I have owned an Extreme for over 2 years and it is in perfect condition. I broke one bowl by dropping it 5' onto a hardwood floor. I replaced this bowl with a break-proof bowl they offer -- it is encased in silicone and will not break if it is dropped. The silicone is on the outside and does not come in contact with the heater or the vapor path, but it keeps the bowl from breaking if dropped. It also makes it easier and cooler to handle.

I use the vapor bags exclusively, and the Extreme may actually be better for this than the Vocano. The Volcano has no option to regulate the fan speed. With the extreme, I use the slowest fan speed and it fills up the bag with very thick vapor -- much thicker than anything I have seen with a Volcano (seeing a Volcano only on movies like "Super High Me". At $600, I don't know anyone who owns one or would even consider it).

The vapor is so thick, I call it "vape rape" when you inhale a bag, because it will take you by surprise and you may get more "frightened" than you expected (that said, I, uh, just use this for peppermint ;-) )... To the point of more than you wanted. You gotta be careful. Take a break between inhalation until you get used to how potent this can be.

The other thing I prefer about the Extreme is that it uses glass parts instead of plastic. You're going through 5" of glass before it hits the food grade tubing (which you can replace with Silicone, but I notice that the tubing doesn't get hot at that distance from the heater.)

But yeah, if you are a total butterfingers (I mean really f'ing clumsy) don't get it. They even give you spare bowls and everything, but yeah, I know some people that would drop their own baby, so they shouldn't get this. Well, you could get the unbreakable bowl, which is what I did.

The bags are a bit difficult to setup, but they usually give you one or two that are ready to go. They tend to last about 6 months before they get so gummed up that they cannot expand. I find after a month or two of use, they get gummed up to the point that they make thicker vapor -- they don't expand as easy, so they condense the vapor much better. You know it's time to change the bag when you see vapor escaping through the bag because it's so gummed up, it cannot expand it anymore -- this takes about 6 months and the bag will be discolored with the oils at this point.

This device works very well, is very well built, and has more features than a Volcano. I think the more accurate comparison is an Acura vs. a BMW. The high price of a volcano is due to German labor prices, taxes, etc. The Extreme is made in Canada. Their customer service is awesome. I love it. If you need spare parts (bowls, bags, etc) they get them to you in a few days. It has a remote, a cool blue LED light, a timer, 3 fan speeds and the option to use a whip or a bag. The bag is the best way to go. Once you have that figured out, you're good to go.

One word of advice -- this is how I vaporize, uh, peppermint in the bag. I don't follow their instructions -- I did some experimenting and I found this to be the best:

1. first, dry out your blend. That moisture is just water. I find it very difficult to convince people to do this, because they think the dry herb is less potent. The essential oils in your blend do not evaporate with the water. No -- dry it!!! Otherwise you will be sucking up a lot of water vapor, and you won't get good results until the 2nd or 3rd pass. If you are in a rush and don't have a dried blend, you'll need 2-3 passes before you get really potent vapors.

2. grind it very well. I find about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of the blend is perfect.

3. Ditch the screens that go on top of the bowl and inside the elbow joint. They just get gummed up after a few uses, and aren't necessary if you have the fan on the lowest speed. The only screen you need is the one on the bottom of the bowl. You will not get bits and pieces of your blend in the bag -- they will stick to the glass elbow pipe and food grade tubing, which I clean in the top rack of my dishwasher maybe once a month. I clean the bowl in the bottom rack of my dishwasher, in the silverware caddy. The thing I love about vaporizers is that they do not get gummed up like pipes. There's no tar, but there are essential oils. Some people like to scrape these out and re-use them, which is an option, but I find I get enough out of my blend.

4. Add your blend to the bowl, attach the bag, and turn the heat up to 300 C. While this may seem too hot, keep in mind the temp is that of the heater, which is a few centimeters away from the bottom of the bowl. Also, the fan will disperse the heat. 300 doesn't mean that's the temp that will hit your blend.

5. Wait 3 minutes for it to come up to temperature and warm up your blend and turn the fan on low (first click of fan button on remote), then turn the temp down to 230 C.

6. Run the fan until it goes down to 230 C. I find that running the fan with the temperature decreased has the effect of giving a good heat blast at first, and then reducing the temperature cools the blend back down -- I find this really gets me more out of my blend. When it's at 230 C, turn it off, by either turning off the unit, or hitting the menu button 4 times and turn the fan off with the down button. Unfortunately, the button on the remote only controls the fan by increasing it to 1, 2, 3, and off. So if you use that, you have to remove the bowl first.

7. Inhale the vapors, but be careful. If it is a fresh load of dried herb, even something like, uh, peppermint will mess you up. If you have a big bag of dense vapor -- like fog, just be careful -- take a 1-2 minute break between inhalations. I have gotten so far out that I almost called 911 out of panic (just from peppermint! . That shows how powerful this is -- you can get "vape raped". I know -- it's a strong word, but if you're not careful you will feel really out of sorts for 20 minutes. You may as well have some redneck buggering you and telling you to squeal like a pig, because it is not a pleasant experience. It goes to show how powerful this thing is... I use that strong and unpleasant word just to advise caution... Extreme, indeed!