Surface Mount Reworking - Hot Air Stations (Recommendations?)

[Halite]

Okay so I'm looking for a hot air reworking station and am hoping some of you guys who post / lurk here would have some advice.

I recently started doing component level repairs on various devices, but have ran into a bit of a problem; it's not schematics and diagrams for starters. I'm in need of a decent quality Hot Air Station, go figure.
I'm willing to sink in a few hundred pounds of wonga to get one, yet I cannot find any resellers here in the UK that actually sell genuine products. Mostly cheap Chinese knockoffs that cannot get to temperatures hot enough to actually do any kind of work without sending an entire PCB to hell that is the browning of the PCB. Shite.

I've been using mostly Hakko products where I can but yet again they seem to be hard to come by in the UK. (I ain't forking out £1000 plus import taxes and other crap, I'm on minimum wage but have set aside some money to invest in this gear)

Recommendations on a good brand, fire away. Price is not a concern if I can get it in this country, I'll pull some money from somewhere if I have to.

Edit: Also while I'm at it, need a microscope of some description to replace this multiple lenses setup I'm using.

[nikomo]

I've honestly managed fine with my WEP 858D, but I haven't done BGA with it.
Standard TQFP/SOIC/SSOP/TSSOP etc. desoldering works easy with the 858D, and I seriously recommend either soldering with an iron for those packages (flux on pins, ball of solder on tip, drag over, touch any bridges that have formed), or stencil + place, and then some sort of oven setup (if you're working large quantity).

Planes are problematic because of the high thermal capacity - I'd consider pairing a cheap hot air station (like the 858D) with a preheater - if you preheat the board, the ground planes can't sink the heat you apply to the small IC with the hot air. The temperature difference will also be smaller, reducing thermal shock.