XMax is the budget end done properly. The brand sits under XVape (you’ll see both names on boxes and listings, which trips people up), and the whole pitch is honest gear at a price that doesn’t sting: removable batteries, replaceable parts, and on-screen temperature control on vapes that cost a fraction of the German stuff.
That’s why people in Australia kept reaching for them. A vaporiser is a fair chunk of money to spend on a hunch, and the Starry let you find out whether you actually liked vaping without betting three hundred dollars on it. The clever bit is the battery. Nearly every cheap vape has a sealed cell that dies in a year and takes the whole unit with it. XMax put a swappable 18650 in instead, so you carry a spare and you’re never caught flat.
Here’s the range, with the honest version of each.
The Starry
The Starry is the one that built the brand. It’s a pocket conduction vape, meaning the herb sits on a hot ceramic oven rather than having hot air pulled through it. Conduction is simpler and cheaper, and the trade-off is you don’t get the pure, lively flavour a convection vape gives you. For a first vape, most people never notice what they’re missing.
What you do get is genuinely useful. A full-colour screen with the exact temperature, a removable 18650 you can swap in seconds, USB-C charging on the later versions, and a haptic buzz when it’s ready. The oven’s a touch small, so it suits one or two people having a session rather than a big group. Stir it halfway through and you’ll get a lot more out of each load.
Set it around 180–195°C for everyday flavour. Push to 200–210°C near the end of a session if you want thicker, heavier vapour. It’s not subtle gear, but it does exactly what it says.
The V3 Pro
The V3 Pro is, for most intents, the Starry V3 wearing a slightly different hat. XVape has shuffled the naming across markets and revisions, so depending on where you look the same device shows up as the Starry V3 or the V3 Pro. Same conduction oven, same swappable 18650, usually a glass mouthpiece in the box that cools the vapour a little better than the plastic one.
So it’s the same advice as the Starry, with one practical note: don’t pay a premium just because a listing calls it “Pro”. Buy whichever is cheaper from a stockist you trust. Same temperature range too, 180–210°C, and the same habit of needing a mid-session stir to get the back half of the bowl going.
If you’ve already got a Starry, there’s no reason to upgrade to this. If you’re buying fresh, grab whichever one’s in stock.
The Avant
The Avant is the small, simple one. It’s a tiny conduction vape built for discretion and pocketability, and it drops the screen for a no-fuss button-and-LED setup with a handful of preset temperatures rather than a fine dial. The catch with the Avant is the battery’s built in, so you lose the swappable-cell trick the Starry’s known for. That’s the price of making it this small.
It suits someone who wants something cheap and barely-there for the odd session, not an all-day workhorse. The oven’s little and the battery’s modest, so it’s a top-up-and-go device. Run it at its middle preset, roughly 190–205°C, and keep your grind fine so the small chamber packs properly.
Honestly, if discretion is the whole point, the Avant earns its keep. If you want control and a battery you can swap, you’re back to the Starry.
Living with one
The reason these last longer than other cheap vapes is that you can fix them. Screens, mouthpieces, oven lids and seals are all cheap replaceable parts rather than reasons to bin the whole thing. The swappable battery means a flat cell is a thirty-second job, not a dead vape.
Keep the oven clean. A cotton bud dipped in iso after a few sessions, the mouthpiece soaked now and then, and a fresh screen when the old one clogs. Treat a Starry decently and it’ll run for years, which is more than you can say for most vapes at this money.
- Comparing the field? See our portable vaporizers collection.
- Just want the herb ones? Here’s dry herb vaporizers.
- After flavour over price? Healthy Rips make convection portables worth a look.
- Other budget-friendly names: Boundless and Flowermate.
- Worth a read: The 5 Best Portables Under 300 and The Top Four Vaporizers For Staying Discreet.
Which one suits you
Quick version. Want a proper first vape with real controls and a battery you can swap: Starry (or the V3 Pro, same thing, whichever’s cheaper). Want the smallest, most discreet thing in the range and don’t mind a sealed battery: Avant. And if flavour matters more than saving a few dollars, it might be worth stepping up to a convection vape instead, the Starry won’t pretend to be one.