Pax 2 & 3 Vaporizer Review: Are They Worth Your Money?

If you’ve ever bought one of the cheap vape pens, you’ve probably had it bend, break and waste your expensive product more than once. The good news is with the pax 2 and pax 3 you won’t have those issues ever again.

The convenience, sleek design, temperature flexibility and quality build make this one of the best vape pens on the market. But are they the best for you? We'll get into the good and bad of each so you can decide for yourself. 

How to Choose a Vape Pen

Not all vape pens are created equally. And after trying and reviewing dozens of vape pens, we’ve created a basic criteria we like to use to evaluate the quality of a vaporizer - which we’ll run the pax pens through.

Battery Life & Temperature Settings

The battery life and temperature settings are two things we’ve found to be of the highest importance so they’re first on the list. On the battery side, you probably don’t want to get stuck carrying heavy batteries or being tethered to your wall charger right? 

After all, the whole point of the vape pen is convenience on the go.

So choosing a pen with a long battery life and an indicator light that tells you when the battery’s running low can make a big difference in your enjoyment and how much you use the pen.

For temperature it's ideal to get a vaporizer with multiple settings so you can set different temperatures for concentrate vs dry herb. This also lets you set higher temperatures so you can step outside and take a quick hit or lower temperatures if you’re in a mellow mood.

What Can You Vape? 

If you’re only vaping dry herb, then you don’t necessarily need a versatile vaporizer. However, if you like using wax, shatter or other concentrates as well, a vaporizer that can handle the demand is key.

This means choosing a vape pen with lids for dry herb and concentrates. Additionally, if you’re more of a solo smoker, you may want something that includes a smaller dry herb lid. This way you can pack smaller bowls while keeping everything tight for optimal vaping.

Shape and Ergonomics

You’ve probably tried the longer, e-cig shaped vape pens before. They usually come with a lanyard to wear around your neck because they don’t travel well in your pocket. The whole lanyard around the neck is fine if you like advertising but if you prefer to be discreet then you probably want something that fits in your pocket.

The issue we have with the long and slender pens is that they bend in your pocket.

This causes the chamber to gap away from the mouthpiece and leaves you with oil spilled in your pocket. It's super inconvenient and, on top of that, you’ll have to replace your pen several times a year leaving you spending almost as much as you would if you just bought something higher quality to begin with.

Easy to Clean

Having a nice vaporizer that’s a pain to clean drops it about 4 points on a scale of 1-10 for me. I use the vaporizer for convenience so the last thing I want is one that takes 10 minutes to clean. Ideally, the one you choose would be designed in a way so the lid can be easily removed and cleaned - whether you’re vaping dry herb or concentrates.

Style Durability 

Chances are you already know your style so there’s not much I can say on that. But durability is something you may want to keep in mind when shelling out your hard earned money. With the cheap, e-cig vape pens, your durability is low - like a 2 on a scale of 1-10.

But with the compact pens like the pax, it's made from a durable aluminum which fits in the palm of your hand, slides comfortably in your pocket and you could probably drop it a number of times without any problems. So it's more of a 9-10 on a scale of 1-10. 

Pax 2 Vaporizer Review

The pax 2 is the earlier iteration of the pax 3 vape pen. The primary difference between the 2 and 3 are the time it takes to heat up, the battery life, haptic feedback (the pax 3 vibrates), and the new app.

While the pax 2 is still an amazing vape pen (and it's cheaper), I’d recommend jumping straight into the pax three if you can because the improved battery and heat up time are worth the money. That being said, the pax 2 is a great option for dry herb and offers the same durable and convenient size you’d expect from a high end vape pen.

Pax 2 Battery Life 

The pax 2 features an internal lithium ion battery which holds a charge for about 5-8 sessions on average. However, this depends on the temperature settings you’re using. If you’re setting your pax to higher temperatures you can expect it to be closer to 5 sessions.

To charge your pax 2, you can use a standard USB charger or an AC wall adapter. With the USB port your pax will take about 3 hours to charge and if you’re using the AC adapter it will take around 2 hours. That's a pretty long charge time but if you're doing less than 5-10 sessions (about 90 minutes) per day you can charge it overnight which then won’t be big deal for you.

However, if you’re out for an all day snowboarding session and sharing with your friends, your battery may die at some point during the day. But this won’t come as a surprise since the pax has a 4 leaf LED light on the side where each leaf represents 25% of the battery life. With all four leaves lit, you’re at 100% charge, 3 leaves is 75% and so on.

Pax 2 Temperature Controls

The pax 2 features 4 temperature settings (360, 380, 400, 420 F) which are adjusted by what pax calls “lip and motion sensing technology”. Essentially, the temperature lowers and increases based on how you’re using the pen.

Its convenient because if you’re pulling frequently, it’ll raise the temp to heat up faster so you won’t have to wait as long. Further, the pax has an LED light on the side that turns green when it's ready to go (takes less than one minute to get there). However, the thing I don’t like about this pen is that you don’t have manual control over the temperature settings which can be frustrating.

Pax 2 Vaping Capabilities

The pax 2 is specifically for dry herb so if you prefer wax or concentrates, you’ll want to use the pax 3.

Pax 2 Shape 

The pax 2 has the same shape as the pax 3 so it fits perfectly in the palm of your hand, it's durable and fits snugly in your pocket so you don’t have to stress about bending or breaking. The sleek exterior is made from anodized aluminum that helps to disperse heat more evenly.

Pax 2 Cleaning Convenience 

Keeping your vape pen clean is super important for optimal performance. Both the pax 2 and 3 are easy to clean. But the pax 2 has a tendency to build up residue after sometimes just a few sessions. Fortunately you can easily remove the chamber screen and give it a quick clean with your pick tool (takes about 2 minutes). For deeper cleaning you can use isopropyl alcohol and pipe cleaners to get deeper buildup (takes about 5 minutes).

With regular cleaning it’ll pull easy and enhance the flavor of your flower.

Also keep in mind that the finer you grind your flower, the quicker it’ll build up residue.

Pax 2 Durability and Style 

The style of both the pax 2 and 3 are very sleek. It's like the iPhone of vape pens with a clean and compact design that’s friendly and easy to use. Its one button on and off and the temp is automatically adjusted so things don’t get much easier than that.

The hard aluminum shell makes the pen relatively light and extremely durable. It's never gotten messed up in my pocket and, while I haven’t tested this, it feels like it's sturdy enough to be fine if you accidentally drop it.

Pax 2 Specs

• LED interface with a 4 leaf battery indicator light

• Self adjusting temperature control

• 2 year warranty

• Magnetic oven lid for your dry herb

• Compact and sleek design with aluminum finish

• Stainless steel chamber for your herb

• Charges in 2-3 hours

• Dry herb only

Overall the pax two is a premium dry herb vaporizer. It's less money than the pax 3 (also less feature rich) but between the decent battery life, durable exterior, easy cleaning and overall functionality of this pen, it's a good choice for the money.

Pax 2 Available Packages

Pax 3 Vaporizer Review

The pax 3 is the newest iteration of the pax vaporizer and I’d say they've come a long way since the original version. Let's look at how the pax 3 stacks up:

Pax 3 Battery Life 

The pax 3 features a 3500 mAh battery (about 500 better than the pax 2) and stays charged for about 6-10 sessions or 95-110 minutes in our tests. On average, it takes about 1.5 hours to charge from dead and for that charge time, you’ll get an equal amount of use time which is super convenient.

Considering the size of this discreet unit, that's one of the best battery times we’ve seen which makes this the go-to portable vaporizer when hiking, surfing or snowboarding with friends.

Like the pax 2, the pax 3 features the same four leaf led display for battery power. When its fully charged, all 4 leaves are lit. When it's 75% charge, 3 leaves are lit and so on.

For charging, the pax 3 comes with a futuristic magnetic charging dock that plugs in via USB. The magnet on the charging dock is pretty weak so you’ll either have to set it down on a table or possibly use a rubber band to keep it on tight. You can also buy the standard mini-charger if you prefer that method.

Another big improvement is the heating time. With the pax 3 you’re hitting the low temperature (360 F) within 15 seconds and the highest (420 F) within just 20 seconds. Which is way more convenient when stepping outside for a quick hit or two.

The pax 3 can vape both dry herb and waxy oils.

For dry herb, it comes with a new half-pack lid that's great for 1-2 people since you can pack smaller bowls and still get big hits off the pen. It also has the full-pack lid for larger bowls if you’re vaping with friends.

For wax, it has a concentrate insert that seals tight to prevent leaking. It’s temperature settings make wax vaping easy since the “boost mode” prevents cooling between sessions (so you get the best hits - faster). Further, we found it does a great job of maximizing your wax so you can get more vape from a small pinch and the flavor profile is pretty good overall.

The raised mouthpiece does get a little hot though. But it's a personal preference thing and you get both so you can choose.

Pax 3 Cleaning Convenience 

The pax 3 lasts a little longer that the pax 2 between cleanings. I noticed that you start getting some draw resistance between about 7-9 bowls because the screen starts getting clogged around the edges. You can pull it out and do a two minute scrape to get it moving again but you’ll want to deep clean probably once a week depending on use.

Fortunately, the deep clean takes about 5 minutes. Just pull the bowl, screen and mouthpiece out. Soak the screen in isopropyl, clean the mouthpiece and bowl with a Q-tip dipped in alcohol and then clean the vape path with a pipe cleaner. You’ll want to stay on this though because it keeps your vaping flavorful and thick.

Pax 3 Durability and Style 

As far as style goes, the pax 3 is similar in dimensions and design to the pax 2. It's made from a durable aluminum casing that’s hard enough to handle the occasional dropping. You can put this vaporizer in your pocket when hiking or snowboarding without worry of leaking, bending or breaking. And overall, it's one of the most durable designs we’ve used.

Pax 3 Specs

• Heats in 15 seconds

• Vapes dry herb and wax

• Smooth pulls with a great flavor profile

• Bluetooth app enabled

• 4 temperature settings you can manually control

• Haptic feedback (vibrates)

• 3500 mAh battery lasts 95-110 minutes

• Durable polished aluminum case

Overall Features and Benefits 

The pax 3 is one of the most convenient and durable vape pens available. We love that you can vape both dry herb and waxes, the vapor's premium and the long battery life. If you're considering getting the pax, you won't be disappointed. Further, it carries a 10 year warranty so, if anything goes wrong, you should be covered. 

Currently the Pax 3 is offered in two kits - the Basic and Complete. The basic kit is fine if you're mostly dry herb vaping since it doesn't include the concentrate insert for wax. But if you plan on vaping wax once in a while, its worth upgrading to the Complete kit since it also includes the half-pack oven lid which you'll probably use most of the time. 

While both the Pax 2 and Pax 3 are high quality portable vaporizers, if you're going to spend some money, choose the Pax 3. 

It gives you high quality vapor, its super easy to use, you can manually control the temperature settings, it has a longer battery life, faster charge and you can vape both wax and dry herb. So with all that being said, its the clear winner between the two. You can buy the complete kit below for $249.99 (the best price we've seen).