Zenco Duo review

First of all I’m not affiliated with Zenco in any capacity and I purchased the Duo with my own money and the review is completely unbiased. This is also entirely my opinion and is based off of the experiences I have. Yours may be different.

I don’t usually do reviews but there is currently so little online about this thing that I wanted to contribute a bit and hopefully help answer any questions people have about it. I would consider myself a frequent, but relatively light consumer; i.e. every day but not large amounts. Through the summer I mostly roll joints with very occasional bong hits, but once the weather starts to cool down I switch to vapes so I can use them inside. I most regularly use an arizer solo 2, but also have a firefly 2 which I use for concentrates, a dynavap, and a ryot verb 510 battery. I have also had but sold a boundless cfc, xmax starry v3, a davinci miqro, and an arizer extreme q.

**Use**

As previously mentioned, the solo 2 was my usual device and my favorite… until I got the Zenco duo. First of all, it is incredibly easy to use. 5 quick taps of the power button turns on the unit, 3 changes temperature (it has 4 settings which have an associated color the light around the ring flashes when it changes), two taps turns on autofill (runs until you double tap to turn off), and hold for manual fill (runs until you let go). The base has a magnetic tray which lifts off and reveals a 510 threaded base, which you can put a 510 cartridge in, or one of the two provided coils (ceramic and triple quarts). You could probably drop concentrates down into the coil without removing the magnetic cap, but it's way easier when you can see what you're doing so I pop the cap. Once your coil/cartridge is in place and full, replace the magnetic cap, and press the glass down and you're ready to fill. Once it's full and it's time to remove the glass, the most challenging part comes in. You need to hold down the base while lifting the glass. Either the entire base will get picked up with the glass (it doesn’t weigh more than the grip force from the rubber part of the glass), or it will lift the magnetic ring out of the middle. This is something that may get better when the glasses have been used more, or maybe it will always be this tight. It’s not a huge deal but it is something to remember. The unit does automatically turn off, but I have yet to figure out how long that takes. It’s more of a “forgot to turn it off before bed” than a “turns off in the middle of the session timer” which is something I very much appreciate. It is battery powered and charges with USB-C, which I absolutely love since I have them all over my house for my phone, headphones etc.

It is definitely not the quietest vape ever by any stretch. While it's filling the fan/pump is relatively loud, especially if nothing else is making noise. With some background sound it's not too bad. Think, louder than a desk fan, quieter than a coffee grinder. Definitely louder than the fan in the extreme q, but it's also not a particularly discrete device to begin with.

As far as cleaning goes it's quite easy. The quartz coil which i used the flower on i just shook out and it was clean, although I did only put a tiny amount of flower in. No doubt over time it would need more attention as any glass does, but it would be easy to give it a iso soak. The ceramic coil built up no visible residue with crumble, but again I haven't run all that much though it, and 510 is self contained. With any use the glass builds up a slight residue but they are dishwasher safe; I would rather hand wash them just because they're not the cheapest, but they're a bit of an awkward shape for that.

**Thoughts**

This thing hits like I've never had from 510 before (albeit with relatively limited experience but still). I heard or read somewhere that they recommend filling the glass up to the top of the black center, and I opted to go a little bit lighter- somewhere around ½-⅔ . I’m glad I did, but wish I went even a little bit lighter. The first use was with an 80% 510 cart, and boy did it hit. It’s harder to get a sense of how much you actually have in the glass and how much you're breathing until you're used to it, so as with anything new, start light and build up to it. To me, this felt like the equivalent of a bong for 510. It was cool and smooth, tasted great, and hit like a freight truck. I have since got a lower % 510 cart and dropped the temp to lowest (first use was second lowest), and it's a lot more manageable. Which is good because I love using the Duo. It’s fun, it’s different, and it exactly fills what I was looking for: a battery powered desktop vape. It’s by no means pocketable. I'd be hesitant to put it in a bag to go somewhere because of the glasses, but it is battery powered. So it's kind of a portable anywhere in the house desktop vape. Build quality is definitely plastic, but high end. The finish is nice and consistent, with no blemishes in either the base or either glass. It all feels good in the hand and nothing gives me concern about longevity.

**Experiences**

I have now used the Duo with two 510 carts, the ceramic coil with crumble, and the quartz coil with flower. First and foremost. The flower burns. This is by far the most disappointing part, as it means it's relatively limited to extracts and concentrates. With that being said, the flavor was actually better than any other smoking experience I’ve had and I was surprised with how much smoke came off such a small amount of bud. Still a usable experience with flower, but definite smoke and not vapor. The ceramic coil made light work of crumble, giving nice flavorful and pleasant clouds. I would say the Duo is a bit less efficient than my firefly with concentrate, I put in what would normally be a good hit's worth for me and ended up going back for a little bit more, which leads into the second thing of note. Not enough concentrate (ie very small amounts) doesn't build density so it's a very thin wispy cloud. Makes it a bit harder for people with low tolerance to get a bit more high. Experience will however make it easier to judge how much of the glass you want to fill and put more concentrate in than needed. The 510 cart is definitely the star of the show here for me however. It produces ridiculously dense clouds which thin as you inhale ( air draws into the glass and mixes) and flavorful clouds as well as being super easy to set and forget.

**Answers to questions**

Just some answers to questions I’ve seen online or had myself

*Can you set it down and come back to it later*?

Yes and no. I did a test fill to ⅓ of the way up the black center and left it. It was about half gone in 2 minutes and effectively gone in 5, but I'm sure airflow has a huge effect on this so every situation will be different. I’m also sure putting something like a coaster on top would help prolong it.

*Does it vape herb*?

Nope. It burns it.

*Will anything wear out?*

The coils do have a life to them, I have no idea how long they last but they do sell replacements. They use shatterizer coils, $35 for a pack of 5 ceramic coils $20 for 5 pack of quarts coils. And, of course, the glass may break. Replacement glasses $65 for a pack of 2 duo glasses and $90 for a flow glass (the flow is basically Zenco’s bong version, it’s a waterpipe glass and uses the same base which means once you've bought in for the price of the glass you can get the other experience.

**Overall/ tldr**

This thing rocks. If you're looking for a desktop concentrate vape I highly recommend it. It is certainly a niche product but if it caught your eye and you’re considering it, I would say its well worth it. The honeymoon phase may well end, and if it does I’ll update the review, but for now, I love my Zenco Duo.

**Build quality**: 7/10- could be metal instead of plastic, but no real gripes other than volume

**Vapor quality**: 510: 10/10- delicious, and hard hitting

Concentrate: 9/10- really good, unless you don't have enough

Bud: 0/10- its smoke. Very nice smoke, but still smoke.

**Ease of use**: 8/10- everything is easy, but skim the user guide

**Price:** 5/10- at $300 its definitely a premium device, but still cheaper than a volcano or puffco

**Overall:** 8.5/10- Easy to use, premium materials, and incredible vapor quality offset the high cost. If you think you’ll like it, you probably will.

I’m more than happy to answer questions, and will update the post with them as well.