The Pax 2 is Ploom’s update on the wildly popular Pax vaporizer, one of the smallest portable vaporizers on the market. With a 20% deeper oven, 25% smaller body, 10% lighter, and improved battery life, the Pax 2 improves on the original Pax in every way.

Here’s an overall summary:

Vapor Quality: Very good, but because it is a conduction vape, the flavor could be a little better.

Battery life: A definite improvement on the original Pax, you can get 7-8 sessions instead of 5.

Temp range: There are 4 temp settings, ranging from 360°F-420°F

Maintenance: The Pax 2 eliminates the cleaning issues of the original, and has to be cleaned much less frequently.

Price: At $279.99, originally, it was one of the most expensive portables out there. Even so, we felt it was worth the price. Now it is a steal at only $149.00

Warranty: The Pax 2 boasts a 10 year warranty, one of the best in the business.

How it compares to others: The Pax 2 is one of the highest quality vaporizers on the market, and it performs like it.

If you’re looking to pick up the Pax 2, click this link and you will be taken to PAX Official website

We’ll break down all these categories in more detail, but first let’s get to how the unit works:

How the Pax 2 Vaporizer Works

This is easily one of the simplest units on the market. To get started, you open up the magnetic lid on the bottom of the unit and fill it with your herbs. Because this is a conduction vape, you want to pack your herbs in tightly.

For a great trick using a .75 inch pipe screen to make your vape experience more efficient, check out our video review a little bit down the page. The trick in the video let’s you pack a lot less in the chamber and get a lot more out of it.

After you load the chamber, simple replace the magnetic lid and turn it over. After that, the similarities between the Pax 2 and the original Pax end.

To get the unit to heat up, you click the top center of the mouthpiece and the LED’s will begin to glow purple. It only takes about a minute and a half or so to fully heat, which is really fast compared to most units on the market.

To change the temp settings (which range from 370°F-410°F), you hold down the same button you turn it on with. The LED display will change to the top left LED for the lowest setting (yellow), then the top two LEDs (orange), then the top two and botom right LEDs (red-orange), then all four LED’s on the top setting (red). To change it back to heating up, you hold down the button again and you’re good to go.

Once the unit heats, the LED display will turn green and you’re ready to vape. It is best to hit this vaporizer with a long, slow draw to get the best results.

Maintenance

The original Pax required cleaning every few days to deal with the mouthpiece sticking. This sticking would cause the unit to malfunction, and either it wouldn’t be able to be activated, or it wouldn’t heat.

With the Pax 2, they eliminated the mechanical action of the mouthpiece (and moved the temp button from under the mouthpiece, so you don’t have to take it out every time), so cleaning is much less frequently needed.

As you can see in the pictures above, there are either holes or channels that the vapor travels through. Because the vapor path isn’t centered (its along the left side), these make it so you’ll never block the vapor path. You do have to clean the mouthpiece (you can see the resin in the bottom of the flat mouthpiece), but it takes all of 3 seconds to swab it out.

Vapor Quality

The vapor quality that you get out of this unit is amazing for a conduction vape. The flavor is slightly less than convection vaporizers, but it is still very good for a conduction vape, and it’s definitely better than the original Pax.

Battery Life

The battery life of the Pax 2 is longer than any of the other portables I’ve tried. You can get up to 8 sessions out of this unit, which is a huge improvement over the old Pax.

Charging is also easy too, all you have to do is hook up the back of the Pax 2 to the magnetic charger, and let it charge until all the LEDs are solidly lit. This takes roughly two hours from completely dead, much faster than almost all portables.

Temp Range

The temp range of the Pax 2 is pretty standard, from 360°F-420°F. This is pretty normal for most vapes with variable temperature on the market, but adds an extra 10 degrees both above and below the temp range of the original Pax, so it’s a pro in my book.

The Pax 2 also heats up much quicker than the original Pax. It takes less than a minute and thirty seconds to get to temp, which is really fast when it comes to vaporizers.

Price

At nearly $280, the Pax 2 is very pricey. While it is very high quality, I feel a price of $250 or less would be better for what you’re getting. But, we may see a price decrease soon, as they start to filter out old Pax models for the new one. In the meantime, if the Pax 2 is too expensive, you can get an orignal Pax for $200 (the improvements on the new one are well worth it though). UPDATE – The anticipated price drop has happened and the unit is now $149.99

Warranty

The Pax 2 has a 10 year warranty, which is one of the best in the business. It is one of the reasons the price is so high, something people often rule out. Offering this long of a warranty is a great thing, because then if you have any problems within 10 years, you can get another unit to replace yours pretty easily.

How it compares to other portable vaporizers on the market

The Pax 2 stacks up against the top units on the market. It has better battery life than some of the high end units, and has comparable vapor quality to some of them too.

Our Video Review and Demonstration

Best Place to Buy the Pax 2?

*It is very important to buy from a reputable source with the Pax 2.* If you don’t, you may get a fake unit, which could lead to it not performing correctly and no warranty. This is because a lot of Chinese companies try to rip off the Pax and sell it as their own, which means you will get something that looks like the Pax, but really isn’t.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Pax 2 is a great improvement on an already great vaporizer. It’s small, light, and very easily portable.

If you’re looking for a portable vape that will last you a long time, has great battery life, and vapes very well, get the Pax 2. It’s one of the best vapes I’ve tried hands down, and it will not disappoint.

Keep in mind the Pax 2 is only for dry herb (and concentrates if you get the right attachment) but will not do vapor liquid.