Several, although I tend research everything to death before I buy. Like many new to vaping, I believed my first e-cigs needed to look similar to analogs. Not a week into it I was already tired of switching batteries every four hours and then neglecting to recharge them on a timely basis. About 3 weeks in I moved up to the eGo batteries, but that proved to not be enough to me, either.
About six weeks into vaping I got my first mods, and would have been satisfied with those except someone put a Kick and extender on my Silver Bullet to try higher voltage. Not too long after I got a Provari. I may have now reached the pinacle. But who knows? RBA next?
So, long story short, if I knew then what I know now, I would have totally skipped the mini-battery stage. Maybe even the eGo battery stage and started out with the mods first. Too much of a stretch to consider starting out with a Provari setup right out of the gate.
But in hindsight it probably would have saved me hundreds of dollars to have gone straight with a Provari. Oh well, its been a journey.