Just interested; how on earth did you manage to break the lid after 2 pots of paint?? They don't just 'fall off'!
I thought they were pretty ok aside from the whole batteries-falling-out-mid-game business.
I bought a 2nd hand one and used it for like, 3 years, and I'm pretty clumsy/heavy handed, and it's still 100% fine. Not as fast as the reloader, but then, the reloader breaks religiously every other time I use it or so whereas the egg is always fine as long as it has good batteries in.
Do the battery mod on it (solder snap-on connectors on in place of the other connectors), and get another lid/mend the one you have, and it'll serve you well 'till you can shift it for exactly the same price you bought it 2nd hand for (bought mine 3 years ago for £25, and could probably sell it for that now if I wanted to), and get a halo/reloader.