Update [10/31/2016]:

I ended up not keeping this product. The 2nd unit actually did end up doing the modulation effect. So did the 3rd. I got in touch with the manufacturer to get some help on resolving the issue. They were pretty nice and said they tried to replicate the issue. They said they had never heard of this issue before in almost 30 years. I appreciate their willingness to help, but keeping the product seemed to risky on my part so I just decided to cut my ties with it. Maybe it was just the electricity at my house. I don't know. I needed something reliable for me. I ended up getting a Dr. Meter DC Power Supply and a Siglent Function Generator for somewhere near the same price.

Original Review:

I'll be blunt. I love this thing with all my heart. So many features for an electronics hobbyist all in one solid tank with beautiful big smooth knobs.

I'll be blunt again. I've just had to make my 2nd replacement request. It saddens me greatly: One, because I am excited to use the product to it's full potential and don't want to be away from it in my lab. Two, because I love amazon and don't like having to make expensive returns/replacements.

The first unit I received looked beautiful. I tested everything out at first, everything looked and sounded (there's a built in speaker on the unit) great! Then one day when building a simple speaker circuit, I noticed (literally heard) the function generator modulating like crazy. It didn't matter if it was on the sine, saw, or square wave setting. If I waited long enough it would screw up. This lead to the first replacement. :(

The second unit I received also looked amazing. First thing I checked was the function generator and it's stability meaning I didn't just do a 5 second test. No screw ups under open condition and also under various light and heavy loads. Great!!! I proceeded to check all the other functionalities very carefully. I had my fingers crossed that everything would be in perfect working order. I got to one of the last tests and that was checking the logic switches, which btw you can set the high level as a solid 5V rail or a self set Vcc Rail. When set to 5V switch position, the rail was unstable and random intermittent opens would happen. The switch felt a little mechanically cheap or abused so maybe something wrong happened in production. I don't know. The point is that I'm going to be using this machine for very complex and sensitive digital/analog circuits and everything has to be working properly. Not to mention it is over 500 USD, so it wasn't exactly cheap. Sure everything has a tolerance, but a flimsy rail is unacceptable. This lead to the 2nd replacement. :(

So in sum, I really do love this thing and think it is an excellent product. However, as you can see from my review and another user's review, there are quality issues. I am hoping that the 3rd one will be in perfect working order. If it's perfect, I will easily give this thing a 5 star rating.

I have not purchased this but this is the exact unit that we use in school. I love learning on it. Everything feels solid on it and it's very easy to use. You will need to know what you are doing though. If you're just buying it to play around you will be disappointed because it's a learning tool.

I was rather excited at first when I ordered one of these as it looked like an awesome learning tool. So far the only learning I've done is regarding how Amazon's return process works. First once came and the second digit of the 7-segment display had a short somewhere and displayed 9 when it should have displayed 1 as well as a few other irregularities. Amazon was more than happy to take it back and replace it. The good news is the replacement has a working 7-segment display! The bad news...the logic probe is completely non-functional. I'm debating if I even want to bother with another replacement.

Update 1/3/2013:

The second replacement has arrived and thankfully is completely functional. I'm subsequently upgrading my review to 4 stars as I really do like the unit. The build quality in all of them felt very solid despite the two that were malfunctioning. I will add that the manual is poorly written with numerous typos and sections obviously missing. Following the checkout procedures was dodgy at best and had me questioning whether it was really defective or not. It had crossed my mind I might have simply misinterpreted the manual. The newer version of the manual on the manufacturer website was not any better. All in all I'd recommend this workstation since the working one is great and serves my hobbyist needs just fine. That being said if it weren't for Amazon's great return policy I would be thinking twice about recommending it after having to return two.