Choosing a vaporiser comes down to five questions, and once you’ve answered them the shortlist writes itself. What are you vaping? How do you want it to heat? Out and about or at home? How fussy are you about the draw? And what’s the budget? Sort those, in that order, and you’ll skip most of the mistakes people make.
This is the long version of that. People search for this gear as a vaporizer with a z, the way the brands spell it, or a vaporiser with an s, the way most of us type it down here. Same machine, same guide.
Start with what you’re actually vaping
Everything flows from this one, so don’t rush it.
If you’re vaping loose herb, you want a dry herb vaporizer. That’s the big category and most of this guide lives there. If you’re vaping wax, rosin or other concentrates, you want a concentrate vaporizer built for the job, because the temperatures and the chamber are different. And if you want one device to handle both, look at the dual-use vaporizers, which take an insert or a separate chamber so you can switch.
The trap is buying a herb-only vape and assuming you’ll “just chuck some wax in later”. You can’t, not properly. A herb chamber isn’t sealed or shaped for concentrates and you’ll gunk it up and get nowhere. Decide now and buy once.
Then decide how it heats
How a vape heats changes how it feels, how it tastes and what it costs. There are three approaches and it’s worth a minute to understand them.
Conduction heats the herb by direct contact with a hot surface, like a frypan. It’s cheaper, it heats up quickly, and it’s easy to live with. The downside is scorching: leave herb pressed against the hot wall and it can cook unevenly. Most pocket-friendly vapes are conduction.
Convection pushes hot air through the herb instead, more like a fan-forced oven. The flavour is cleaner and there’s no scorching, but the gear costs more and some convection vapes only make vapour while you’re actively drawing. Desktops and the dearer portables lean this way.
Hybrid does both at once. The bowl warms the load and hot air carries the vapour through, which is why hybrids tend to draw so smoothly and stay consistent from the first pull to the last. You pay for it, but it’s the most forgiving way to vape.
There’s a proper breakdown in conduction vs convection vs hybrid if you want the full story before you commit.
Portable or desktop
This is mostly a question of where you’ll use it.
A portable vaporizer runs off its own power, fits in a pocket or a bag, and goes wherever you do. It’s the right call for most people. You give up a little vapour and a little battery for the freedom to vape on a walk or in the car park, and that’s a fair trade for the way most of us live.
A desktop vaporizer plugs into the wall and stays home. In return it makes the best, smoothest, biggest vapour going, and it’ll happily run a whip or fill a balloon bag for a few people at once. It’s a lounge-room machine, not a commute one. Lots of households quietly end up with a portable for out and a desktop for the couch.
If you’re genuinely torn, start portable. It’s the more versatile first vape, and you can always add a desktop later when you know how you like things.
Sort out the draw before you spend
Here’s the thing nobody tells you: a vape can tick every box on paper and still annoy you daily if the draw doesn’t match how you pull.
Some vapes want a slow, gentle draw and reward you with great flavour. Pull on one of those like a thickshake and you’ll swear it’s faulty when it isn’t. Others are happy with a firmer pull. Adjustable airflow, where you’ve got it, lets you tune this to taste, and it’s one of the nicest features to have. If you can, read how a vape draws before you buy, because it’s the quirk most likely to make or break it for you.
While you’re at it, check the heat-up time. Anywhere from a near-instant click to about 30 seconds is normal. Fast heat-up is lovely when you only want two pulls and don’t fancy standing around.
Battery, butane or wall power
For portables, power is the real fork in the road.
Built-in batteries charge over USB-C and keep the vape slim and simple. The catch is that when it’s flat, you’re waiting on a charger. Fine if you vape at home or top up overnight.
Removable cells, usually 18650s, let you swap in a fresh battery and carry on. If you’re out all day, this is the feature that saves you. Spare cell in the bag, no down time. Battery life is the most common complaint people have, so it pays to get this right rather than discover it later. There’s more in vaporizer battery life if you want the detail.
Butane and flame vapes skip electronics altogether. You heat the tip with a torch lighter and the cap clicks to tell you it’s ready. Nothing to charge, nothing to brick, and they last for years. There’s a small knack to it, but once it’s muscle memory it just works.
Wall power is the desktop answer. No battery to manage, consistent heat, big vapour, tethered to a socket. The trade you already know about.
Budget, in Aussie terms
You don’t need to spend a fortune, but the very bottom of the market is a false economy. Rough brackets, in AUD:
- Under 150, entry portables. The decent ones, often with a removable battery, are a genuinely good way to learn what you like. Avoid the no-name bargains that scorch and die.
- 150 to 350, the sweet spot. This is where most solid daily-driver portables sit, with proper temperature control and parts you can replace.
- 350 and up, premium portables and desktops. Better build, better vapour, better resale, and gear you can pull apart and keep going for years.
Spend to how often you’ll actually use it. A heavy daily user is better off stretching for something repairable than replacing a cheap vape twice. A now-and-then user doesn’t need the flagship. There’s no cart here at the moment anyway, so take your time. If you’re watching the dollars, 3 tips for vaping on a budget and the 5 best portables under 300 are both worth a read.
Which brands sit where
Once you know your answers above, the brand more or less picks itself.
- Premium, set-and-forget: Storz & Bickel, the Mighty, Venty and Volcano. Pricey, repairable, and they hold their value better than almost anything.
- Flavour and easy cleaning: Arizer, glass stems and a clean taste, great value for home use.
- Design and simplicity: PAX, slim, pocketable, good-looking and dead easy to run.
- Features and control: DaVinci, precise temperatures and clever airpaths for the tinkerers.
- No battery, all flame: DynaVap, a torch, a click, and nothing to charge ever.
- Pure convection, on-demand: TinyMight, big, flavoursome vapour for people who chase it.
- Concentrates done properly: Puffco, the benchmark if wax is your thing.
- Best bang for buck: XMax and Healthy Rips, removable batteries and honest vapour without the premium.
A few honest tips before you decide
Buy the temperature control, not the marketing. A vape you can sit at 195°C and nudge up beats one with vague low, medium and high buttons every single time. Most people land around 180-190°C for flavour, 190-205°C for an everyday balance, and 205-220°C when they want it thick.
Get a decent grinder while you’re at it. Half the “this vape is weak” complaints come down to a coarse, lumpy load with air gaps the heat can’t reach. A snug, even pack from a proper herb grinder fixes more problems than turning up the heat ever will.
And factor in cleaning from the start. A vape you can pull apart and brush is a vape you’ll still be using in three years. One that’s sealed up tight clogs, the draw closes off, the taste turns, and you blame the vape when it was really just overdue.
If you’d rather start from the gear and work backwards, the portable vaporizers guide and the broader dry herb vaporizers page both go deeper on the day-to-day of living with one.