Took me a little over a year to take the plunge. I started off with a kit from V2cigs (the tiny 808 batts), vapor was decent right after being charged but, battery life was terrible so that didn't last long. Moved on to the X2's from Smokeless Image - battery life was good but they would die after about 3 months of usage. At $20-25 a battery every 3 months I realized it was time to move on to something better. Got my Provari mini shortly after New Years, and at 4.5 months haven't had to shell out anymore money, which is great. The AW IMRs are still working great, and I expect them to for at least several more month if not longer. One of the issues I had before switching to a Provari was that all of my smaller batts would come off the charger way hotter than they should have (even though they are marketed as regulated....) and burn through cartos even if they were soaking wet. It almost made me go back to analogs. But, I don't have to deal with that anymore and it's definitely saving me money.......and patience. I really regret not starting with a Provari in the first place.