Vaporizer type: Travel Portable
Heating type: Convection
Materials: Dry Herb, Concentrate
Best features: Amazing results with both dry herb and concentrate, fantastic taste, cool and smooth vapour, battery life
Worst features: Wonky LED indicators, chance of combustion if used improperly, mouthpiece
Watch Video Review Here:
Overview: The original Firefly came into the scene in a blaze of glory - eye catching design, great taste, and virtually unheard of heat up time. While the unit had (has) many admirers, it also came with a few less than ideal features; large size, battery life, and and weight. The Firefly 2 was the product of years of work from some very intelligent and talented designers, and the results speak for themselves. They not only solved all of the previous complaints about the OG Firefly (this one is 55% lighter and 33% smaller) but they improved every category drastically. It still has a bit of a learning curve, but once you master it you’ll get tremendous results with both dry herb and concentrate. I’m excited to see new mouthpieces in the future as this one isn’t great, and the LED indicator is kind of wonky, but overall this is a top tier vaporizer, one of the best on the market.
Firefly App: The app is where you’re going to go change temperatures (6 to choose from), change the device activation method (I prefer the standard both buttons), check the battery level (doesn’t work at all at time of writing), get the device info, and connect to a device (if you for some reason have more than one). You can also get info about how to use the device and access the blog, so there’s really quite a bit to do. But, it’s really plain looking. Functional, yes - but if I designed an app it would look like this (I don’t design apps). I would really like to see this reimagined as it cheapens the experience somewhat. This is a silicone valley vaporizer company, surely they know someone who can design a good app!
How to use for dry herb: Head to the app and select your temperature. Medium high (default setting) was my favourite for dry herb, no doubt about that. You don’t want to grind you material too fine, a nice coarse to medium-coarse grind works great. I use a grinder but I go for the roughest grind possible. Fill your chamber to the brim, a little less is ok but you don’t want to half fill this bowl. If you do, the herb won’t get warm like it should and you’ll get less than ideal results. After you’ve filled your bowl, brush off any loose material from both the Firefly 2 and the lid, if you have debris on the unit you can compromise the seal it forms between lid and vape. Press both buttons (if that’s your setting) and the device will begin to heat up. The LED will pulse green as the device heats up, and then stay green when it’s arrived at temperature. When you see the LED stay green, inhale for 5-15 seconds in a slow but steady manner. You can just rip it hard too, but I found I get the best results with a slowish steady inhale. Hold for a second or two, then exhale that cool, tasty vapour. One thing I don’t like about the Firefly 2, you NEED to stir your herb every 2 hits. If you don’t, it will not vaporize evenly and you’ll get crispy hot spots and unvaporized material. If you do stir it every 2 hits, it will vaporize very evenly and you’ll extract all of the active material in your herb. Trust me, don’t try to get around it, just stir the bowl. When your bowl is done, gently tap the device over your ABV container to empty it out. Use one of the included plastic toothpicks to get the nooks and crannies of your bowl.
How to use for concentrate: Change the temperature in the app to Concentrate - BUT - make sure you don’t do what I did and leave it at concentrate when using dry herb, or you can combust your dry material, not fun! Place a concentrate pad firmly down into the bowl. Make sure it’s seated in there correctly or your material will not heat up properly. Place a smallish amount of concentrate onto the middle of the pad. I typically place around 0.05g on there, and that gives me a number of thick delicious hits. Close the lid, place your fingers on the buttons, and wait until it’s heated up. Once your lights are solid green, take 4-6 ‘cigar puffs’ where you do a quick inhale then exhale, as this warms the material and prepares it for use. You don’t need to do this with dry herb, but concentrate is a different beast. As soon as you see some vapour in your exhale, hit it long and steady, you can get MASSIVE rips off of the Firefly 2 when using concentrates. I pretty much use mine until I’m not producing the clouds I want, then I add more. Your material goes a long way in this one.
RANT TIME - I’ve had really mixed results with the LED system in the Firefly 2. On the box it states “The LED will blink green for a few seconds and turn solid green when it’s ready” and that is accurate, sometimes. If you haven’t used the device for 10 minutes or so, often the buttons will just stay green. If you take your fingers off then place them immediately back, they will pulse like they normally do. Ok that’s not such a big deal, fairly easy to get around. However here is where the problem lies - often times if I do a toke 30 seconds to 3 minutes ago, the lights are constantly green, the won’t pulse like normal. It’s displaying that your vaporizer is heated up, but clearly it isn’t as I *just* touched the buttons. So I thought there was something wrong with my vape. It began this placebo effect like my vaporizer wasn’t working properly, it didn’t seem to heat like normal. However after talking to one of the designers it became clear that it’s just a software glitch that needs fixed, and I moved past the LEDs when it was acting odd. I want to see this fixed ASAP though, it’s a pain and it shouldn’t be doing that.
Cleaning: The Firefly 2 is a breeze to both clean and keep clean. To keep it clean, simply wipe both sides of the glass with a supplied alcohol wipe every few sessions. You can get these little wipes at any drug store also, so don’t feel like you need to use the branded Firefly wipes. Make sure to wipe the bowl as well, to keep that shiny clean. Cleaning is basically the exact same process, just a little more intense. When your device gets really dirty (looking at your lazy people) you’ll want to put some 99% isopropyl alcohol on a paper towel and scrub the top of the device down. Do not soak your paper towel, a little moisture is all it requires. Take the lid and put it into a bag with isopropyl alcohol, and toss the mouthpiece in there too. Shake the rinse, good as new. If you don’t like cleaning your vape, this is a good choice for you.
Battery Life: Battery life is great, especially considering it doesn’t have a huge battery. I would get many hits per battery charge, at least 18 and often closer to 30. Like any device, battery life will depend on how you use it; what temperatures and how long are your sessions. The great thing about on-demand vapes like this is you’re only using battery when you’re hitting the vaporizer, no waster battery life at all. Add to this the fact that they include a second battery in the box, and you’re set for a long time away from power. Substantial improvement from the OG Firefly.
Heat up time: Outstanding, this device will heat up from cold in 5-8 seconds depending on your selected temperature. It’s not as fast as the Grasshopper, but really it’s a second or two difference, barely worth mentioning. On demand vaporizers are clearly the ultimate goal of the portable vaporizer market, why leave it on when you’re not hitting it? That thinking doesn’t make as much sense, and I’m very excited with this new direction.
Quality of vapour (taste, size of toke, harshness): This category is where the device really shines. The Firefly 2 has some of the best vapour from a portable or desktop, it is absolutely outstanding. The taste is so absurdly pure, you taste your material is the truest form possible. With a little learning, you can get huge rips from this, especially with concentrate. I find it took me a good few bowls to really get the technique down, but now that I have it figured out I get as big of hits as I’d like. This is one of the smoothest vapes on the market, hands down. Even after heavy testing my throat would never get scratchy or dry, which is pretty remarkable. Overall the Firefly 2 has some of the best vapour on the market, but the crazy thing is, I’m referring to the experience for both dry herb and concentrate. What portable device can boast that accolade? I’ve used great dry herb vapes, and I’ve used great concentrate units, but this one does both better than any other portable vaporizer I’ve used.
Efficiency: The Firefly 2 is tremendously efficient with concentrate, it just keeps going and going and going. I just load more material in once in a while, but it’s really rare that I seem to ever finish all of what’s in there, could be witchcraft at work here. For dry herb it’s very efficient as well, but only if you stir it. Most vaporizers are really efficient if you stir the material around to redistribute it, so saying it’s efficient for dry herb is slightly misleading. With the Pax 2 for example I stir the bowl once per session and I get great results, but with the I need to stir the material 3-4 times for best results, so I’d like to see this improved.
Stealth Factor: While it’s a lot smaller than the OG Firefly, it’s certainly not tiny. It also has a window in the lid allowing you to see what’s inside. The magnetic lid means you’ll want to be careful when throwing the device in a bag or purse, having it get caught on something and spilling in your bag would not be ideal. This one is more of a home portable than a travel portable, but don’t get me wrong it comes with me to all sorts of places.
Strength of effects: The Firefly 2 gets you very medicated. The herb or concentrate arrives at temperature every hit, meaning the temperature spectrum is far wider than it will be with many conduction vaporizers. I find that devices that utilize this heating method produce stronger results than those that don’t. Long story short - yah it’ll get you good and ripped.
Price: At the high end of the spectrum at $329USD at the time of review. I would save my pennies for this one if I was you, it’s worth the money (though I would love to see it come down a small bit to sub-$300).
Love about it: Best in class for dry herb & concentrate use in one device, incredibly smooth and tasty hit, great battery life for on the go use, easy to clean.
Not a fan of: Possibility of combustion if you use Concentrate setting for dry herb, LED issue makes device seem wonky, mouthpiece is not the best material and brings down the overall quality of device, learning curve will frustrate some users.
Final thoughts: The Firefly 2 is exactly what a successor should be - noticeably better in every aspect of the device. While it’s also smaller and lighter, the device now functions without any noticeable weak points. The vapour is world class, this will go head to head with any portable and many desktop units. It works so amazingly well for concentrates it’s clear that it wasn’t just an afterthought, thoughtful design went into every aspect of this product (except the mouthpiece, it’s very mediocre). The Firefly 2 is the perfect device for the connoisseur, it’s a flavour chaser’s dream. No matter what you’re into, the Firefly 2 will perform admirably and leave you satisfied.
