Height isn't problem in every case and may be an advantage in some cases. It really depends upon what you are doing at the moment.
Panavises are popular because they solve a lot of problem in a dedicated electronics lab. Personally I think everybody should have one, and that vise should be supplemented by others. They do need a base and I solved that problem by mounting mine on an old castiron barbell weight, a disk in the 5 to 10 pound range can work well. The idea is enough weight to stabilize the vise without making it difficult to move around. Since castiron is easy to drill and tap you could mount whatever you want on the disk as third hands & etc.
Panavises have their niche to fill but it is very easy in a home shop to need more and one of the first vises to consider is a solidly mounted bench vise (aka machinist vise or mechanics vise). If you expect to do any fabrication work a firmly mounted bench vise is a requirement in my mind as it can hold materials for cutting, bending, drilling and other fabrication chores in a safe manner. This can be something as simple as putting square and round holes in a project box. There are safe ways around a bench vise but many people find the unsafe methods and usually injured because of it. I just consider a bench vise to be a good investment if you ever branch out beyond a tight focus on electronic circuits.
Now height can be an issue so don't get me wrong there. The drill press example that someone offered above is one approach. However if you spend some time with catalogs or online sites that cater to machinist and mechanics you can find all sorts of vises in every price range you can imagine. Some of these can be very low profile and so small that they can fit within the jaws on a Panavise. Some search words that might expose you to the options: "screwless vise", "drill press vise", "machinist vise", "tool makers Vise", "angle vises" and a whole lot more.
In their cheap from angle vises can be very useful as they offer positioning that a flat mounted vise can not. However they do sit higher than say a standard drill press vise. These vises can become very expensive especially if they morph into what is called a sine vise. For a home shop you would want to look at imported offerings aimed at wood workers and hobby metal workers. They can be handy when you need to hold things at an angle and do so in a way more rigid than a Panavise. Here is one variant:
https://littlemachineshop.com/products/product_view.php?ProductID=3643&category=1963256913 These can be sturdy enough to pass as a bench vise (a hold over until a proper vise can be had) if clamped down with C-Clamps. Trying to do this with a Panavise is abuse of the vise in my mind.
Panavises are great when used within their limits so certainly get one and a decent base. However the need for something that is sturdy can easily crop up, even in a tightly focused electronics shop. If you DIY much of anything you will need a good bench vise, which can save you a lot of grief. I don't look at this as an area where one devices can fit every need you might have. Beyond that different people have different interests within the electronics hobby so I could be completely wrong suggesting any one avenue.
Look at it this way i you run into these guys that do their own fishing lures you may very well find a panavise in their shop and nothing else. If their need is so tightly focused other larger vises may not be of any use to them. So how tightly focused is your electronics interests?
So many options and considerations.
Hadn't even considered the height problem.. thanks all for your links and ideas.
Gotta think about this s'more..
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