I got one of these a few weeks ago and I love it. Some of the weird things it does i.e. not turning on sometimes after a click of the switch seem to disappear when you use a protected sized 18650 as they are a bit bigger and fill the gap between the spring and back button contact a little more snugly. I'm using a Ultrafire 3000mah protected cell and it was a bit of a fight to get in in the case but it fits nicely and lasts a long time!
I too notice that this red burns very quickly in comparison even to my 8x MXDL blu-ray build with glass lens!? Which needless to say pisses me off a bit but hey, it was a great deal then right? $54 for a high powered red burner with focus and water proofing.
Also this unit is not nearly as big as it seems in the pix above in comparison to the mini blu-ray unit.