I half agree, Rich.  Hobby CNC's boards, stepper motors and kits made it possible for me to get involved in CNC without breaking the bank.  Overall, I've been quite happy with the value for the money.  Except for my choosing to use current reduction to keep the motors cooler and putting up with the intermittent lost steps, everything has worked just the way it was described.  I do wish Dave would be more willing to entertain customer suggestions and give his customers the options that are out there from other users, but for the money, there's not too many better "starter" approaches.