I have had some experience with the Aluminum bat, but not with the steel one. The main difference just is the heating up of the bat; the aluminum one gets lip-burning hot after a 3 man group session after 6 tokes ( I heard they fixed this but still skeptical). Also, if you have a torch lighter, then bad news bears for you because the bat cacan only practically be used with a 1 inch or so candle "bic" lighter flame although there are some accounts of torches being used with the bat over on the fuckcombustion forums The bowl too is bigger but you can adjust that, and also you can drown the whole thing in iso to clean it (but harvest the thc "resin" first and vape that (amazing). The steel is basically the same but like the bat and unlike the bowl, it has a longer learning curve for the average person (took me 2 bowl whearas with the classic it took 1 bowl) Its harder to combust your herb and also is a PITA to use on a windy day with a bic Once you get used to it though, it is a pretty good vape for delivering thick hits. I myself own a mflb and used to own an alu.inum bat (now am getting a steel one) and am using tubing on the mouthpeice to get whip style hits (homemade whip) It is a good portable peice and if you master it, might even be a good cheap home peice as well Hope I helped MxF