I've found that my JBC tips last a long time. I'm still on my original tips, and I probably do more soldering than most, unless you're doing production soldering every day. I added it up once, and the wear seems to be pretty much in line with the life estimates on their website.
Personally, I'd simply tell them I'm not that familiar with their current lineup, and I'd ask them to use their judgement and send me something that would impress me and my viewers. IMHO it's all about recovering from a some missteps and quality problems (especially their tips, which drove me away to Hakko). I'd give them a shot to show me what they've got and win me back. The rework stations look pretty neat, but I don't think they really incorporate their latest, sexy technologies, whatever that is, so I'd want to give them a chance to show off what they can bring to the table moving forward, and they're probably in the best position to judge what exactly that is.
Just my $.02.
edit:
FWIW, I think there are a good number of people like me that are hand soldering products (often very difficult to build products) that are always looking for something better in our solder stations. Better recovery...better tip geometries, more comfortable handles (especially ones that don't heat up), nice features like simple tip changes. We have no brand loyalty. We just want to make perfect joints as quickly and easily as possible so we don't have to do so much rework. This is a nice chance for Weller to start winning us back.