My experience of the REAL is very similar. I really enjoy using it, but I'm out of filters now.
You said that the coil doesn't always heat up and what not. The problem mostly is with the filters and they don't let enough air through to activate the sensor which turns the battery on which heats the coil. There is a major performance increase if you poke a couple more holes in the filter before use. This is such an easy problem to remedy and have no doubts that they will remedy this.
Other than that a very enjoyable product and I will definitely be using mine (not so frequently) probably 1 filter every other day or so. I don't want to make it a necessity, I already drink enough.
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