InstantVap Compact REVIEW - Would I buy one?
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- Опубліковано 24 лип 2024
- A non-sponsored independent review of the IntstantVap Compact. This tool is used to kill varroa mites in beehives by vaporising them with Oxalic Acid. I took the one I was given on loan for a test run to see if it worked and how it stacked up against the other InstantVap models. The key question I wanted to answer was: Would I buy one?
Hi Kiwi Beeman!
Thanks for the review. Just a small note:
- Both Original and Compact have exactly the same spout (outlet tube), it was never a thing I changed the design of. I have customers vaporizing with 15Ah DeWalt, and it holds ok.
- Also, please remember, that the cleaning cap has to be pressed firmly down as turned back, as the pressure would put the cap „on orbit”, as one customer pointed out😊
- I have many beekeeper friends / collages vaporizing 1000s of colonies with InstantVap 18V. The way they solve it, is that most use a generator on the back of their pickup, and charge 2 or 4 batteries. Some charge them even as traveling between locations. You only need to buy 3x8Ah battery, and 2 chargers to run constantly with one vaporizer, if you want to go 2x faster, you need 2 InstantVap, and 6x8Ah battery, 4 chargers, ideally fast chargers. One customer vaporized 250 colonies in 63 min with 2g with the above setup. That is not a big investment when somone have 500, or many 1000 hives. To go with the 12V corded is much harder, as you need to bring along a heavy deep cycle battery, and one person can only handle 1 tool. With the InstantVap 18V Compact, one person can handle 2 tools at a time, - at least 2x faster.
Thanks for the info, that is really helpful. Your supplier must have given you a different sized pipe for the compact. I measured the two units I have here with a set of calipers, the external measurement of the original is 6mm neat, the compact is 6.5 mm. I still have concerns about the long term durability of such a small copper pipe carrying such a large weight, copper fractures over time when flexed repeatedly, even just a little.
I understand that you can use a generator on your truck to recharge batteries, but the 12v lithium ion battery my friend uses with his 12v unit is light and easy to move around the bee yard. It weighs a quarter of a deep cycle lead acid battery and costs about the same as a good generator. I much prefer that option for dosing large numbers of hives, it would be easy for one person to manage two at once. Generators are heavy, noisy and smelly :) A 12v battery sitting on a charger overnight is peacefully quiet.
I realise that advising customers to buy 2 units to go faster is good business for you, well done :)
250 hives in 63 minutes sounds good. But a 2g dose has been shown by research trials to be ineffective. (Check out Bob Binnie's video where he interviews the scientists that did the research). I can get 18 hives from a 5 Ah battery with a 4g dose, so I assume an 8 Ah battery will do about 28 hives. So your customer would have to use 9 x 8Ah batteries to get effective treatment. My research tells me that even a fast charger takes 2 hours to recharge an 8 Ah battery. So I'm not seeing 63 minutes being possible with the setup you described and an appropriate dose rate. Even if it was, the set up cost doesn't justify the time saving.
Frankly, if you have to have a generator on the back of your truck you might as well just run it at the yard and use a much cheaper corded vaporizer and do away with 75% of your set up costs, ie a vaporizer at less than half the cost and no batteries. Cheers Chris
Great video, thoughts on treating vented floors? Will you do some more testing to see the mite drop?
Curious to see more! Thanks
Hi, I use solid floors and I'm not that interested in mite drop counts, that just tells you how many mites you have killed, which is meaningless. It is the number of mites left that matters and the only way to assess that is with a mite count method like an alcohol/dawn soap wash. I start with 3-4 rounds of OA vapor then put OA strips in and then test for mite levels. If they are still too high I do more vaporising. Cheers
@@KiwiWildman you’re right, gotta keep getting them..thanks for your reply interesting stuff
Great review on these units . I had just purchased a new machine two years ago an then everyone is coming out with the battery units . I am just going to have to get the life out of the one I have first but by then there no telling what they will have by then. Thanks
Yes, techonology is moving fast, and like you, I prefer to wear out my old tools before I buy new ones. I have 20 year old tools in my workshop, they still work so why replace them. :)
@@KiwiWildman I have my first extractor from
1968 and a few boxes I got from Sears and Roe buck. That is where I purchased everything I am thinking but can not remember for sure . Thanks
Hello again my friend. Thanks for the review. I use the 9 amphr batteries and get 23 done per battery. The compact version looks like a winner also. Did you notice any difference in time with the re warm up in-between treatments?
Hi, I didn't run them side by side at the same time, and the original 18v unit I am using has done a lot of work, so subject to those caveats, I think the Compact is faster. It was already back up to temp by the time I took it out of each hive. I find there is a bit of a lag with the original 18v. Not that I am complaining, it is still fast. During the filming of the review I timed the initial cold start-up time of the Compact, 3 minutes 15 sec. I have just gone outside and plugged a 5 Ah battery fresh off the charger into the original 18v and timed it, it took over 9 minutes to warm up from cold. I hope that helps. Cheers Chris
@@KiwiWildman awesome. I have a friend wanting to buy one after using mine so i will show him your video and let him decide. Thanks again for the video, 👍