From The Godfather 3 to Alien 3, threequels to masterpieces have a poor track record. If a franchise is lucky enough reach 2 installments, they’ve probably reached their limit of quality. Thankfully, the Stanford educated founders of PAX don’t make movies: they make vaporizers. And in the world of vaporizers, sequels just keep getting better. If the PAX 2 hinted that PAX had consistency, the PAX 3 cements it by improving upon its predecessor’s specs.
Dual Use
The biggest change to come with the PAX 3 is its dual-use capabilities. The PAX Era and PAX 2 vaporized concentrates and herb/tobacco respectively and this edition combines the technology of both. This is accomplished simply: the PAX 3 emulates the PAX 2’s herb chamber, but comes with a removable concentrate chamber and lid that can be placed inside of the herb chamber. This means that you can vaporize either material without having to worry about cleaning the chamber or having your flavors muddled together. The PAX 3 comes with a multi-tool that can be used to pack herbs or dab concentrates.
For dry herbs, you have the option of a Full Pack or Half Pack lid for the oven. The Full Pack carries .3 grams of herb/tobacco for about 20 draws, making it perfect for group vape sessions or scenarios where you’d be unable to re-pack in-between smoke sessions. The Half Pack carries .15 grams for about 10 draws, making it perfect for single smoke sessions. No matter which way you pack it, you’ll want a fine grind if you want lots of vapor, though an average grind will make drawing easier.
The concentrate chamber has a small oven that can be removed for easy cleaning. Once loaded, you can close the oven then place the lid inside the chamber. The lid should poke out of the PAX slightly, which makes it easy to remove after use.
App
As with most modern vaporizers, PAX has incorporated a bluetooth-compatible smartphone app into its latest edition. This app – available for iOS or Android – can be downloaded from the iTunes store once you purchase your PAX 3. The app allows for more precise temperature controls than the PAX 3 alone.
Aside from the option to choose any temperature from 360F/182C – 420F/215C, there are 5 unique heating profiles to choose from:
Aside from temperature controls, the app also allows you to control the color and brightness of your LEDs and lock your device (just make sure your phone doesn’t die before you unlock it).
Heating
The PAX 3’s oven is exponentially more powerful than previous iterations, being able to heat up in ⅓ (15 secs) of the time the PAX 2 could(45 secs). This makes the PAX 3 perfect for quick vape sessions while travelling or during work. By holding down the mouthpiece, you can set the temperature of your PAX 3. Once in Temperature Mode, you can press the mouthpiece again to select your temperature, with each LED light of the PAX logo representing an increase in temperature.
The PAX 3’s manual heat settings (without using the app) are:
- Temperature 1 – 360F / 182C – 1 Green LEDs (16 second pre-heat time)
- Temperature 2 – 380F / 193C – 2 Yellow LEDs (16 second pre-heat time)
- Temperature 3 – 400F / 204C – 3 Orange LEDs (17 second pre-heat time)
- Temperature 4 – 420F / 215C – 4 Red LEDs (18 second pre-heat time)
- Temperature 5 – Custom (done through the app) – 4 Blue LEDS (heat up time varies)
Battery
The PAX 3’s battery is more powerful than the PAX 2’s: coming in at 3500 mAh (milli amp hours of energy storage capacity). This means that the PAX 3 has 17% more battery capacity than its predecessor, which lets it last for 5-10 vape sessions, which is between 95-110 minutes of heated run-time. Charging the battery with the included magnetic dock takes 1.5-2 hours, which is impressive for USB charging.
Touch Feedback + Motion Sensors
The PAX 3 has a built-in accelerometer and smart gesture controls that allows for it to shake and recognize motion. Introduced in the PAX 2, these features are what allow for the PAX to sense when you’re drawing and when you’re setting it down. The PAX 3 adds the ability for the vape to vibrate once activated.
The most interesting use of the motion sensing technology is the incorporation of 3 lighthearted games you can play while smoking. All three games incorporate the LED lights. You can activate these games via the app or by rotating the PAX 1-3 times, depending on the game you’re playing. The first game is “PAX Man”, which involves you tilting your PAX in the opposite direction of the increasingly fast logo LED light that is lit at the time. This is similar to the classic game Pac-Man where you avoid bright colored ghosts. “PAX Says”, the second game, is the opposite of PAX Man, as you now attempt to tilt the PAX in the direction of the LED light. Unlike the other two games, PAX Spin is more of a party game than a game of skill: activating the game causes the LED lights to rotate before settling on one light, similar to Spin The Bottle. This is a fun game for picking who gets first hit or other group decisions.
Whether you own a PAX 2 or not, the PAX 3 is a strong buy if you want versatility, aesthetics, and overall quality.
