Using The SideKick
Prepare The Herbs
Break up or grind your herbs with a grinder, scissors, or your fingers – just make certain the herbs is broken up and fluffy.
Pack The Bowl
Grab the top lid in front of the gear next to the mouthpiece and pull up at a slight angle away from the mouthpiece. With some of your favorite ground herbs, load your bowl to about the middle of the silicone. You can gently pack the herbs, but not too firm. Remember you must have some room to stir the bowl and allow the herbs move about. To put the lid on, make sure that the gear tool is turned furthest away from the mouthpiece as shown, holding the lid at about a 45 degree angle set the notch back in the hole. Set the lid back in place in the same angle you removed it, and you will feel the magnets grab.
Powering On/Off
Turn the SideKick on by pressing the power button for 2 seconds. The SideKick logo will light up and a few seconds later the main screen will show up. Turning the Sidekick off is as easy as it was to turn it on, just press the power button for 2 seconds. The SideKick features an automatic shutoff after 7 minutes to conserve battery power, and just in case you forgot to turn it off, it will take care of that for you!
Selecting The Heat Setting
The SideKick Vaporizer is adjustable from .5 to 11 giving you 22 points of temperature control for extracting the essence from your favorite herbs. The temperature of the SideKick can go from 248° F to 470° F. Press the up or down button to select your desired setting. Once you have selected your desired setting, press the power button 1 time. You will see the current setting begin to rise. Once the unit is at the set temperature it will vibrate letting you know it is ready to use. With the LCD screen the SideKick also notifies you of the battery life left and the battery voltage. The LCD will also display the surfing time of your vape session.
Inhale And Stir
Pull up on the mouthpiece to adjust your air pathway and find the length that is most comfortable for you. In addition, we have made the act of stirring your bowl throughout your vape session totally effortless by creating a stirring mechanism that works with just the push of your thumb. Just spin the gear forward or backward and you are stirring the herbs in the bowl. The SideKick uses a hybrid conduction/convection heating system for the best battery efficiency, but that also means it is always cooking your herbs when the heater is turned on. To vape your herbs evenly and achieve the best flavor, stir the bowl slowly whenever you are not inhaling to prevent the herbs from cooking too much and to allow air to flow through the herbs evenly. We highly recommend to not stir the bowl while you are inhaling as there is a slight chance of herbs slipping past the screen. We have found that half way through a bowl, it is good to take the lid off and press the herbs down a bit to keep the vapor thick.
Vortex Cooler
The SideKick's vortex cooler design and pull out glass mouthpiece extend the vapor path to be nearly 11 inches away from the bowl, while spinning the vapor in a vortex fashion helps cool the vapor essence. The SideKick portable vaporizer comes with the vortex cooling device inserted into air path tube #1. To access your vapor path, remove the battery cover and the silicon vapor path connector, opening up both air path tubes. Looking at the bottom with batteries on the left, we will call the tube all the way to the left cooling tube #1, and the tube to the right, cooling tube #2. You can remove the vortex cooling device from tube #1 to reduce air restriction. You can also remove the vortex cooling device and freeze it. After about 30 minutes in your freezer you can replace it back into your SideKick and enjoy a Rocky Mountain cool vapor experience. This experience will last for about 1 bowl. Be sure to clean the top of the vortex cooler often as this spot clogs first. Remove the vortex cooler entirely if you want the least restriction to airflow.
WARNING! Failure to follow safety recommendations could result in serious injury or property damage.
• During operation, SideKick components get sufficiently hot to cause combustion and severe burns! Never touch the ceramic heater or surrounding metal. Always allow a cool-down before touching any inner SideKick components after turning the device off.
• Keep the SideKick out of reach of children and away from pets. Never leave unattended with a child in the vicinity.
• Keep the SideKick away from combustibles such as paper, fabric, plastic and anything else you think could catch fire.
• Never let hair or loose clothing come in contact with the heat source.
Cleaning Your SideKick
We know how much of a hassle it can be to clean most portable vaporizers, so we have designed the SideKick to be simple and effortless to take apart for a good cleaning.
How To Disassemble The SideKick For Cleaning
- Remove the top and bottom lids, and set the batteries to the side. Using the screwdriver included with your SideKick unscrew and set aside the screen and stir tool.
- Pull the mouthpiece all the way out.
- Remove the silicone vapor path connector
- Take a pick or the screwdriver included with your vape, and from the top of the SideKick push down on the vortex cooler until it slides out of the bottom. As you pull the vortex cooler out, it will scrape the walls of the vapor path tube and clean out most of the residue build up from inside of the unit.
- Finally, using a pick pop out the silicone plug on the front of the SideKick just below the air intake holes.
- Using the brush included with your SideKick, brush away any larger debris particles from the SideKick and all of the disassembled pieces
- Place the top lid, screen, stir tool, vortex cooler, and mouthpiece into a bowl with some alcohol or one of the cleaners available on our site. Let these pieces soak for an hour or so, then wipe down with a rag or paper towel and let them dry completely before re-assembling to your SideKick
- While the other pieces soak, wipe off the two silicone pieces, the bottom lid, the ceramic bowl, and the housing with a rag or paper towel that has just been dampened with some alcohol. Soaking silicone in alcohol can warp it, but these pieces can still be cleaned with a small amount of it as long as they are open to the air for quick drying.
- To clean the vapor path tubes inside of the SideKick, dab the round brush included with your SideKick into some alcohol and wipe down inside of those tubes from both the top and bottom openings
- Once all of the parts are clean and completely dry, re-assemble everything just as it was taken apart.
Changing the Screen
Changing the screen is as simple as unscrewing the screw holding it to the top lid.
Battery Care
Your SideKick uses two 18350 batteries. Charge fully before first use. Please read the battery warnings and charging directions with the batteries and charger. We highly suggest following these guidelines.
Keep the batteries in pairs - We have included colored stickers you can place on your batteries to keep them together. The sets need to discharge together and age together.
The colored stickers can also be written on with a permanent marker with the first date of use to track the age of the batteries as time goes by.
Batteries will last longer if they are not used hard while hot. Both charging and using your vaporizer cause the batteries to heat up. Don't use your vaporizer if it is hot from being left in the sun - Let it cool first. Don't start a charge when the batteries are still hot from being used. Let them cool down before charging. The charger has 2 settings, one for fast charge (1A) and one for slower(0.5A). You will extend the life of your batteries by charging them on the slow setting.
Cap the batteries when not in use - The SideKick comes with 4 silicone battery caps. Capping the batteries during storage will prevent the risk of fire or explosion that occurs if the battery is shorted.
TIPS & HINTS
- We recommend that you start with a low temperature to begin with, and if you do not see vapor, turn it up slightly; wait 30 seconds and try again, If you still see no vapors, repeat until vapors are visible on exhale.
- If the flow seems restricted, make sure the herbs is not packed too tightly in the wand. Stir with included pick to loosen.
- Screens can become clogged over time, causing issues with airflow, Clean or replace your screen regularly to maintain proper airflow.
- Your personal rate of draw as you inhale through the whip can control the temperature slightly. Drawing faster causes the air to move quickly over the heating element, so it has less time to heat up. Drawing slower has the opposite effect. If you find combustion occurring, either turn down your temperature, or draw slightly faster. Conversely, if you do not feel you are reaching vaporization, either turn up the temperature slightly, or draw slower.
- In no time you will find your ‘sweet spot’ that will allow you to draw at a comfortable rate while still achieving thick and tasty vapors!
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