Thanks for all the advice from everyone. I am still trying to decide what I want.
I still am trying to straighten all the terminology out. (cartos, attys, tanks, clearos).
It looks like the larger ones are a little more complicated to work with. I don't think I will mind refilling the e-liquid. I have never seen any of the larger units.
Terminology 101:
Atty. That's short for "atomizer". The atomizer is the piece that screws into the end of your e-cig. It contains the heating coil, maybe a wick and not much more. You can drip juice directly into it, through a "drip tip" (that's what dripping is), or there are gizmos that fit on the end of it to hold and deliver juice. One way or another, an atomizer is useless without some way of delivering juice to the coil inside. In the old days, there were "cartridges" that stuck into the end of an atomizer to hold juice and wick it down to the coil. That's mostly obsolete nowadays. Some systems, ego-T, 510-T, etc. have tried to resurrect this idea by calling them "tanks" and making special atomizers to fit these "tanks". Most are failures in operation.
Carto. Short for cartomizer. A cartomizer is a one-piece unit that performs the functions of a cartridge and an atomizer, hence the name Cart-o-Mizer. It is disposable, but can be cleaned and re-used if you have the time and patience. They've pretty much taken over the old two piece atomizer/cartridge combinations of days past.
Clearo: Short for clearomizer. A clearo is a cartomizer with a transparent body. Most, but not all, of them do not have the polyester batting or "filler" that's found in a traditional cartomizer, like a Boge. They have a coil inside and juice is wicked to the coil from a separate section that holds it loosely instead of in a soaked filler material. The lack of a filler material provides a cleaner taste. The reliance on wicking means it is more susceptible to "dry hits', which is when insufficient juice makes it up to the coil for a good hit. This happens mostly with thicker juices. Clearo's taste better, but they are less consistent and reliable than traditional cartos.
Tanks: Unlike the things that some manufacturers call tanks, but are really cartridges (see above), a tank simply holds a quantity of juice and a cartomizer with a hole is fitted inside of it. It is a way to keep a cartomizer wet with juice without having to top it off. Juice is held in the tank and enters the cartomizer through the hole in the cartomizer. Some tanks do not use cartomizers. Instead, they are like over-sized, refillable clearomizers. The juice is wicked from one part of the tank, up to the coil which is held in a cup near the top of the tank. Like a clearomizer, the lack of any filler material makes these taste cleaner. Also, like a clearomizer, they sometimes have issues, especially when they run low on juice, when the juice can't make it all the way to the coil at the top of the tank and produces a dry hit.
A larger e-cig, like the kGo, with a cartomizer on the end is no more complicated than a mini-cigarette with a cartridge on the end. Mini-cigarette makers call their cartomizers "cartridges" for marketing reasons, but they are really cartomizers because they are one piece and contain both the juice and the coil.
The only complication arises when you realize that, unlike a mini-cigarette, a larger unit allows you to put all kinds of other devices, like attys, clearos and tanks, on your e-cig. None of that is strictly necessary and you can get by fine just using regular old cartomizers and occasionally dripping juice into an atomizer in order to test it before you use it to fill a cartomizer.
At the end of the day, the only reason to get something that looks like a cigarette is psychological. They are subject to the laws of physics and the laws of physics dictate that they will not perform as well as an e-cig with a larger, more powerful battery. Also, when you become a vaper, you are no longer a smoker. Why would you want to look like one? If you don't want to be hassled by anti-smokers, approached by strangers for a light, asked if you have a "spare cigarette", etc., then don't vape something that looks like a cigarette. The larger units will not only perform far better, they will last longer, cost less, allow you to customize your vaping experience and save you untold hassle from people who can't stand the sight of someone smoking anything that looks like a cigarette, even if they know it's not one.
