Pax 3 Vs FireFly 2 Plus

Two heavyweights of the vaping world. Who will win the fight of Pax 3 Vs FireFly 2 Plus? Across six key indicators, only one vape can be crowned winner. We’ve picked a winner (or tie if we had to) for each of the six categories, and an overall winner from that.

There are a lot of other things that could have been considered, however we wanted to focus on the six things we believe to be the most important when picking a vaporizer.

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1. Versatility

The main focus of the versatility category is around what can actually be used in the vaporizer. For an even playing field, we’re talking about the Pax 3 complete kit, which can be used with both dry herb and concentrates. The FireFly 2 Plus vaporizer can be used with both by default.

Although both vaporizers can use basically any form of concentrate and dry herb, that doesn’t mean that they perform in the same ways. But for the sake of versatility, they are both just as capable as each other.

WINNER: Both

2. Ease of Use

Dry Herb

So with the FireFly 2 Plus, loading it with dry herb can be quite annoying. The chamber is small, and the top of the vaporizer is angled away from the chamber, so any dry herb that misses the chamber will likely fall off. To refill, you need to take off the whole front plate of the device. It’s magnetized though, which is a nice touch and makes taking the plate off a lot easier. You’ll need to stir the herb after a few hits too for best results.

The dry herb chamber for the Pax 3 is a little bit better. The chamber is on the end of the device, and is larger in area so spillage is less of an issue, although still happens. You only need to pop out the end of the device for a refill. This is also magnetized like the FireFly 2 Plus, but feels easier to use. Unlike the FireFly, stirring between uses doesn’t seem necessary which makes it a lot easier.

Concentrates

For concentrates, the FireFly comes with a concentrate pad that sits in the same chamber. The Pax has a separate concentrates insert. Both vaporizers require a separate part for concentrates which isn’t ideal. These can be easily lost or forgotten, but they also don’t take up much size which is a plus. If you don’t often switch between concentrates and dry herb though, this really shouldn’t be an issue for you, and you won’t have to carry around any extra parts.

Mouthpiece

The last thing we’ve considered in the ease of use category is the mouthpiece. Luckily for me, the Pax 3 comes with a protruded mouthpiece. I’ve previously spoken about my dislike for the flat mouthpiece, however this is a personal preference thing. Both options of mouthpiece are included with the Pax 3 so you can make your own mind up about it.

There’s only the one option for the mouthpiece with the FireFly 2, however it works just fine and I’ve got no complaints with it.

WINNER: Pax 3

3. Size

Physical size is a nice and easy category to compare the Pax 3 vs FireFly 2 Plus. As they’re both portable vaporizers, you’d ideally want the vapes to be as small as possible, while still being easy to use.

FireFly 2 Plus Size

The FireFly 2 Plus is 5.1″L x 1.0″H x 1.6″W (13.0 x 2.5 x 4.1 cm). This size makes it easy to stow away in your pocket or handbag, and feels nice in your hand.

Pax 3 Size

The Pax 3 is 3.9″L x 1.2″W x 0.9″D (9.9 x 2.3 x 3.0 cm). Also very easy to stow away for discreet use, the Pax 3’s slightly smaller size wins this category. Realistically though, both vapes are a good size.

WINNER: Pax 3

4. Vapor Quality

Heat Up Time

Heat up time seems to be a metric all vaporizer manufacturer’s are eager to do well in. Both vapes heat up in record time, so functionally they both perform very well. The FireFly 2+ though beats the Pax from a numbers standpoint.

On the official website it states the 2 Plus is ready in 3 seconds. It doesn’t actually say if this is from completely cool, or after a recent use. The Pax 3 website claims a 22 second heat up time.

I’ve found that in reality the FireFly 2 Plus takes around 10 seconds to be ready to go from completely cold, while the Pax 3 takes about 30 seconds. These values will vary depending on your own settings though.

Vaporization Method

One of the big selling points for the FireFly 2 Plus is that it uses convection heating over conduction. Basically what this means is that the 2 Plus vaporizes via the heated air blowing over the material. The Pax 3 uses conduction heating, which means heat is transferred from the surfaces of the oven directly, rather than from the air blowing over the material.

The big advantage for convection over conduction is that once you stop vaping, your material will cool down almost immediately, minimizing any waste. With conduction heating, the heating element will remain hot for some time, and that heat will transfer to your material.

How much wastage this actually saves is unclear, but there is a saving regardless. One way to get around this with the Pax 3 is to just pack what you’re actually planning to vape, that way you can do it all in one session, minimizing any waste. To aide with this the Pax 3 comes with a half-pack lid, cutting the chamber size in half for smaller sessions.

As mentioned above though, the convection heating in the FireFly 2+ will mean you’ll need to stir your herb halfway through bowls, depending on how large you’ve packed it.

Settings

As far as settings go for customizing your vaping experience, both vaporizers should give you plenty of options. The FireFly offers a far larger temperature range, while the Pax offers you greater control within a smaller range.

The FireFly has a temperature range of 200 – 500°F (93 – 260°C), and can be changed in 10°F increments.

The Pax 3 has a temperature range of 360 – 420°F (182 – 216°C), and can be changed in 1°F increments.

Taste

We’d be lying if we said we could notice a difference in taste between the two vapes at similar temperatures. Both the Pax 3 and FireFly 2 Plus produce some excellent quality vapor. If you’re a huge taste lover though, and really like to explore the different tastes than the FireFly should give you a better experience due to its far lower minimum temperature.

If you just like to stick to the default temperature settings, both vapes give you a great taste and overall vapor quality.

WINNER: FireFly 2 Plus

5. Battery

Charging Time

From the Pax website it says charging time is 90+ minutes. I’ve found that to go from empty to full battery, 120 minutes will be enough time. There doesn’t appear to be a charging time listed on the FireFly website, but the battery seems to charge fully in around 60 minutes. This is a pretty big win to the FireFly 2 Plus over the Pax 3. Unfortunately though, the battery on the FireFly doesn’t last as long.

Battery Life

You’ll get around 4 to 6 bowls out of the FireFly 2 Plus. This will of course vary depending on your vaporizer settings and age of the battery. For the Pax 3, you’ll get 8 to 10 bowls. Although you can charge your FireFly 2 in about half the time, you’ll also get about half of the usage out of it.

For dry herb, the oven chamber on the Pax is almost double the size of the FireFly, so as far as charging time to amount of vaporizer produced goes, the Pax wins this fight. This makes sense though, as the Pax 3’s battery size is 3500 mAH compared to the 770 mAH battery in the FireFly.

To even out the battery category a little bit though, the battery on the FireFly is replaceable. You’ll need to buy a FireFly specific battery, but at least the option is there.

WINNER: Pax 3

6. Price

Same as the versatility point, it’s a tie between the FireFly 2 Plus vs Pax 3 for price. At the time of writing, the difference in price both vaporizers retail for from Grasscity is less than a dollar.

Also, you can reduce the cost further when you purchase using a Firefly discount code from Your Weed Coupons. 

Related:
Dr Dabber Switch Review

The price of both have come down significantly, so it’s literally never been cheaper to bag yourself a high-end portable vaporizer.

WINNER: Both

Pax 3 Vs FireFly 2 Plus – Overall Winner

This list is by no means exhaustive, and there could be some features we haven’t mentioned that sway your decision. We’ve tried to keep it fairly simple though, and only write about the features we believe to matter the most.

Both are amazing vaporizers, but in the end the Pax 3 beat the FireFly 2 Plus. The FireFly has a reasonable battery, but after using the Pax it feels like I was charging it twice as often. And the Pax somehow manages to do this while maintaining a smaller physical size than the 2+.

Vapor Quality is arguably the most important category that we considered, which the FireFly won. But it’s important to note that at the default temperature settings, we couldn’t tell the difference between tastes. The 2+ does have a lower temperature range if you are wanting to explore it though. It’s also got a far quicker heat up time too.

Unfortunately, though these things weren’t quite enough, making this contest of the Pax 3 vs FireFly 2 Plus over. The Pax 3 is the overall winner in our eyes, but they are both top quality portable vaporizers.

If you’re looking for something of a higher caliber, check out our review of the Dr Dabber Switch.