I have both the A7 (four) and the Spheroid (two). I'm not sure what prototype glassgal has so I can't comment on that. I don't have a MicroStick, yet, so I don't know if that means I shouldn't be commenting at all ... but here goes anyway.
As far as the adjustable bottom pin. I generally don't care if it's adjustable, or not, until I find something it doesn't work in. So far, my Spheroid works in all of my mods with no modification: Vision Spinners, iTastes, eVics, GP products, and every other person's who has tried mine as well. As long as it works in what I use, I actually PREFER the non-adjustable pin. It's robust and simple and I know it isn't going to fall out.
The A7, on the other hand, requires an adjustment fairly often because the pin is loose. It can be tightened with a bit of teflon tape on the threading but it does come loose eventually and making sure you don't lose connectivity is an issue with the tape as well as the pin turning on its own where screwing the atty down. Actually, to me, that positive pin is one of the most annoying things about the A7.
I don't think it's generally fair to compare, performance-wise, the Spheroid to the A7 in dripper mode but I also do have the A7-oid tip by Captivape as well as a DIY tip/shaft combo. In head-to-head comparisons with similar wick/coil setups the Spheroid either edges out, or flat out blows away the A7-oid. "Fluff/filler" performance is subjective and hard to compare since they have different capacity specs.
The Spheroid shines in build quality. It's built like a tank. The A7, in comparison, is kind of flimsy ... the loose positive post, the flimsy coil posts, the squeaky/grindy threading, and the finish that degrades quickly (I could be wrong but I don't think this is a completely stainless build.
The real question is price and the subjective value you place on it. The A7/A7-oid is a good performer for it's price and the value, therefore, is high. Still, I consider them fairly disposable. The Spheroid is a top performer in performance and build quality and it comes with great customer support, spare parts (should you need them) - something I couldn't really get with the A7.
Don't get me wrong. I really like the A7-oid. It was one of the few rebuildables that got me away from the lower-performance clearos and tanks that I was set on (and I was already rebuilding those, as well). I still keep them around as a cheap backup as well as a dripper for sampling until I find a better one. The A7-oid has a few advantages over the Spheroid ... you can somewhat adjust the airflow with the adjustable pin, and it has a drip well, instead of the flat deck on the Spheroid, so is more forgiving to overfills without flooding. Lastly, it's cheaper... that goes a long way.
Overall, though, the Spheroid wins for me and, subjectively, that margin is not small but YMMV. :beer:
If you are interested in the A-7 it is available here: http://www.Empiremods.com/product_p/reba7.htm this atomizer is also reported to be easily converted to bottom feed, although I've not tried that. I have disassembled it and it does look doable...
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