Well, regarding the whole modding the deck vs trimming the strips thing, I think that modding the deck provides somewhat better results, but they are pretty close. For me, it was more that the whole process of trimming the mesh strips is tedious, but I can understand that taking a dremel to your deck can be daunting. As for trimming the strips, one way is to just trim the sides so that it can fit, but for me that kind of defeats the purpose as you don't increase the surface area vs the GV strips by much. What I preferred doing before modding the deck was to grab a pair of nail clippers and trim like the corners ever so slightly, like one mesh grid square's worth of trimming in each corner is enough. Then they slot in perfectly and behave more or less exactly like the modded deck. You should try both ways, see which you prefer.
I also just rewicked my Zeus and got some picks. On the first one you can see the cotton in place, cut to length and fluffed up.
Then you can see what I meant about tucking in as much as will go in the wicking ports, while leaving the rest alone.
I then held one side in place and pushed the "spare" cotton in towards the coil, forcing it beneath it.
I then juiced it up with some VnV Urban Apple and it is delightful. Smooth draw, no burnt/dry hits, no spitback, no nothing. Brilliant.
PS :
@JohnNada In these pictures I'm using one of Wotofo's bigger strips, the NexMesh Turbo. It doesn't really fit per se, but with the modded deck it goes in there and doesn't touch anything it shouldn't, so with a bit of careful wicking it turned out ok. And it vapes fantastic, IMO much better than the normal OFRF A1 strips. More dense and flavorful vapor and a warmer vape. But again, these things are damn huge. Can't tell with the cotton in place, I should've taken a pic before placing the cotton to show you guys how ridiculous it looks. Too bad they didn't make them fit the Profile M.