Mechs and regulateds are different animals entirely. On a mech mod, the input voltage (charge state of your battery) is equal to the output voltage (applied to the atomizer). The input amperage (drawn from the battery) is equal to the output amperage (delivered to the atomizer) because the voltages are the same. The wattage delivered to the atomizer is equal to the wattage drawn from the battery, because the volts and amps are the same.
On a regulated device, the output voltage is not equal to the input voltage, it is "regulated" to a specific value set by the user, either directly (variable voltage/VV) or indirectly via the wattage setting and adjusted for the detected atomizer resistance (variable wattage/VW). On either side of the regulator, ohm's law still applies. They just don't match up with the numbers on the other side because of the regulator circuit in between that "regulates" (changes) them into something else. But conservation of energy still applies and so the voltage* is only increased at a cost of lessened amperage*, or vice-versa. (*Applied voltage and amperage, on the output [atomizer] side. On the input [battery] side, voltage simply "is what it is" [charge state of the battery], and amperage is automatically adjusted to maintain the selected power [wattage] output.)
You still with me? Okay, here's the important part. The one value that's the same on both sides of the regulator circuit, is the power (wattage) (minus a few insignificant percent, to power the circuit itself). With this final piece of information, you can see that in order to determine the amp drain on the battery, on a regulated device, you need to look at the wattage setting, and the charge state of the battery (or use the low-voltage cutoff value, for a "worst-case" scenario.) Volts and amps applied to the atomizer do not necessarily reflect volts and amps drawn from the battery. They can be different, and in fact they almost always will be. They can be higher, and this is not inherently problematic. Yes, you will have to do the math. No, it's not hard math. If you want the "Cliff's Notes" version, just don't set your watts above (3 * amp rating * number of batteries).
As for why the other (output) amperage is often displayed on device screens? Yeah, it's a mystery. It's useless information. It causes confusion in new users. It doesn't belong there, but they put it there anyway. Just ignore it. Learn the easy math, do the easy math, and ignore the useless number on the screen.
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