i am a former genesis user. although i do bust one out here and there for certain juices. the flavor is simply untouchable for certain juices. it is night and day, not even a slight comparison in terms of flavor- for *certain* juices. these juices include rich, complex flavors. typically layered flavor profiles that include a savory component. your custards, your bakery flavors, even some tobaccos embody a sweet-and-savory vibe in my experience. cinnamon roll, apple pie, various peanut butter incarnations. if youre a Nite Lite Vapor fan, i would dive in head-first for a genny full of Bounty Hunter, Gold, or Tappules (and I do dive in. Boy do i dive in).
the flavor from mesh is pure and unadulterated. not only that, but it brings to life the subtle nuances that were intended to be tasted, yet fall flat on other wicking mediums.
however, i will add that the more basic flavors, like simple fruits and drink flavors for example, tend to be brought fully to life on something as easy as cotton. mesh accomplishes little more for these flavors as simple cotton is typically all it takes to bring these types of flavors out. going through the hassle of setting up a genny (especially for a new-to-genny user) for a basic flavor is a bit of a waste in my opinion. so i would use that as a big deciding factor.
another deciding factor is your style of vaping. if youre used to monster lung hits and are not open to a slower, mouth-to-lung style of hitting, gennys might not be for you. to get the ultimate full-saturation of vapor, a small air hole and slower draw style is preferred. sure you can drill out your genny and sure you can wrap your wick in such a way that prevents pre-mature drying from big lung hits. but to me those are tweaks that take away from the full genny experience. what youre left with is pseudo-genny/pseudo-rda "grey area" style vape. and again, for me- its not worth it.
what works best for me is a densely rolled #400 or #500 mesh wick, thinnish wire (30g give or take a gauge) or ribbon kanthal (0.8mm approx) metering around 1Ω. any lower and you begin to lose the flavor you worked so hard to obtain. same goes for the air hole size.
regarding your bulleted questions, my personal opinions are that almost any genny can be faithful. i was partial to my DID clone but it was one of if not the first genny clone so it had some workmanship issues, mainly the center pole and insulators. yet the flavor from that small top cap was remarkable. the iAtty also worked well for me, but again kind of a shitty clone with respect to the plated deck. the BLiSS was nice, but the air holes were too big. the Pulse G was pretty awesome. it had a chamber reducer or a dual coil option. the AGT is an awesome little genny but has a constricted deck that was a catch 22- small deck means small top cap but small top cap often means mega flavor. i expect the Sat22 to have solved this conundrum. another regarded genny would be the Karcken, but i personally have no experience with one. i will say this (and im sure youve heard it before) *any* proper genny can be the best. the build will dictate your performance much more than the genny itself. this is assuming of course that the genny doesnt have any design/manufacturing flaws.
regarding leaking, a properly set up genny will not leak. even with the fill screw removed (which is recommended). the wick needs to be dense enough to not allow liquid to flow through it like a straw, yet not too dense to where the liquid cannot penetrate it effectively. the latter is not easy to do by mistake. you have to really try to roll a wick thats too dense. my AGT for example has the fill screw removed and i can hold it upside down for any length of time and zero drops of liquid will leak out.
lastly, a big Yes- properly wicked gennys greatly surpass the Orchid (i dont have a Billow), Kayfun, Aqua, etc in terms of flavor- for the right juice. some juices simply will not taste better no matter what you do because they are simple juices without much depth.
