On several threads people have expressed the opinion that Germany is not a good place to do your PhD ... have so many of you out there had bad experiences??? I'd say it depends on the lab (and group leader) and not so much on the location.

I agree. Though I haven't done my PhD in Germany, I worked as undergrad in a lab there, and it was great.
Being abroad brings some extra problems though (language, funding, far from home etc). Maybe that's part of the explanation?