Not dumb question at all Jim. The bigger units are like the Chuck, the Silver Bullet and multiple other ones. Yes, we are talking about batteries here to a big extent.
The mods are larger, have longer battery life and in some cases, batteries can go all day or even longer. The larger size kinda turns off some new users and as one person said; the 510s are comfortably the size of regular analogs. A close proximity to what we all are use to in regular smoking.
Soon, I became impatient with the battery life with the 510s and the fact that either the battery or atomizers could burn out. I've actually lost only about 5 atomizers in the past 3 plus months of vaping, so that isn't bad.
My main point is with new users we could recommend something beside the 510s and possibly put them onto something that would last a long, long time. The Silver Bullet as an instance, is something I paid about $96.00 for plus the batteries and charger. We have a "sale" area here on ECF and if the person decided they did not enjoy vaping, they could easily recoup about 75% of their money on reselling. By the way, my first two 510 kits ran me about $150.00
I think the experience of each vaporers on here varies, and some may stick
to the 510s forever. I personally wanted more flavor and less hassle with batteries. Another poster here mentioned the only problem after getting a good mod is the eliquid and amen to that. That's a whole other subject.
This is such a new field of development and everyone is kinda feeling there
way through...I just hate to have an unnecessary expensive start when I
we can warn the newbies try "one" 510 to see if vaping is for you and if you see that it is; come back and look for a solid piece of equipment that can last and last.
Thanks again all, good info coming forth and I appreciate each of you for chiming in.