LOVE the look of RBA's.....not sure if experienced enough yet though.

[Cha0tik]

My story: I started rebuilding Vivi Nova heads. I studied a youtube video by PBusardo and cued it up to follow before my first attempt to build. I did purchase, wick, wire, and a multimeter. Then a friend piffed me the Vision Eternity. Soon afterward I purchased an AGA T2 and recently an IGO L. Each time I found the PBusardo review/tutorial video on youtube, watched it several times, and cued it up as a guide when I rebuilt. Never in a million years did I think I would own a multimeter or rebuild anything. I love it. My advice: start with the rebuilding of your Vivi Nova heads to see if this something you would like to pursue further. The biggest cost, if you don't own a PV with built in electronics protections, is a multimeter. I paid about $11 for mine plus shipping; add in a little wire and wick and my start up cost was around $20. Good luck!

This is almost exactly the same path to rba's that my journey took. The only advice that I can really give is to practice, practice, and practice some more.

 

[Asmotron]

I am very interested in getting into RBAs after I get my first APV to advance off my Volt device. All the videos I have watched make it look really easy. Really really easy. Maybe just because I work on copiers and I'm used to taking apart and rebuilding fiddly bits? I saw a post where someone said it took them 3 hours to rebuild a genesis, I can't imagine that unless they were messing around with burning their own mesh?

 

[Fishsnapper]

In my opinion anyone with the desire to learn how to rebuild is ready to buy a budget RBA/RDA and start tinkering, just don't expect it to be your everyday vape for a while.. you'll still be vaping your trusty clearos for a while as you learn how to rebuild.

Get an IGO-L
Get some 32g Kanthal A-1 (if you plan to get into low res mech vaping get some 28g also)
Get some wick material (many options out there, I prefer Nextel braided ceramic rope)
Get a multimeter and make sure you don't put anything less than 1.4ohms on a regulated device. Some regulated mods will work with lower res than that but if your mod has no resistance checker built in then definitely play it safer than sorry. It is easy to avoid damaging your equipment with a little diligence but it is also very easy to short out and destroy an unprotected mod if you're not aware of what not to do.
Start tinkering and asking more questions. The more you do it the more you'll learn and become comfortable with it all. It's really not that intimidating once you start getting some practice. Do keep in mind though it does take practice and patience.

+1 on this. "Re-build" is a $10 word for a $3 procedure. Best if you're not easily frustrated though