I recently bought the Weller WES51 and it works great, plus it's from a reputable company.
Amazon.com: Weller WES51 Analog Soldering Station, Power Unit, Soldering Pencil, Stand and Sponge: Home Improvement
I got some of the $7.99 ones in the mail a week or two ago. I haven't time to do some real tests on them but with my 75 mW greenie, 10 mW comes through. Yes, it was measured with an LPM.
Yeah, I can vouch for that. I never fried a diode but my first DIY build I made an accidental solder bridge and turned the 80 mw bluray I was building into an 8 mw bluray pointer. What I never realized was how small the driver (12 mm x 9mm) actually is. Make sure you can solder small connections...