I had heard these were good OOB (out of the box), but then saw all the mods and had trouble with my first 2 (XL's, btw). But I've got my 3rd one Kickin .... on all but flavor strength (I'll fix that). The key seemed to be to fill it and let it SIT for HOURS. At least, that's what I ended up doing and it is working primo even with the original mouthpiece. I'm looking for cleaning tips now. Not good at getting the cup seal back on, so that might be an issue, but if I get this figured out, might get hubby and my mom back to vaping. We all tried it, but I'm doing the best and even I'm not 100% right now (3-4 analogs a day). They gave up because of the carto hassle.
A great OOB experience and longevity might bring them back.