Pros : The reliable surface is easy to clean and safe with the potential of a scrape from the soldering iron. It is very nice to shake spare solder balls into the trash after finishing a piece. The flexible mat nicely channels the waste to go where you want it.
Cons : Your pieces must be large enough that you do not need to nail into the surface to secure them.
Other Thoughts : I bought three of them because I was doing large panels. I cannot believe how much I enjoyed working with this surface.