ERSA and PACE are not very popular, and I've only seen one PACE from my boss's old collection, and not a single ERSA.
Metcal is quite popular in my university undergrad labs
TS: With that budget, Did you look at Pace ? I have an old MBT250, (the black one) I use it for professional repairwork, not production. I bought it something like 10 years ago used ex military. Just because it had the (SX70) desolder iron and was cheap. My main rig was a WS81, and I still like that a lot. Also because it is analog. Just turn a knob, no fancy menus.
But the Pace turned out to be so easy to use and performed great. All the theoretical downsides turned out to be no issue.
Tip wetting is no problem. Besides that, they are cheap and last a long time. Tips have a hard life here because I do a lot of industrial repair (conformal coatings, old tin, dirt etc) Wetting has never been a problem. If I abused a tip to much I use Weller tip-reactivator. I bought that for my DIY custom tips (If I need a very special shape I make sometimes tips from brass)
Never had problems with not enough power. I have it standard at 320 and maybe once a month I set it at 370, I can do much more.
After wasting 900 euros on a Metcal I upgraded my Pace with a new solder handpiece (the big one because I like my Weller for the microstuff) Not really needed but I wanted a new one because the old one had become very dirty and it had not yet the silicon wire. And a new SX-100 with the tips that are trumpet like on the reservoir side, and that one sucks, but in the good way
It has no problems doing what Esra did in that video. I desolder a lot, never counted it but I think 50 to 100 joints a day and sometimes much more.
In 1 year my 2 Metcal pumps used 3 membrames, I cleaned the Pace pump 2 times in 10 years and both times it was not really needed. Not even signs of wear.
The stands are fine, I toss the handpieces in and grab them without looking. Tip changes with a screw and Pace tweezer like tiptool sounds like something from the dark ages but it simply works. No problem in all those years. I switch tips not much, something like 2 times a day for the solder handpiece but something like 5 to 10x a day for the SX-100. They have great working cardboard reservoirs for the SX100 but I use the glass one (that comes also standard) Works good enough for me. I clean it so often it became a routine and 1 minute of time.
They still sell parts for my MBT. When I was in doubt between a JBS or a new Pace (not because my Pace had problems, just because it was old and the SX-70 worn. I did not know there was a SX100 for my station. After the 900 euro Metcal disaster I contacted Pace for advise. He told me the SX100 was worth the money (and he was right) but no need to buy a new station or a new pump. He also advised me in several mails about the best tips for me. I bought those too and he was right again.
It not fancy looking gear with nice displays, it is just build like a brick to last forever and do it's job as easy as possible for the user.