After 8 years of dealing with a cheap $5 walmart soldering iron that burned through tips like woodworkers burn through glue (yeah, I'm a woodworker ;p), I decided it was time to get something more reliable, something I could get more consistent results with. A web search lead me to the Weller WES51 and Hakko FX-888. Both have excellent reviews, and I'm sure I would have been happy regardless of which I chose, but at the time of purchase, the Weller WES51 had a $20 mail in rebate promotion going on, so that's the path I walked.I placed my order and grabbed a few extra tips as well, since I was used to burning through them so fast with my cheap iron. That was an unnecessary precaution, as it turns out. I've been using the WES51 for several months now and I'm still on the original tip, and it is showing no signs of burning out or otherwise needing to be replaced. More on performance in a bit though; I want to first go through my initial impressions from receiving the WES51.So once it showed up two days after ordering (I <3 amazon prime), it was time to open up daddy's new toy. ;pIt comes packaged in a thick cardboard box with all the necessary info on it, and inside that box is another thick cardboard box with the station, soldering iron, stand, and tip attached to the iron. The packaging is excellent. It's very ship friendly.IN appearance it's a very simple, no frills soldering station. Everything about it is very basic and simple. The color of the base may turn off some buyers, but I like the color blue, even if the particular shade used isn't my favorite. The power unit is pretty heavy, and has rubber feet so it doesn't dance around your work area. The stand is simple as well, and also decently weighted and with rubber feet so it also avoids the workdesk mambo. I love how thin the soldering iron is, and that it has a nice, soft rubber grip, so during those all night soldering jobs your hands won't become fatigued. The cord for the iron is silicon coated to prevent burning if the tip contacts the cord. This is a great feature and what I consider a necessity on a high caliber soldering station.The power unit has minimal controls; just the temperature control knob, on/off switch, connection for the soldering iron, status light and temperature lock area (I've never used this so I can't comment on it's function).In use, the soldering station works great. It heats up very quickly; I just did a quick test and counted 38 seconds from hitting the power switch until the green status light was blinking rapidly, indicating the iron was ready for action. I've found that it maintains temperature during use, even during long periods of desoldering using copper desoldering braid. Properly taken care of, the tip lasts a very long time. As indicated earlier, I've been using the same tip for several months on a number of different soldering jobs and it's held up great. I keep the tip clean, and add a bit of solder after using it to prevent oxidation and it still performs as perfectly as the day I got it.This is a very reliable, solidly build soldering station. I slap myself for not dropping the coin on this earlier than I did. The frustration that could have been avoided is amazing.One thing I did, was not even bother to use the sponge that came with it. Instead I opted to buy and use a brass ball cleaner. I found that these do a much better job at cleaning the tip during use and don't "shock" the tip like a water dampened sponge can. AN unexpected advantage is that it fits perfectly where the sponge is supposed to sit and doesn't move during use. See the user pic I uploaded showing it in place.I'm extremely satisfied with my purchase and highly recommend the Weller WES51 to anyone needing a solid, reliable soldering station.