I tried a couple of those crappy gas station ones back around 2009 and absolutely hated them. Those things were nasty and insanely harsh. Then I tried a couple of other kinds like that, and one was actually pretty good. It didn't blow my mind, but looking back I think it was actually pretty impressive for what it was. That's when I started looking at PVs sort of seriously. I didn't really know anything about them and somehow (this really makes no sense to me at all), I didn't find ANY info or forums except those on a cig-alike website
Anyway, I ended up going with a V2 Cigs cig-alike starter kit back in December and I was pretty happy with it. I read some about re-filling cartos and talked to someone I know on another forum about her setup (she had some sort of ego) and she recommend some juice vendors. In the process of looking at juice, I found ECF and eventually started looking at ego batteries.
I upgraded to an ego-c Twist kit in February, I think, and then to an iTaste SVD in April or May (whenever they were released). The iTaste is my go-to device now, usually with either a carto tank or an RBA.