thank you, tankman77 & gavind4
I think it was possibly a bad unit, but can't be sure, as the list of fixes was rather long and more care and maintenance than i wanted (scrubbing battery heads/contacts etcetera, also the charger included didn't work) - it initially worked for the first carto I had in for about 2 hours, but then it seemed it was burning cartos, and all the nice people on here that gave recommendations for settings so i wasn't burning out cartos (which i did 2 of in immediate succession) then it would work, then it kept wanting to go to an e8 error - anyway - I didn't want something I had to study up on, I just wanted to put juice in it and go.
i started with a basic eGo unit, and I like it well enough to have stopped smoking since December, minus a few real smokes while drinking here and there, and I like the basic 'plug and play' workings of the eGo unit, and discovering stronger juices have made me really quite happy with it. I might buy another battery, or maybe look into the twist units.
But - I will also mention that I bought some delicious Apple Cheesecake juice from provape and I LOVE it - delicious flavor.