@Ephraim Cooper , apart from all the rest of it which oh my I don't want to go into, there were really only one or two temperature controlled mods (yes, made by hexom) that can read kanthal. Nichrome and kanthal can ONLY be vaped in wattage mode for the most part, either because that material fluctuates too much, or not enough (I can never remember) so there is not enough "change" in the wire as it heats, which is how mods read temperature. You may have somehow SET your DNA mod to temperature mode, but either you did that and it's just not working which is why your temp is always reading at 450F, (it should really kick you out of temp mode though I think, unless you somehow locked your settings) but it's probably not a good idea to use Tc with a non TC wire, honestly, not to mention you are wasting battery life by trying to monitor something which can't be monitored.
Last I heard, you were happy at 80 W Boost mode on your device. Has that changed in any way, and if so, why did you change it?
Finally, I am certainly of the opinion that expensive mods and tanks can be nice, but "less expensive" ones do not HAVE to be less reliable, less pleasurable, or even less durable. So you saw one instance of a PEEK insulator melting, so well, so what? You have no idea what was being done to cause it to melt, almost EVERY mod or tank I personally own has its fans and its detractors.
If you only want to buy expensive things that is also perfectly fine with me, but I don't think it's accurate that all expensive gear is "better" than less expensive gear and not everyone has he luxury of more expensive equipment as you, and I'm going to guess SOME such folks may ACTUALLY be enjoying their cheap gear more than you are more "expensive" items, because they've taken the time to learn about them, which you should really do. Etc.
Anna