Made in the u.s. doesn't automatically mean 'better'. Asia certainly proved that with the car market when nissan, toyota and honda went from crappy little imports that sounded like lawnmowers missing a muffler to higher end sought after vehicles with high resale value. We make plenty of garbage in the u.s. and some of the 'quality' things the u.s. does make like mag lights they can't even claim 'made in the u.s.' because of one funky little part that isn't even available in the u.s.
Even a lot of u.s. designed mods and atties are sent overseas to be built. I checked the reddit ecig area, went through about 8 consecutive pages. The two people mentioning mod issues by name were both sigelei. One said that an alien caught fire from a reputable source. The user continued to use the mod after the screen died and there was glowing from behind the screen. Mmhmm, user error. Do they keep driving when there's steam coming from under their hood til the motor seizes and blows?
Another said it was sparking and burning, then edited and said -
"EDIT 2: Swapped out the tank. Was definitely an Atty problem
EDIT 3: I fixed it by fiddling with the bottom of the atomizer. It was causing the short. The mod is fine dont not consider it because of my user error"
Another said their mod had been 'acting funny' (no further clarification) but they popped fresh batteries into it and continued to use it damaged - then smelled something that smelled like burning.
Another said that their mod started heating up and when they opened it the batteries were bubbled up and vented. Supposedly they used the batteries from the 'kit' however far as I know, the alien kit doesn't come with batteries. I did find someplace selling batteries with the kit, efests. They were charging internally.
Another said theirs went up in smoke in their car when plugged into the car charger and stated 'yes i knew this shouldn't be used'. So they figured it was a bad idea, did it anyway and bad things happened. They even finished up their post with a single word "Shocking". How ironic.
Another said they plugged the mod into their pc to charge it up and then booted their pc. The pc wouldn't boot and the mod fried, after they unplugged the mod the pc booted ok. Not sure who would plug something in to charge from the pc before firing it up, seems it got a healthy boost of misdirected power.
Finally one that mentions an autofire issue.
Another autofiring issue, but this time they say when they took it back to the store they found juice had flooded everywhere into the 510.
Someone mentioned flames coming out of their tank air holes, not the mod after several bouts of incorrect resistance readings jumping and the mod saying 'don't abuse products'. The mod warned them there was an issue, they kept pushing it without tending to the issue and somehow got fire (likely from a short internally in the tank/coil). But the thread title said 'smok alien problem & flames' so if you don't read their post, it may cause poor assumptions.
I could go on, I didn't cherry pick but I read straight through 200 posts when searching /r/electronic_cigarette/ for 'smok alien'. Many of these with the exception of one appear to be user error. People continuing to use something when it's not acting right etc. I bought an electric heater once that I returned as faulty, the plug was getting way too hot at the outlet. I didn't wait for the damn thing to catch fire, common sense intervened and said 'uh, something isn't right here - maybe I should stop using it'. I don't care what product it is or who makes it.. if it's a washing machine and there's a funky clunking sound coming from it I don't keep using it until the thing flies apart or attempt to power it like the Griswold's xmas lights then when it melts down be like 'oh well my shit melted.. yea I probably shouldn't have used 9 extension cords and 3 4way splitters held together with duct tape'.
Mods are no different, they're not toys. The push a lot of power in a small package. There's a reason they tell people not to leave them unattended just like most items where there's potential danger. I wish it was more plug and play, idiotproof etc and that every product always worked as intended. That would be bliss but it's not realistic. Folks have to be able to save them from themselves sometimes.
I've made poor choices, but I own them. If I use a power saw without safety glasses and get a wood chip in my eye, well that's on me. I don't run to a forum and immediately bitch like 'omg omg, you won't believe what a piece of shit this thing is. I was using it with the safety guard pulled off and no safety glasses and shit got in my eye - and it hurt'. Then 50 other people read it and run around like chickens with their head cut off screaming what a pile of crap it is.
My guess is there's been a change of heart for the op, just a month ago they listed smok (everything) as the ideal mod for trendy vapers. Yet aliens have had random issues since their release like a lot of other mods in the same price range, sigelei, wismec etc.