See, I've never tried the Halo 2 with standard needles so it might react totally different running cartridges. I used an AXYS direct drive for a good while for my liner and loved how it ran traditional needles but didn't like how it ran with cartridges...I could be just super picky though. I've gotten so spoiled with the cartridge system I don't think I could go back. Hell, I would need to set up 2 machines to do a simple script tattoo now because I like going back through with like a bugpin 5 or 3 and really tightening up edges and whatnot. The Xion though has been a joy for me to work with. I run it with the 3.2 cam and am not one of those guys that like to run machines at crazy high voltages so it has been really easy to layer in color or black and grey without the skin getting close to that "fuck this I'm out" limit. Another plus I noticed with it is that every other tattoo machine I've used and liked, a few times a month I would get those clients that their skin type just sucks and no matter what you do you just can't get things as smooth as you're used to. The Xion has been consistent all across the board of the various skin types I have used it on, even the shitty ones, it still does it's job. I'm guessing this has to do with how smooth and precise their drive system is that pushes the carts. The drive bar is like this oversized hex shaped pin which I think helps to smooth the system out but I could be 100% full of shit because I am no engineer.