Here's my opinion of the "thing" with atomizers and how it pertains to the whole clone situation:
All clones are hit or miss. Some "authentic" atomizers are hit or miss too -- but less so, in general. Which is to be expected since quality control standards tend to be less stringent when considering the speed, output quantities, and purchase price of many of these "clone" manufacturers. And so, my experience tells me to aim low....look for the simpler designed, less fiddly looking atomizers when considering a clone. Now this is of course a general rule of thumb, with plenty of exceptions and "almost good enough" clone cases where with just a little bit of sanding, grinding, and other forms of various MacGuyvering, one can easily turn a useless turd into a serviceable plow horse.
As such: dripper or "RDA" clones tend to be less of an overall crapshoot, mainly because they're all pretty simple. But they're drippers, which means you have to drip and maybe wear one of those tacky juice necklaces all the time, or at least keep a bottle of semi-hazardous chemicals in your pocket. Not my thing, but I certainly see the use. I own a dripper and use it pretty much only to taste new juices, try out new wick materials, funky coil arrangements and provide the occasional dude-that's-a-monster-cloud moment. Tanks however, are a different animal entirely, since many of our favorite "RTA's" often rely on sub-millimeter tight tolerances of machining to achieve sufficient vacuum pressure and juiceflow-to-airflow ratios, vapetasticness, etc... But I'm not saying don't get a clone tank. Of the 15 or so tank atties that I have purchased, only 3 are real deals and only 1 of those 3 has been completely fiddle-free and utterly awesome. Hell, my second favorite tank atty only cost me $20, and is really only like a tiny bit less awesome than my current $130 number-one.
Other things to consider:
Clone spare parts can be hard to find and often the available authentic spares will not fit on all of their various clone versions.
Warranties.
High quality spare parts ensure longevity.
Many authentics can be easily resold. Which makes them more valuable or whatever.
The rest is just figuring out what type of atty you're looking for, how you like to vape, aesthetics, etc....
So my advice is this: If you're a bit handy and you're down for the whole "journey" experience, start with a decently reviewed simple design (e.g. single coil setup) clone/budget atty, either tank or dripper. Or one of each.
Tank Examples - EhPro Kayfun Lite + ; ErlprinZ; Lemo
But if you'd rather go straight to the BMW's, bypassing some likely disappointment and headaches, save up some old cigarette dough and hang on for a real nice tank atty and a decent-to-fancy regulated mod. And though the atomizer may seem comparably overpriced, in most cases it will work perfectly right out of the box and then even if it doesn't, at least you'll be adequately motivated to figure it out and get it working right. Because you spent so much money on the darn thing. See member Qorax for a more experienced list of awesome and fancy atomizers/mods. He knows what's up. My sole suggestion, which is based on a relatively limited experience with atomizer fanciness, would be the Erlkonigin. I have one and it is the whip. It cost me well more than any other single vape purchase of the last two years, so much so that my wife gave me a very stern Are-You-Serious? look when she saw the bill and then an excessively prolonged cold-shoulder exercise in emotional willpower. But the thing is that I'd already spent a total of like 5 times as much (over the last 2 years) on all manner of turd-ish other atomizers that I've since either tossed, traded, gifted or otherwise ruefully unloaded. Is my Erlkonigin's awesomeness directly related to overall turditude of its many crappy predecessors? Yeah probably. Does that matter to me? Nope.
Hope this helps. And thanks for getting that old Weird Al song stuck in my head today.
