Fury,
In saying that Mert's are always up should I assume that they are not overly popular? It's just that I bought one the other day and now you have me worried.

Why are they not popular?
EA's are always up...pretty popular. I think Mert probably does more business in europe than here.
i can officially recommend the novice as a great device. coming from a genesis user, its a nice change of pace to drip.
this thing is TINY. i was looking for a small device, and i got it.
i have to carry an extra battery to work, big deal.
the airslot is perfect, i think its on point with what unloaded said, and im already used to it and loving it.
just running a silica setup with flat kanthal at 1.2 ohms, scared to wrap anything lower considering the 14500 amp limits.
it cooks just as hard as my other setups.
Probably with the novice is it's only useful if you want a dripper (more specifically a fatty) to carry around. I don't carry juice or want to worry about orientation in my pocket so while it's a good device (well I don't have it but it's a sturm clone with a fatty stuck on top) it's not for me.
So for anyone wondering here are some 14500 mech mods (510) that may or may not be available at a friendly online retailer
Piccolo-- vapourart, vapistsvapourizers (not available often, see GP thread in euro suppliers forum for advance notice or watch the stock update page at vapists)
G16--vaperev, atmomixani, greek mods (on and off, you'd just have to check the sites or sign up for notification)
Ba Gau--rampagevapor, eonvape, vapistsvapourizers, vaperev (every few weeks, if you sign up at eon for notice they email you a special link to pre-order...no f5'ing)
Simplicity--Super T (available now, not sure of the stocking situation if they sell out)
Temon--mmvapors (used to be in stock most of the time, out of stock and production it seems now, may be releasing a new 14500 at some point)
Mert--hc mert (have never seen it sold out)
Sturm--vaporwall (lists or check classies)
Mini Cube--s-a-f-e-r-c-i-gs (out of production but last I saw that site was selling them cheapish and blems cheapisher)
Mini Pisces--Okcvapes (well once, no idea on the situation with them)
That's off the top of my head and nowhere near conclusive...maybe it helps you, maybe not