So basically it's another choice among many.
It's small though and made for expanding and you won't have to solder one of those tiny sensor chips yourself. Seems like a good middle ground between adopting ready-made products and complete DIY.
Kassen, did you get one in the mail? I thought Andy sent you one.
Sorry, no, I haven't yet received a package from him. I wondered about that a few days ago as I was thinking about trying some things with rotary encoders again.