Regarding reo - I have used a reo for the last 4 years plus ! Worked like a charm with my cartos and never had problems with them. However, do to some bad luck my reo collection of 1 vv reo, 2 mech reos is now done to 1 mech reo which is about 5 years old. One thing I don't like about them is not being able to tune in the voltage/wattage. I would die for a juice feeder that has a good vv/vw component to it...
Have you used Reo + RM2, BF Igo or Cyclone? Reo + rda is NOT the same experience as Reo + carto at all. This may be the difference you are looking for from all of the details you have described....