The ‘quality’ of the iron does not matter that much, but very important is the type of bit, real cheap irons have copper bits, which last only a few minutes and are not very good. Soldering iron bits really need to be of the iron coated type, as used by most of the Weller and Antex irons.
As for Weller ions there is no doubt these are one of the best. Back in the days when I was in electronics design and manufacturing (amusement machines, BBC Micro etc) Weller irons were the only ones used by everyone repairing and building stuff. The temperature was controlled by the actual bit fitted with a magnet arrangement so you could be sure that everyone was using the correct temperature for the type of cored solder in use.
For years I had an Antex TCS50 type solder station which were in the £200+ region. Problem here was not the cost of the iron but the bits. With surface mount parts more widespread, you end up using needle point bits which are not iron coated so they don’t last long.
The Yihua irons I mentioned before are not of Antex or Weller quality, but they are OK to use and of course a lot lot cheaper. There is a large variety of good quality bits available, including the needle point copper ones that are very cheap.
I have two irons on my desk these days, a Yihua 937D 45W and a Yihua 926 60W, both are temperature controlled ones. I see no need to use a more expensive ‘quality’ brand.
The 937D has a needle point copper bit fitted for surface mount work. The 926 iron has a much larger pointed iron coated bit fitted for more general work. So I switch on whichever iron I need. If I need a larger chisel bit, say for soldering XT60 connectors, one of the irons should be cold, so I can quickly swap bits.
I have had a Yihua solder station fail, but at £35 its not a big loss.
A little tub of solder paste tip cleaner is essential, in particular if the iron is on a high temperature as black gunge builds up on the tip of the bit and solder wont melt no more.
I also have a couple of those large cheap irons you get on eBay, 100W and 250W I think, for heavy duty soldering, but I don’t often use them. A 100w soldering gun somewhere too.
