 3 or even a simple pen vape like the G pen. 

As far as portability goes, it's really convenient. The DaVinci uses a replaceable 18650 battery which can be swapped out for a fresh one when the one you're using dies. This makes it easy as a travel vaporizer since you can carry extra batteries (only about $10 each) and keep changing them if you’re on longer trips.

From each battery you can expect about 60-80 minutes of vaping time so you should only need one extra battery at most. 

A Few Key Highlights About The Battery:

• It uses a micro USB charger so you can charge it with your normal USB ports.
• You may want to consider buying a backup battery and an external charging dock. The Battery takes between 3-4 hours to charge if you're charging it in the vaporizer. With an external charging dock, you can charge two batteries at the same time in about 2 or 3 hours total. 
• Each battery lasts about 60-80 minutes (continuous vaping) from a full charge. 

Vapor Quality

The vapor quality from the DaVinci is outstanding for a conduction vaporizer. I was pleasantly surprised not only by the amount of vapor I got from it but also from the level of flavor. 

The overall taste of the dry herb came through very clean and you can fully taste the terpenes in your herb. It isn’t just about flavor though. The DaVinci packs a powerful punch when it comes to vapor clouds.

After some experimentation, I found the fine grind and the male mouthpiece worked best. The recessed mouthpiece felt harder to hit from but that’s a matter of personal preference. Note that the fine grind does increase the resistance slightly but it really wasn’t a big deal. You’ll also get somewhere between 15-30 hits per bowl depending on how long and hard you draw. 

The IQ also works really well with a water pipe. DaVinci sells a glass adapter that fits the male mouthpiece perfectly and pulling through the water produced big hits with nice flavor.

Overall, the vapor quality from the DaVinci is top notch for a portable conduction vaporizer.  

Build Quality

DaVinci paid attention to detail when it comes to functionality and style too. The front features a 51 LED light display (which can be dimmed). The display shows you the temperature, battery life and when it's in boost mode (I’ll explain what “boost mode” is in the temperature settings section below). 

Loading the chamber is super easy. You simply open the bottom and load your herb in the chamber. It's one of the easiest I’ve used and highly convenient if you're out and about. 

Inside of the DaVinci is a little “flavor chamber” which is also the vapor path. You have the option of putting extra herb in here to build up resin and increase potency but it also increases the draw resistance.

Most of the time I just left it empty but you’ll want to keep it in the vaporizer because it's made from ceramic that also cools the vapor before it reaches your lips. 

Overall, the build quality is top notch. 

Temperature settings

For temperature settings, you have the option of using the app or controlling temperature from the vaporizer itself. There are three temperature modes included: 

• Smart Path 
• Precision
• Boost Mode

I’ll explain each below:

Smart Path: 

The smartpath settings start your session on lower temperatures (around 350 F) and then gradually increase the temperature as you move through your session. It works to fully vaporize your herb and maximize what you get from every bud.

The different smart path settings can be fully customized from the phone app so you can set the start temperature, ending temperature and how quickly it transitions from one to the other. 

Precision Mode:

With precision mode it's pretty straight forward. You simply pick the temperature you want and the DaVinci will heat up to that temperature for you. Once you set the temp, the LED display on the front will show you the current temperature and vibrate (haptic feedback) once it's reached the temperature you set.

Boost Mode:

Boost mode is super cool actually. When you’re vaping, you can hold down the power button and little arrows pointing up will display on the LED lights. In boost mode the DaVinci rapidly heats up to 430 F to maximize vapor production. It then quickly cools down to extend the life of your herb. This was a lot of fun to play with. 

Cleaning the DaVinci IQ

Cleaning the DaVinci is pretty easy - or at least no more complicated than most other portable vaporizers. When you’re done with a session, dump out your material and brush out the bowl. Every so often you’ll begin noticing more draw resistance. This is a good indicator it's time for a deep clean. Here's how:

1. Remove all the parts of the DaVinci (vapor path, mouthpiece, etc).

2. Drop them in iso and water. 

3. Clean the oven out with a Q-tip dipped in some iso and water.

4. Take the included brush tool and brush out the area where the flavor chamber sits.

5. Dry everything off and you’re good to go.

Conclusion

The DaVinci IQ is a great dry herb vaporizer. It's compact size makes it easy to comfortably fit in your pocket or hand, the interchangeable batteries make it convenient to bring on the road without battery anxiety, it fits a water pipe perfectly (once you have the adapter), it fits plenty of herb (0.3 to 0.5 grams), features a ceramic chamber and the vapor is smooth and cool.

Overall, it's a top quality build and one you’ll be happy with for years to come.

• Current best price: $274.99