You got 3 choices.
A) the MZ. Awesome wood, excellent customer service and no waiting. IMO, the most artistic piece of them all. Plus, I think Rick is a regular old school guy in a seemingly rural town, reminds me of home in some ways. This is a plus for ME.
Cons are controversial but ambiguous: metal toxicity (lead in brass) and poor heat retention (mind you, this is hearsay, the heat thing, but IMO seems very probable)
Neither have been proven. Neither have been disproved. So, whatever. Do your own research regarding this. I am not concerned with lead, personally, but am concerned if those heating issue reports are true to all units (since these are handmade units, none of them are identical).
B) the WDZ. no wait time. no metal toxicity or heat retention. excellent customer service.
The only con I can think of are aesthetic in nature. Todd is a business man. Rick (MZ) and Tom (PD) are craftsmen (imo).
Another con may be that Todd is relatively new and does not have a history of satisfied customers like Rick or Tom. I am, however, one of his customers and have bugged him many times for the smallest of things and while he may not reply immediately, I always get answered. So, FWIW.
Another con might be that Todd copied the PD design. This might be an ethical issue for you. Although, there have been comments made that Todd made improvements to the design. I, for one, have found little evidence to back those comments up. Either way, I do not care about things like these, may those whose incomes are affected by this make the legal or moral calls. I am a consumer, without conscience.
C) the PD Pandora. Available now. No wait list. The 'safe' choice. What that means is, when compared to purported toxicity problems in the MZ and Todd's relatively 'new product' status and subsequently fewer service level and/or product reviews, the PD has no reported issues, whether real or imagined, both on the functional and interpersonal ends of the product. Basically, if you get a PD there are NO questions about safety or customer service, period. (well, unless folks start talking of hexavalent or whatever chromium again
)
A con might be that you have to put it together yourself, but I don't find this to be a con, moreso an opportunity to learn.
One thing that MAY be a con is the price of the pandora. I do NOT know how much it costs, but if it is the same or nearly the same as the PD, then that's a con for me (since the pandora does require the consumer to more involved in order to start vaping). I just bring this up-- hopefully someone else (even you!) can clarify
Though, if one is already set on a PD the price difference between 'dora and the regular may or may not matter.
I hope that was subjective.. whoops.. objective enough.
I got a wdz. I love it. And then I found a second hand MZ. It is in the mail. I'm happy
