Theres nothing wrong with them as long as you take care, dont run them empty (switch them off if you cant be bothered refilling). My 3 main-use tanks and their smokers are doing fine, I have 3 of the orange-clear type non-proportional.

When they do break, they're easy to fix anyway, a tiny bit of Nichrome wire (cheap!) and a 12v PC fan and you're away again, in near-silence.

To hook it up in a Tamiya just run a switched cable from the battery. Not having a DMD/MFU in my hands I couldnt tell you how to get it to turn on when you start the tank (ignition), but the switched direct to battery method will work fine.