Well, the Crown came today.
I cleaned both it and my Herakles. On new .2ohm coils...I hate to say it, but the Herakles edges out the Crown a little bit in regards to flavor.
I put two of my favorite flavors through them. One crazy thing though, is the very slightly smaller drip tip from the Herakles, improved the Crown.
I think stuff like that is crazy. It would seem insignificant. But it made a noticeable difference. The same was true putting the Crown tip on the Herk. It slightly muted the flavor. I'll compare more flavors and see. In regards to flavor, I have to call it real close, and call it a Sidegrade.
I think, if such small things matter, the Herakles may be benefitting from the coil sitting higher, so there is less distance for the vapor to travel up the chimney.
Both coils wick superbly, and I can take them both well beyond their recommended wattage with no ill effects. Which when compared to the STM, I found it had a narrow range of good operation, before the flavor would go flat, or get "burnt" hits. Not burnt cotton, but burnt juice.
Now, the upsides to Crown...It holds a little more juice, I think. I didn't measure, but you can figure that out just by looking at how much room the coil chamber takes up in the Herakles. I LOVE the top fill design on this so far. The Cthulus is terrible, the Lemo2 is too tight, and the hole is too small for eye droppers. The Crowns is clean and easy, with no loose O-rings to lose (GEM). The airflow seems comparable to me for both the Crown and the Herk, but the crown has finer control, where the Herk has three options, and you can't close it down past the smallest option.
So, for now, I have to call it a sidegrade for flavor, with some pros in the Crowns favor. I'm happy I got it, I will definitely enjoy it, but it's not a Herakles killer. I will not be trying the Starre. I see no need. With this experiment, I have to hedge my bets that all the reviewers that claim the top tanks are the Atlantis/Herakles/Starre/Crown as far as flavor are correct, and you can't go wrong with any of them.
Not on this list is the Subtank Mini. While it has some nice features, and I can see it's mass appeal for those features, great flavor isn't one of them.