HEATX-3 vs Glo: Comparing the HEATX-3 With the glo Pro and Hyper Pro

The question that pushed me into this comparison was embarrassingly practical. My glo Pro was dying, the battery had dropped to four or five sticks before it started complaining, and the replacement I was quoted for a 2026 refresh was not the same device under a new name. So I bought a HEATX-3, kept both on the desk for three weeks, and started counting. One caveat first: everything attributed to Glo comes from the manufacturer's published specifications, the HEATX-3 figures from its manufacturer and my own use. The short version: the HEATX-3 is the endurance device, the glo Pro the pocket-friendly one with a locked-in stick ecosystem, and neither wins on everything.

How the two devices actually differ on paper

A third Glo model is worth naming. The Glo Hyper Pro is the heavy one: 150 g, 2580 mAh, 9.6 × 3.6 × 2.1 cm. It has a *smaller* battery than both the glo Pro and the HEATX-3, which tells you these figures are not standardised.

Which one lasts longer between charges

The HEATX-3 wins here, and not by a small margin. 3200 mAh against 3000 mAh sounds like a rounding error, but battery size is only half the story. The number that matters is sticks per charge: about 30 heating cycles for the HEATX-3 against about 20 sticks for the glo Pro. In my own counting the HEATX-3 gave me 30 on one full charge and 28 on the next, close enough to the spec that I stopped checking and just trusted it. Fifty percent more sticks per charge is the whole argument in one line. Charging time is a wash: roughly 2 hours on USB Type-C for both, the sort of device you leave plugged in overnight. The comparison that actually hurts the HEATX-3 is against the IQOS ILUMA, which charges in about 90 minutes.

Heating, preheat and session length: does the glo Pro win on speed?

The glo Pro has a ceramic heating chamber running at about 280°C, with preheat of 20 seconds in standard mode or 10 seconds in BOOST. That 10-second BOOST is the fastest cold-start of the two, and I would be lying if I said the HEATX-3 matched it. No published figure tells you the HEATX-3's preheat time, so you are buying that part blind. Where the HEATX-3 differs is in how it heats. GEN3.0 runs two zones: a bottom heating area plus a wrap-around area that encircles the stick instead of sitting under it, so the outer edge of the tobacco gets the same attention as the centre. Side by side on the same sticks the HEATX-3 was more consistent to me, with the flavour holding up across the whole stick rather than thinning out in the last third. Session length surprised me the other way. A standard glo session runs 4 minutes and BOOST runs 3 minutes. The HEATX-3 gives you 320 seconds, about 5 minutes 20 seconds per stick, with no fixed session cut-off. That was my one genuine disappointment, because I wanted a short 3-minute mode to sit with a coffee, and the closest the HEATX-3 gets is SOFT, which changes the heat rather than the length.

Screen, buttons and which sticks you can buy

A screen changes more than I expected. The HEATX-3 has a small display showing battery level, stick count and current temperature mode. It is not a touchscreen and it goes dark when idle, which is the right call for battery life. The glo Pro has no screen at all; its single button and vibration feedback do the talking. The HEATX-3 comes in four matte colourways, black, purple, green and silver, and the finish does not collect fingerprints. Controls run deeper on the HEATX-3: single press for battery, mode and total stick count, double press to cycle SOFT, MILD, NORMAL and BOOST, triple press for power. Push a stick in and it heats automatically, long press stops it whenever you want. NORMAL is where I live, MILD in the evening, SOFT when I have had too much, and BOOST I mostly ignore because it is more intense than I want for longer than 30 seconds. The glo Pro has no temperature choice of that kind, just standard or BOOST, which changes preheat and session length rather than the heat itself. Fewer things to learn, and no way to accidentally cycle into the wrong mode. I miss the screen. I do not miss the button gymnastics. The stick question decides the purchase for a lot of people and has nothing to do with hardware. The glo Pro runs on glo Neo sticks, a proprietary closed system. They are widely stocked, but they are glo sticks and only glo sticks go in the glo Pro. The HEATX-3 works with general heated tobacco sticks, the format most of the category uses, so moving to it does not trap you in one brand's supply chain.

Where the HEATX-3 is honestly the worse choice

None of this is deal-breaking, but skipping it would be doing you a disservice. The HEATX-3 is 100 g and 35 × 22 × 98 mm. The glo Pro is 98 g and 82 × 43 × 21 mm. The weight is basically a tie, but the glo Pro is shorter and flatter, so it slides into a jacket pocket in a way the HEATX-3 does not. Carry it in a shirt pocket and that 98 mm of length is a real annoyance. The 2-hour charge is a step back from the IQOS ILUMA's 90 minutes, though it matches the glo Pro. There is no app and no Bluetooth, and no firmware updates. The device you buy is the device you get. A glo user moving over gives up any connected tracking, and if the app on your phone was part of your routine, you will miss it. And there is no proprietary stick ecosystem behind it, which cuts both ways: more freedom in which sticks you can buy, but no loyalty scheme and no guaranteed future stick availability tied to a manufacturer.

So which one should you buy

If your priority is getting more out of one charge, buy the HEATX-3. 3200 mAh and about 30 cycles against 3000 mAh and about 20 sticks is not subtle, and it is the clearest difference between the two. Add the 4-mode temperature control, the screen, and the fact that it takes general heated tobacco sticks rather than only glo Neo sticks, and the case is straightforward for anyone whose sticks run out faster than their charger does. Buy the glo Pro if the glo Neo ecosystem is what you already know, if you want the fastest preheat in this pair at 10 seconds with BOOST, if you prefer a single-button device with no menus to learn, or if you care more about the shape of it in your pocket than the shape of its battery. What I ended up doing, in case it helps: HEATX-3 as my main device, glo Pro kept as the one I grab when I am out of the house and want something quick. If you are shopping for the best HNB device in 2026 on battery life alone, the answer is the HEATX-3. If you are shopping on stick availability and brand support, the glo Pro is the safer bet, and the glo Hyper Pro is the one to try if you want the bigger Glo rather than the longer-lasting one.

Health, law and where to buy

Heated tobacco is not harmless. It avoids combustion, which reduces exposure to a number of the toxicants in cigarette smoke, but it still delivers nicotine, and nicotine is addictive. Nothing in this article is medical advice, and nothing here claims either device is safe. If you do not already use tobacco or nicotine, there is no reason to start. Check the age limits and the tax rules where you live, since both differ by country and change. Buy from licensed sellers only. The competitor figures used here, including everything attributed to Glo and British American Tobacco, come from the manufacturer's published specifications, while the HEATX-3 figures come from its manufacturer and my own three weeks of testing. Compare the numbers, then decide which device fits how you actually use a heated tobacco device.