Truthfully, I have no idea what happened to my Predator and Cuboid. Both were working just fine then out of nowhere both Gabe me the atomizer short error (months apart, not like it happened all on the same day lol). No clue as to why, I googled it found out some stuff about the 510 and the board and I guess it's pretty common with joyetech boards. Neither have very good venting, so that could be part of it. Maybe they just got too hot, idk. Either way, I tried a few recommended things to see if I could fix them and nothing worked. So they are currently sitting and looking pretty.
As for the eleaf, I've heard mixed reviews on Eleaf products which scares me a tad but I have the old Eleaf 30w and it still works fine. But the 100wTc wouldn't work for me, due to the fact my Icon is a 24mm and my Engine is a 25mm. Thanks for the useful review on it tho. I can always recommend it to someone else in the future.
Well, could just be a case of serious bad luck... every brand will have some lemons/faulty units. So far, the Predator has the 510 connection coming out that's the "big issues" but it appears that it was the first run/batch, as I've yet to hear it since it was mentioned by a few.
For Joytech/Wismec, the RX models are the ones that I stay clear as the number of complaints has been constant (but I absolutely don't like the look of it anyways).
For Eleaf, as the number that they sell is staggering due to their low pricing, there's bound to be a small number of defective units. But out of about a dozen Eleaf mods I've had, there's only one that had a product defect (that auto-fire thing) that started after 3 months.
But if you take just the Pico, probably one of the most popular mod (if not the most ever), the reports of issues are extremely rare.
Between most brands, I have a lot of trouble picking anything over Eleaf at this point. I think that many that enjoy their Eleaf mods are "shamed" about it so they don't talk about it much.. heck ever seen a DNA fan go on a rant? Now that's scary.
I just wonder of my process of elimination that you might consider what any single "cause" might be... were you using a particular tank at the time... the type of batteries you were using?
And the vent holes are only for if the batteries were to vent, so to release pressure and not have the mod turn into a pipe bomb.