Over the next few months (or years) you will probably try lots of different things. So enjoy the ride, it's a good one.
Most of these devices *can* provide a consistent vape, but a guy has to learn how to make them consistent. (and that's the fun part IMO)
Very well put. It is a journey of exploration. So much about the vaping experience is subjective and so there is only so much you can glean from words before you have to see for yourself.
If you ask me I say enjoy your eGos while you decide because after you "go mod" they will become irrelevant to you. Taking the next step is going to be an investment. If you go cheap to begin you'll just end up replacing stuff with better stuff later.
5 months into it and my search is over. "Just get a REO" feels sort of compulsory for me because it is hands down the best overall vape experience I've had. For me, the REO is peerless.
Regardless if you go mech or regulated I'm gonna say learn how to build coils. Get an IGO-L (or IGO-W), it's cheap and super easy to build. Dripping is, in my experience, the best vape. Get a few feet of a variety of gauges of resistance wire (26,28,30 and 32 are most common). For wick there are many options, there is no one best for all applications. I like cotton in my bottom fed atty and nextel ceramic rope in my top fed drippers.
If you're going regulated on a budget it's almost standard procedure to start with a VAMO, lol. They do just about everything you could want from a vv/vw and they are also super cheap.
If you're going regulated and want to jump a little deeper then you can't go wrong to start off with a ProVari. They are not perfect but are very well built and if you don't like it you might lose $10 reselling it. If you want cutting edge regulated keep an eye out for DNA20 devices.
If you're going mechanical you will need a multimeter and a serious awareness of what you are doing, what your equipment is capable of, how it will react under all possible circumstances, how you should react when something goes wrong, how to measure resistance and voltage, etc. Mechanical vaping is fun, the hardware is cool and reliable and simple. Mechanical vaping can also be very dangerous if done improperly.
If you're going mechanical on a budget there are lots of options, just spend some time in the apv section

K-100/K-101 have a good rep for performance. There are lots of Sigelei mods that perform well, are cheap and readily available.
If you are going mechanical and want to cut out several months of searching for a great vape and spending money on stuff you'll end up setting aside then I'll say just about the same about the REO as I did about the ProVari (aside from the part where I had my ProVari for about a week whereas my REO is here to stay

). They are very well built and resell very easily. The REO Grand is relatively compact (about the size of a business card), accommodates 18650's (easily lasts me a workday), holds 6ml of juice, delivers the freshness of drip vaping without the hassle of carrying a bottle of juice around and having to drip into your atty. The IGO rebuildable drippers I recommended above are not compatable with a REO, fyi.
Don't skimp on batteries and charger, don't waste money on kits with cheap batteries and chargers. For batteries you can;t go wrong with AW IMR, MNKE and Orbtronics are a couple others that have good rep. For chargers.. well just check out
RTDVapor.com inventory. I have a Nitecore (four thumbs up) and I've read good things about the Pila.
Welcome to ECF! Don't hesitate to ask questions
