Thanks all, glad we've gotten a laugh from it
I'll keep an eye out on eBay for used branded stuff; there's obviously a wealth of the same shyte as the first one available for cheap but I'm assuming they would probably die a similar death. I've had some decent 'dumb' tools from aliexpress like collets / drills / cutters etc which have been fine so I suppose it's just a matter of learning what's useable and what to avoid
Thanks again
AliExpress is good for buying cheap tools but you often get what you pay for. With electronics be careful, especially with anything meant for high power - there are a lot of products that are literal deathtraps there, waiting to electrocute you or to explode in your face. Under-rated components, poor quality components, often counterfeit components, ignorance of all common sense safety standards, if it has firmware, the firmware was written by some monkey in a jungle and not by an engineer, knock-offs of knock-offs with increasingly worse construction, etc.
It is possible to find decent products but be very careful about doing your homework - look for reviews, ask around whether someone else is using that specific model and don't buy things nobody seems to have hands-on experience with. Also before plugging anything in I will take it apart and inspect it for any obvious problems - like the Atten hot air stations where some came miswired with the metal nozzle live instead of it being grounded.
And, even better, if it concerns mains, just buy the device locally from a reputable vendor where it needs to comply with your local electrical standards, you get a warranty on it and you also get to sue them if it burns your house down. You will pay more but you likely won't have these problems.
BTW, eBay is not any better - usually the same sellers are in both places and you will find also people who import stuff from AliBaba/AliExpress and then resell it for inflated prices on eBay.