Haha...bless your heart, I'm not sure you knew what you were saying...because EVERY Vaper has advice and recommendations! I've often compared a person's vaping choices to the choices they had when smoking the old stinkies...imagine a 16 year old asking "which is better, Lucky Strike unfiltered or Virginia Slim Menthol?" There are HUNDREDS of cigarette choices...just like there are hundreds of choices with e-cigs...the difference is you pay $8 for a pack of stinkies, if you make a mistake, it's easy to buy a different kind tomorrow! My mom smoked Salem, so, I did too...
Three basic elements, as I'm sure you discovered: Battery...atomizer/tank....and juice. The combination is..(wait for it now) entirely (taste is) subjective. What makes ME happy does NOT make my SON happy...in fact, we rarely agree, but, that doesn't make either of us WRONG...just different.
Being a Vaper means searching for just the right combination of the three elements to obtain vaping nirvana. Everyone here has given you great advice...but I will add my "old lady" recommendation...do research...and learn as much as you can...(or WANT to do!)
My son and I both vape...although I began before he did, he knows MUCH more than I and is VERY well informed as to what items are available, and he even builds his own mods. While I'm VERY impressed with that...I have no INTEREST in building my own mods and rebuilding my coils...I just want to fill my tank and vape...HE wants to FIDDLE...he's not WRONG...and since he is single and has no children...it keeps him busy and not in the bar!
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I didn't read all 17 pages of this thread, at all the recommendations...but, that you've found ECF is a good sign of your willingness to research...ECF isn't easy to find if you don't know what you are looking for. There are MANY video reviewers, which are all good... PBusardo is my favorite at TasteYourJuice dot com, but my son likes GrimmGreen...both give excellent information.
I have the new ego spinner...it's not my favorite...BUT...it's an excellent battery...and I bought it because I was taking an alaskan cruise, and didn't want to chance losing my ProVari. It worked well but, I was glad to come home to my "babies" (ProVari)
As you didn't mention your age, working status or ability to buy "luxury" items...a QUALITY ego style device is an economical alternative which will serve the purpose. Other than controlling the voltage/wattage of current to the carto/tank/etc, a battery doesn't have much effect on the taste of your vape (IMHO). A fully charged ego set at 4.3 will provide the same power as a ProVari (or any other mod) set at 4.3. (I will admit to BELIEVING that I have a "better vape with my ProVari than I do with one of my son's mods...but I really doubt it has any true effect!)
I currently own four (yes, 4!) ProVari devices. An original, bought in 2012, and three "Limited Edition" models: the Red mini, the Dragon mini and the new Titanium mini. So, I guess it's obvious that I like the product provape produces. The build quality is hard to surpass, and my APVs have taken a beating...from falling on concrete to being tossed in my purse, they survive with hardly a scuff to the finish! And...when my son had a battery leak into my original, I contacted Provape, and arranged for a complete replacement of its "guts" for $70...upgrading it to a version 2.5 with a green LCD. That APV has served me well, and I've gotten my money's worth! ProVape offers EXCELLENT customer service. As to "expensive"? Well...I don't spend $10 a day on CIGARETTES anymore...so, even the most expensive ProVari cost less than I used to spend every month on my stinkies...which only gave me COPD!
Also are available a plethora of "box mods", mods that look like pipes, mechanical mods...and probably a lot more...I saw an APV online that was set with diamonds and gold. Did its $20,000 price tag make it a "better" vape than my old ProVari? Probably not...and I don't have 20k to find out...the same can be said for the "Tiffany" edition of the ProVari found on ebay...it WAS a ProVari...but NOT REALLY Tiffany...I don't care WHAT color it was painted! Bottom line...try a few of the least expensive APVs...and discover what you want. THEN "invest" in a quality item. For ME, the answer has been PROVARI. Sadly, when I first started vaping, I spent WAY TOO much cash on a (non 510) cig-alike brand because "they had pretty colors"...(thankfully, unlike a devoted fan I met, I did NOT buy 179 of them before I realized that a 300 MAH battery set at 3.2 needed charging every 2 hours and didn't fulfill MY individual needs.). There is NOTHING WRONG with cig-alikes, IF they WORK for YOU! The GOAL is to stay off stinkies...so, whatever works for YOU is the RIGHT thing! AND I will add...just OWNING a ProVari doesn't make you superior in any way...it just means you found a way to purchase a ProVari...(the same goes for the snot in my neighborhood who owns a Range Rover, the one with the Jag, and especially the one with the Aston Martin who comes close to hitting my dog and I every morning!) And, as I predicted to my "pal" (who couldn't feed his six kids on the TANF and food stamps he received...and then proceeded to pawning his belongings to afford a ProVari) ...owning a ProVari doesn't improve your life (or the lives of your children)...all we REALLY thought about when he bragged that he owned a ProVari was "What a selfish fool of a parent you are..."
My son SWEARS that his K-fun is the "best vape in the world"...and it's pretty good...MY. Problem is that I have arthritis AND that I don't like to FIDDLE...I want to fill my tank, and go...therefore, what works for ME are the Aspire tanks with the "new" coils. Relatively inexpensive at about $6, the replacement coils seem to last a good time, and they look good on my ProVari. I've also recently added a Nautilus (with the metal cage tank cover...because I was breaking the glass faster than the glass could be shipped to America!) and the new Kanger AeroTank Mega. Both have an adjustment at their base, allowing an adjustment to the draw. I also own 42 different "carto tanks"...but I got tired of fiddling with them everytime they needed a replacement carto. The cost of cartos is a bit cheaper than replacement coils...but I don't "taste the carto" when I use the aspire/nautilus/Kanger. Again, whatever works for you.
JUICES...OMG...a subject all by itself! I've probably tried 30 different suppliers...you mentioned Ms.Ts Bakery...which offers some excellent juice...IF you are proactive enough to order far enough in advance to wait 3-5 weeks to have the juice made and shipped. I've personally excellent experiences with Mount Baker Vapor (which allows you to select PG/VG blend & extra flavoring) they've always shipped very FAST, very inexpensive and I've always been pleased. I'm also currently using NicoTicket juices, which are a little more expensive, with VERY "rich" flavor AND fast shipping...but, with them, it is what it is..,no selection of PG/VG blend, and the extra flavor is already in it. But, if they don't have the flavor you want...you gave to wait till they make it...and their selection is probably less than 12 flavors. I happen to like Creme Brûlée enough to pay the extra money to get it. I fill in with Mt Baker, otherwise...and recently tried a nice 5 Pawns juice.
I wish you lots of luck in finding YOUR OWN special combination of vape gear...
