Of the few minor issues that come with a new 'Vela (the tight tolerance on the button, mostly, till it's broken in), my biggest pain has been with the kick. Of 2, one has already died on me. It was intermittent. It took a lot of tinkering before I got scientific about it and isolated the kick as the problem. On the 2nd, I had to put a couple slices of duct tape as a shim opposite the ground to keep the ground wire contacting the tube. I'm having a love/hate relationship with it. I find that the 2nd mod, without a kick, works just fine with a 2 ohm atty. And I get the long battery life. I'm thinking my next 306's for the tank will be 2 ohm, and I'll kick the kick.
It just doesn't seem worth it for the loss of battery size, and every time I have an issue with the mod, it is usually the kick that's responsible. mine have "crushed" just a little when new, so it worked fine for a couple days, then I was getting nothing until I changed to the next longer pin. Now that it is all seated, it's been pretty trouble free, but I'm finding the wattage from a raw battery with the 2ohm is pretty much in my sweet spot anyway. There is the tapering voltage issue, but I actually find it less hassle than the more frequent battery changes. YMMV.