I don't want to criticize anyone's preference in enail controllers but I just went though this.
I looked at the American made like D-nail and Errlectric and wondered why they were so much more expensive than pretty much all others. Then I got into an education on what goes into an enail controller (and it ain't much) and concluded NO...you are just paying a shit load of money for the name.
All that is in a good enail controller is a combination control module/display, hopefully an external solid state relay (SSR), and power input and coil output plugs. Pretty much it.
I don't think ANY of these companies who sell enails are having their own control module built...they aren't actually contracting for custom silicon or anything. They use commonly available industrial temperature control assemblies such as Omron and others. They may tweek the firmware, and certainly the configuration settings, but they are buying what constitutes 90% of the controller function.
If you want American, and I understand wanting to be able to reach and communicate with customer support, then look at the Auber RDK-300 or RDK-200. Assembled in Georgia and Auber Instruments makes a whole hell of a lot more than enails. They are an instrumentation company and actually document their controller with inclusive and fairly complete manuals in readable English (wow, what a shocker that is). They even document the pin assignments on their coil output (and they use the commonly used D-nail pin outs of 1 & 2 = AC power, 3 & 4 are thermocouple +/-, and 5 is ground).
Their best controller goes for $135 plus another $55 if you want a coil. So, $190 with free shipping (I think) gets you everything but your nail or banger (and personally, while not the most experienced guy on this board by a long shot, but I love my CCA 710 Liger Banger 2.0)
http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=484
http://www.cca710.com/liger/
Gimido is Chinese and their Best Dabs unit uses an Omron E5CC and hopefully uses the right version that drives an external SSR. I have not heard of problems with Gimido. Warning: Their Best Dabs unit uses a mini-XLR connector for the coil which means you will be buying coils from them forever as I could not find any mini-XLRs from other sources.
http://www.e-nail.org/GIMIDO-Best-Dabs-Enail.html
The Gimido Nice Dabs unit, however, offers an option for full size, 5-pin XLR, and I believe that this is what you want as its the most common interface. Its $10 extra for 5 pin full size XLR
http://www.e-nail.org/Safe-Enail-Units/GIMIDO-Nice-Dabs-Enail.html
I also have a Greenlight Vapes G-9 which is another Chinese made unit. It sported an Omron E5CC-QX) (which is the right PID control assembly for use with an SSR). But there was no SSR in the box, its temperature stability sucked, they actually soldered wires to the Omron screw down terminals. A friend of mine basically had to pull it completely apart and rewire the box while adding an SSR. Its on its way back to me and I understand it works flawlessly now. But if you aren't into reading tech manuals and maybe doing a bit of soldering, this approach ain't for you.
NOW, I do know very experienced dabbers on this board who have G9's that were properly built and configured. They were just a bit more than I paid via Alibaba but the boxes were right as rain. I just don't trust a company that would put the same model number on two different boxes with one of them being woefully inadequate.
If you go with Greenlight...or are interested....this is the one to get. I paid $135 for the unit (without coil) via Alibaba. Another member paid around $185 or so and not sure of the source. As you can see, their best unit shown below. This looks exactly like the unit I received and exactly like the unit that others on this board received, but mine was basically completely hosed up. Note, this model does have the Omron E5CC which is a very good PID temp controller.
http://www.greenlightvapes.com/#!product-page/gba22/484f992c-b32c-cc98-1bc4-e3b5fc13fc14
Now, there is another source to mention. That is New Vape in Boyton Beach, FL. I love New Vape, I like the company, I like all of the products that I have purchased from them, I like the guy that owns it....very nice fellow. American company, a machine & tool company really who moved into vape products when the great recession hit their normal markets. Their metal stuff is superb. I know nothing about their electronics though, to include their enail offering.
I note that that don't offer much in the way of description of who makes their PID assembly or any performance figures (none of them really publish expected performance numbers). So, hard to tell. NOTE: however, New Vape only offers flat coil or 16mm coil models and they do NOT use the standard XLR connector so again you will be limited in sources for coils.
http://www.newvape.com/digital-enail-9089/
Lastly, I wanted a company I could communicate with. I sent a contact form email to Gimido with a few questions and never received an answer. I sent a contact form email to HighFive, which is an American company, and never received an answer. I will not again buy an enail from a company I cannot easily and reliably communicate with. This may not be a big factor to you but it is to me...particularly after the G9 fiasco.
If it were me, starting out from scratch and based on the sources I know about, I would buy the Auber RDK-300 again. But, different models, different features, different price points....all available as we are all different people.
Hope this is helpful
Cheers
