$50 is also what a Behringer Ultraptach costs new. Anybody knows any reason NOT to use that one?
The Rean on sale on eBay right now seems to be balanced, which is nice, but this is what someone called "Plastic Alien" has to say about comparing them:
"When I got overly stuffed up with the reliability problem of my Re'An 48 patch-bay (damn those cracks and signal losses !!!!) I looked around if some new pro patch-bays have hit the market and I stumbled over the Behringer Ultra Patch modules: Incredible: the same product but two times cheaper ! Unbelievable, there must be something weird in the offer... I decided to go and check by myself and I must admit that Behringer has again hit very hard with a real quality product. The 1U 48 point bay is compact and sturdy (nothing to do with my half enclosed Re'an...) and all imaginable routing schemes could be used without un patching thanks to individual sliders !!! Ok it wasn't balanced but who cares for the price and for a home studio use ! We have so few balanced machines and cables anyway.... This is the years home-studio utility product and I bought two of them just to make sure I could patch anything without bothering. Since then, I haven't got any crackles or pops on my audio signals unlike my more professional, expensive and faulty Re'an patch-bay.... Behringer are the only on who have demonstrated than cheap doesn't always mean crap...."