I was really torn myself. Couldnt decide. Really liked the idea of a nice small mod, but was worried about short battery life.
THEN I got the provari home. Chose the regular size by the way.
1)Its a lot smaller than I thought. A lot. The regular size provari is a little bit shorter than a vamo in 18350 mode.
2)the 18490 battery lasts a lot longer than I thought it would. Its very efficient.
In the end, I got what I wanted. A small mod with good battery life. Ill probably never run a provari in 18650 mode, but keep in mind I have other 18650 mods if I want that kind of size/battery life.
Im looking for my second provari already, and its almost certainly gonna be a mini with extension. That way I can have a SMALL provari, but also can run the bigger battery.
I guess the moral of the story is, unless your the type to have no interest in small mods, the Mini with available extensions is very flexible. But if your not a fan of the way the double tatroe ring looks, the regular size provari is still what Id consider a small mod.