It was a great idea -- using the rework station is so much easier than a soldering iron for components with multiple pins (IC's, pin headers, led's). I've destroyed many a multi-pin component trying to remove them from a circuit board with my soldering iron of choice; but with hot air, solder in the vicinity of the hot air stream simply melts and stays melted. Meanwhile I just slide the component out of the board. No mess, no fuss, no destroyed component & circuit board.

I picked up the Aoyue 852 from sparkfun, because I've ordered a bunch of things from them over the years and figured it would be an easy place to get nozzles, etc as I needed them. Reading up on forums, people have strong feelings against a lot of the lower end rework stations because they're seen as blatant ripoff's of groundbreaking rework stations (Hakko 850). People also think highly of the Wellers, etc. Too bad they're all expensive ($800 and up, not counting extra nozzles).

My Opinion:
Well, yes it's a blatant ripoff of the more expensive rework stations, but I really can't justify spending so much for a soldering station. That said, it's been working pretty well for me.

Other Notes:
When you turn off the unit, the air keeps blowing until the heating element cools down, and then the air pump turns off too.

p.s.
I've also had a fun time melting wax with the hot air stream -- it's really too simple.