I went off of two criteria price and recommendations. I got a good recommendation from a head shop manager on the HotBox. He wanted $250 for it which I thought was a bit high for what it was.
I found some good net reviews on it at well, not as good as the Volcano but decent reviews none the less.
I found one on
vapenow.com for $130 and got it. It came in about 5 business days. I don't think it's as good as something like the Volcano from what I've read but it gives a good high and it doesn't taste burned.
One thing I do like is after it no longer vapes the herb you can take out the herb and put it in a pipe or bong and get a good last high out of it. It definately extended the life of my herb to say the least.
If you google enough you can find a bong attachment for it too. I haven't tried it yet as I need to retrofit our bong with a glass on glass seal for the attachment to work, but for people who don't smoke tobacco or anything else I would highly reccomend a vape.
The trick to the hotbox is to give a strong fast pull once it's heated up. That vapes it the best. Slow pulls like you'd take off a bong don't move the hot air over the herb enough to vape the trichomes, you'll get a lighter buzz doing a slow pull, but a heavy hit with a fast one.
The down side to the hotbox (I think) is that it's only got on and off, no temp variations. For me that works because I didn't have to expiriment too much to get good hits off it. I've heard of people destroying their weed with variable temp vapes. The other issue is the 'hands free' really isn't, you kind of have to hold the whip onto the heating element while you take your hit. The heating element covers are replacable and I wrote Hotbox and reccomended they switch to a glass on glass seal for the whips and element covers. If they listen they have a complete winner in my opinion. For the price it can't be beat. It sure blows the hell out of 300 - 500 for a Volocano or Volcano knock off.
-RT76