I had a bunch of Clones, seven to be exact. Used them to test the perfect coil-wick combo for me. Aside from the materials used (specifically on the CHIDS) and the build-quality, I find no difference compared to the expensive Genesis RBAs I currently or used to own (ZAP, Cobra and Steam Machine Gini). It's all up to how meticulously you prep the RBA before using it. How you prepared the wick, wrapped the coil, took care of the hot spots and manage the
juice flow on the wick.
What i did saw was the clone's central posts are fidgety this is where you have to be careful but I had the same experience with the Gini and read people had the same problems with expensive RBAs with the same center pole/post config.
So it's just a matter of being persistent and I believe once you mastered it and saved enough cash then you can graduate to the expensive ones.
To answer your other question about better clones look for AGA, AGA-T and CHOBRA. Bigger Tanks, better build quality and materials.
Good Luck on your quest kababayan.