You're right about the height of the ceramic heater, which brings me to something I had not noticed. The entire glass part that surrounds the ceramic heater is removable, so if some herb falls inside, you can remove it to clean the burnt herb out.

And about the heat, I guess part of it is going from a bong to a vaporizer. You learn to breathe hard on a bong because you have to overcome the water's resistance, but with a vaporizer, you have to inhale very lightly.