This will be a comparison between the Pax 2 and the Crafty portable vaporizers. The Pax 2 (Pax 2 Review) is one of the smallest, lightest, and easily concealable portable vapes on the market. While the Crafty (Crafty+ Vaporizer Review) offers a full temp spectrum (104F – 410), produces extremely smooth/cool vapor plus more efficient and consistent with my herbs.
Update: This review is for the Original Crafty Vaporizer, not the Crafty+ Vaporizer. While they are similar in functionality, the new Crafty+ features some pretty good upgrades. Check out my Crafty+ Review for all the details.
Also, the Pax 3 vaporizer (Pax 3 vaporizer review) is out now and I have a full breakdown between the Pax 3 and Pax 2 if you want to check those out. If you aren’t quite sure which portable vaporizer you want, I recommend checking out my best dry herb vaporizer list for more options.
The information below is accurate but the pricing may not be. Click the shop links to check prices. Shop Crafty Links will take you to the new Crafty+. Comparison continued…
Below I’ll break down all the pros/cons, explain the different charging systems, go over the temp options and talk about some of the cleaning/maintenance involved with both the Pax 2 and Crafty.
The Pax 2 is a bit better in the heat-up time department, it comes with a 10-year warranty, and it’s still the most portable/concealable vaporizer currently on the market. The Pax 2 is my go-to vape for outdoor activities, especially in group scenarios. In the end, both of these vaporizers are very good and you will be happy with either one.
Table of Contents
Size & Portability
The Crafty is the slightly larger unit at 4.3”H x 2.2”D x 1.3”W and the Pax 2 comes in at 3.87”H x 1.21”W x .085”D. The main difference in the size category is the weight; The Pax 2 weighs roughly 92 grams while the Crafty is around 136 grams.
Mind you both of these are actually really light for a portable vaporizer. By comparison, the Firefly weighs 241 grams, the Ascent weighs 192 grams, and the Mighty weighs 230 grams.
The main thing you’ll notice in size the bulkiness to the Crafty. You can still fit it in your pocket but it’s definitely not the streamlined, smooth design of the Pax 2.
Batteries and Charging System
Both battery systems are good for today’s charging capabilities. The Pax 2 comes out on top as far as average continuous use. They also upgraded the battery compared to the original Pax so it will pretty much crush the Crafty in continuous use.
However, the Crafty can vape a full oven quite a bit faster than almost all portables including the Pax 2. So the Crafty still vapes a good volume of herbs per charge despite medium to low continuous use time.
Neither units use replaceable batteries but both offer the option to charge via USB. I just picked up a battery pack off amazon for around $25 and it will charge both of these units from dead multiple times over. I definitely recommend this option if you are going to be taking it on long day activities.
*Pro-Tip: If you already have the original Pax, you can use the old charging base cord to plug-in directly to the new charging system so you can charge via home outlets.
TL;DR: The Pax 2 has longer battery life, both will charge about the same speed and both can be charged via USB.
Chambers, Heating Elements and Vapor Paths
The Crafty is a hybrid unit so it uses both conduction and convection heating methods. It will use a slight amount of conduction in the beginning to heat the chamber and mostly convection from then on out.
The Pax 2 is 100% conduction and definitely the less efficient model of the two. The Pax 2 will hold quite a bit more herbs which some people like and some don’t. It’s completely up to you and what you want out of a vaporizer.
The Pax 2 chamber is huge. I can get about .25 grams with a medium-coarse grind and if I run it through the MFLB Finishing Grinder, I can get upwards of .4 grams into the chamber. This is a lot for one person unless you’re a heavy user (likes yours truly) or going to be passing it around with friends.
There are a few different methods to use smaller loads in the Pax 2, one company came out with a “sandwich” that is basically a stainless steel press to eliminate all the extra space in the chamber. This allows for smaller bowls for 1 or 2 people and doesn’t make it quite as wasteful. I am currently doing some testing on a few different methods of partial loads. I’ll update the Pax 2 review and this review as soon as I finish up.
One of the biggest differences between the Crafty and Pax 2 is the amount of resistance during draws. The Crafty has one of the most free-flowing vapor paths of any portable currently on the market. Whereas the Pax 2 has a lot of draw resistance if you don’t draw slow.
The Pax 2 definitely requires a bit of technique while drawing. I recommend a long slow draw for about 10-20 seconds. The Pax 2 is also more affected by the type of herbs you are using, what temp you are vaping at, how fine/coarse your grind is and how full/tight you packed the chamber.
With the Crafty you can literally pack the chamber in any fashion and get the same results. You can put in .05 or .25 and always get consistently even AVB. The lack of resistance allows me to take HUGE draws which is something that I personally like but it’s not for everyone.
The Crafty uses two temp settings but you can change those two temp settings to anything ranging from 104F to 410F via the smartphone app. You can use the app (available for iOS & Android) to control the two temp options, check battery life, and see your temp in real-time, and various other less important features. I really like being able to see the actual temp because I can control my draws to maintain temp the best.
The Pax 2 comes with four different temp settings which is an upgrade from three on the previous Pax model. The new Pax 2 temps range from 360F – 420F (Original Pax 370F – 410F). Each range is controlled via the temp of the herbs rather than the temp of the chamber to ensure a more consistent draw from first to last. The new Pax 2 is definitely an improvement over the original but still not as efficient as the Crafty.
Cleaning & Maintenance
The less maintenance of the two would have to go to the Crafty. I literally used the Crafty for 30+ days without cleaning it (testing purposes, don’t recommend). The only issue that I ran across was the mouthpiece would get stuck and wouldn’t turn around but you can just wait for the unit to heat up and it will turn around just fine.
Now I don’t recommend doing this because you can damage the mouthpiece if you try to crank on it without it warming up. This was just for testing purposes. You can get away with cleaning the Crafty after 20+ sessions or so and it will take around 5 minutes.
The Pax 2 is a HUGE improvement in the cleaning department over the original Pax but still not quite as the Crafty. The Pax 2 works best if you use a fine grind and tight pack. This causes a bigger mess than say using a coarse grind with a light pack. The herbs are much more condensed and the finer particles get everywhere.
The good thing is that even when the new Pax 2 gets dirty, it will still work! Yay! The downside is the draw resistance is increased the longer you go without cleaning so I recommend running a pipe cleaner with some ISO down the vapor path after about 10 sessions. The mouthpiece is no longer in the vapor path and no more lubricant to mess with. Just clean the vapor path and the oven.
Total cleaning session for the Pax 2 takes less than 5 minutes so it’s still not that big of a deal but the Crafty is definitely the easiest of the two to maintain/clean overall.
Pax 2 vs Crafty Summary
Overall the better unit would be the Crafty IMO. Much less draw resistance, most efficient with your herbs, and full-spectrum temp control. The main reason that would sway me into the Pax 2 would be the extra portability/pocketability along with longer battery life.
The Crafty has a pretty average battery life but as I mentioned earlier, you can plug it in practically anywhere via USB. The Pax 2 is also the slimmer streamlined unit so I could see myself picking the Pax 2 for portability.
The Crafty is just an easier unit to maintain and use. I really enjoy the smooth, cool vapor produced from the Crafty and the smartphone app makes changing the temps extremely easy. Both of these units are two of the best vaporizers to come to market and I highly doubt that you would be upset with either so don’t beat yourself up over it too much.
Please leave a comment below if you have any more questions about these two units or if I missed anything that should be added to this Pax 2 vs Crafty vaporizer comparison. Feel free to post your experiences below with either device so fellow vaporents can get some more viewpoints.
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