I ran a 25% perlite and 75% coco my last grow. It was my first successful grow and I was really pleased with the results. So much so that I'm not going to mess with what worked for me.
My previous grow was Miracle Grow soil my wife had. I did get a nice big plant that turned out to be a male. :-(
I picked up a Vapolution 2.0 recently that I've been really happy with. It has an all glass vapor path. I got it directly from the manufacturer with some accessories for $144. I prefer the All-In-Wonder bowl to the hose for hits. It heats up fairly quickly.