Electric Drum Kit: Effective Replacement?

(Image courtesy of drumza.com)

I recently purchased an Ion IED12 Pro Electronic drum kit. It seemed like a good choice, electronic drum kits have headphones so you can plug in and enjoy/practice enjoying your drumming without risking the wrath of the neighbor with the noise complaint. There is a huge range of prices that you can pay. I shot for the lower end because, as a musician, I'm about as broke as can be without being homeless, the kit only cost me $250. If you have more to offer than that you can buy kits for as much as $2,000. But should you?

Obviously I can't say much for those higher end kits but I must say this about the Ion drum kit that I do have, it's passable.

The Good:

• It feels pretty good, not the same as a real drum kit but if you've ever played Rockband it won't feel too alien to you. 
• The obvious quiet factor. It's refreshing not to get complaints. 
• The crash is fairly intense and comes through almost as though you're playing a real kit.
• Price: I didn't have to trade my kidneys to afford it. 
• For newbie drummers the preset songs are a good way to get the feel of jamming with a band.
• The build in metronome with adjustable time signature was a nice touch (but a lack of it would've been a major red flag) 
• The 10th kit setting has a record scratching instead of the crash when hit. Not necessarily the best thing musically but I had a hell of a time with it.

The Bad:

• If you want to hear your snare, you're out of luck, especially when plugged into speakers you can barely hear it. 
• The pedals are unresponsive, especially for the high hat control. Often times you'll press down on the trigger and tilt to one side and not "closing" the hat. 
• There is no real tactile feedback with the foot pedal, since it's not a hammer hitting the bass drum as per a real kit (this is fairly Ion specific, more expensive kits have a drum trigger for the bass drum as with the other drums). 
• On a variety of kits the toms are too low as well. 
• Speaker quality overall is poor. 
• No easy way to record directly into a computer. 
• Workmanship is shoddy and is dependent on the assumption that you're never gonna move the thing again.

 So the final verdict is this: should you have headphones and harbor no illusions about touting this thing to a band practice or (Atheos forbid) a gig, then you should be reasonably happy. With headphones and practicing on your own this kit works fine enough and is a fairly practical alternative to a full acoustic kit. Plus for the price you'd get the acoustic alternative is terrible, poor cymbals, shoddy drum heads and appalling to look at. So if you're looking for a kit to practice on indoors and quietly, then this is a decent buy.