I have both the Reo mini 2.1 and the Vmod XL. The Reo is outstanding; the Vmod is decent and more affordable.
I wrote a long post about this a while back, giving pros and cons. I have owned both, as well as 2 other brands of bottom feeders.
Let's be honest, you put a LR shorty carto on a mechanical mini REO and a mechanical Vmod2.0 and I DEFY anyone to tell the difference.
14500
batteries running the exact same delivery
device at same ohms. No difference whatsoever.
The rest all comes down to personal preference. Plastic chassis vs. all metal, (one is repairable, the other isn't), looks, feel in the hand and squonking window placement, etc. Both have their pros and cons. Mine would probably be different from yours.
After owning them all I got solid with REO. To be honest, I wanted something repairable AND the owner of REO is like the energizer bunny when it comes to customer service. Each and every REO is like a baby he is sending via the Stork.

I tend to like personalized service and value CS more than a lot of people do, so that was my decision.