A lot coil/wick designs is subject to personal taste and vaping style so what may be nirvana for one can be totally unacceptable for another. Actually that's one of the benefits of RBA's, you can tailor them to your individual needs.
I use three ERA's and one A7. (I don't yet have one of Rob's RBA's since I spent half my life and entire fortune searching for and buying the ERA's. I won't make that mistake again.)
When I first transitioned to RBA's my mind set was very similar to yours, 'the more wick the better, less squonking and more vaping time'. For me, just for me, may work out differently for other people, that system has had far less than desirable results. I've found filling the entire RBA space with wicking material, (I've used every material with the exception of SS, i.e. different thicknesses of silica, cotton yarn, cheesecloth and bamboo thread), allows it to quickly over saturate which diminishes both flavor and vapor production. The decrease initially led me to believe that the wick was running dry and I would squonk again which, of course, worsened the problem.
I have now learned to make my wicks considerably smaller, doubling over what ever material I'm using and inserting it into the coil and then leaving just enough of a tail to lay in front of, or near the feed hole of either RBA. This has resulted in more flavor and vapor. (Since all the material I use wicks very well too much of it swells beyond usefulness and tend to block air circulation.)
As I mentioned, I've yet to use Rob's RBA but one advantage that is very obvious is the distance between the positive and negative posts. This allows more options when building your coil while still achieving your target ohms. If your goal is a LR coil the use of thicker wire will allow for more wraps in that much greater space which will result in greater surface area over the wick and thus more vapor and flavor. for a SR or HR coil simply change the wire gauge, (or use more wraps that is allowed for with the greater area), while still taking advantage of the greater surface area.
One of the reasons I got away from cartos and don't use tanks with filler material is that I feel the filler either mutes or actually changes the taste of the juice. I much prefer the cleaner taste of either a pure dripping atty or a RBA. With the 'deep well' of the A7 you certainly could incorporate some type of 'filler', (you have to be careful since the cap threads on the inside of the base), and allow your wicking material to be recharged from that but it really wouldn't be any different than just using a bigger wick. (That's what I did originally but again, I found the over saturation to be detrimental as opposed to beneficial.)
SS wicks can be used with either Rob's RBA, the ERA or the A7 so that's really not a problem. The wider post design on Rob's will allow for a larger wick/coil however. This may or may not be a benefit to you, depending on your design. (If you've never used SS and want to try it OKC vapes has pretty good prices on 400 and 500 mesh. You need very little to determine if you like it or not. If you enclose it in a silica sleeve you won't have to oxidize it, otherwise you will.)
I hope I haven't totally confused you, I tend not to communicate thoughts very clearly. What ever you end up doing, your first, second or even third try at wick/coil building will probably not be totally successful. it will take some experimentation to find the combination that hits your individual sweet spot. Once you find it you'll know... the smile on your face will let everyone else know too.
Good luck.
Jack
My coworkers are noticing the happy slurping sounds from my office.
