Do ANY GOOD soldering stations even exsist??? EVEN ONE!! PLEASE TELL ME!

At a guess, Id say its primary purpose is to keep the bits free and removable without too much hassle, a bit like exhaust bolts on a car. The heat transfer is no different to heat transfer here re: LEDs and thats been overly discussed already. Better than nothing, maybe, and less is more, sure, but in the end its best use is to keep stuff that heats and cools reasonably easy to remove.

Well, I can only report on what I've actually used. I started with one of the cheap HobbyKing Hakko 936 and I am still using it today despite heavy use. I also have an FX-888D. The genuine Hakko has a better (more comfortable) iron and iron holder, but besides that it really isn't very much more powerful.

I use genuine Hakko tips with both irons and am satisfied with both of them. To me, the tips are more important than the iron.

I never expected the $21 iron to last for thousands of hours, but it has. The Hakko is a little more comfortable to use, but it was $70 more.

I think that the Hakko will serve you well, but many others probably would as well.

oh my gosh V.O.B. I will freely admit I read none of the replies. But I have been using this station heavily for at least 8 years, probably more without a hicup.
http://www.weller-toolsus.com/soldering/systems/wes-series/weller-wesd51-soldering-station-digital-50w-120v-eta.html
And it’s only a 50 watt unit. Money well spent.

Yes. This.

I have the Second one you linked. I thought the wand would break right away but it still works fine. It was delivered with a cold joint in one of the connections to the heating element (kept displaying E5) but after fixing that it’s held up well. Two minor complaints; the tip holder comes loose and the wand base needed a loop of Romex to hold the pen up. I use tip #1 for most things but like #3 for making flat joints on mcpcb’s.

Note, I said flat not fat.

I used to work for Metcal aka OK industries we though our were the best built. we were catering to PCB production rework but the machines were still for individual stations.

I have a Pace ST115 for maybe 10 years now, never had any problem with it.

I have a Aouye Int3210 soldering station. -> http://www.aoyue.com/en/product/default.asp?id=39
Not the cheapest one (85€ in germany), but I have it now for ~5 Years and never had a problem with it.

very flexible cable, fast heating, digital display, shuts itself down if you forget it - and the tip is still the first one.

This is one of several. I made the enclosure as I had a 36’ Pexto shear and a 24” Pexto box and pan brake at the time. The tube that holds the iron is electrical conduit pipe. Metal this time. Inside, connected to the switch is a simple diode that allows me to switch to half power. The other side has another switch so that I can run 2 irons at a time. 1 on full and the other on half. The panel lights are old school Neon. I made this 45 years ago.

The handle is an Ungar and the heating element I got years ago at Radio Shack, back when they sold QUALITY. The RS part number is Archer 64-2082, 33 1/2 watts, really an Ungar part though. The tip is an Ungar “iron clad”. I remember the copper ones didn’t last long, but these iron clad ones seemingly last forever. They can be found on EBay

I also have a Weller soldering gun, several large irons and a Black and Decker iron and station. The B+D station is JUNK.

EDIT: The lettering was rubbed on one letter at a time from sheets that you could buy, I think in art supply stores. I have forgotten what it was called. I used it for everything, from labeling cassettes to electronic equipment. Life was hard in those days!
I just remembered, it was Letraset lettering.

Here is a bit of an update. I have been looking over all of the options suggested and greatly appreciate all of the help guys. Thank you.

2 of the main ones I have been looking at are the genuine Hakko, and the Weller.

Right now I am leaning toward the WES51. It has the type of tip holder I like and keep seeing it come up good in reviews. I would sort of like to have one that is more than 50 watt, but as best I can tell to bump up to the next level you get to pay 3x times the price.. $300+ range.

This is what I was thinking in the 50 watt
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Weller-WES51-Analog-Soldering-Station-with-Chisel-Screwdriver-Tip-Bundle-/381005859772?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58b5b80bbc

Comes with a few tips.

My preferred tip is ETU for tiny work. It's length is short (compared to the ETS), so the path from heater to tip is short. I think its the same length as the ETA,B,C and D - just pointier.

Also look into getting a little tin of soldering tip tinner. I like the tin I have, but the label has been off for years so I don't know what to recommend! (I don't like MG Chemicals Tin/Silver FWIW) Just be sure to wipe off the residue left from the tinner (it is corrosive), you don't want that stuff left on your board. I fear that what I have pre-dates the No-Lead era and that's why it works so well.

Anyone have a suggestion for tip tinner?

EDIT: perhaps eBay # 291288300550

i love my weller ws40 its not that pricy and it does very wel have light to medium soldering (you maybe could do some havy soldering, but i dont think is has enough power to do that)

I use ETS for most projects. I will have to look at ÉTU. Just tin the tip with solder.

I’ve got this constant temperature Weller WTCPT 60W station http://www.amazon.com/WTCPT-Temperature-Controlled-Soldering-Station/dp/B00004W463. Got it in like new condition on ebay (fingers were crossed) several years ago for around $80 (had to wait a bit). It’s been good to me, but no real reference to other stations other than a not so hot WLC100. Prices have gone up for new ones I see, from when I was looking.

I use a PACE PRC-2000. It slices, it dices, it makes julienne fires! A fully loaded new one from Pace will set you back about $6000. I can set you up with one for around 1/10th that amount.

Sign me up!

(Oops did I quote that incorrectly?) My bad!

There is a very good video comparison/review of the YiHua 936 vs the Hakko 936 here. This is a good video to learn of some of the considerations to consider when looking at any soldering station.

Even though Hakko has now updated to a newer version one can get a good idea about these soldering stations and what to look for in others.

Best wishes and tell us what you finally choose.

EDIT: There is about $60-70 difference between the YiHua 936 and the latest Hakko. The Hakko FX888D does not seem to be that much better but still it is better.

Dave's EEVBlog review of the YiHua 936

YiHua website

Hakko website

HobbyKing website - good prices for YiHua (<$19.00)

This information is being posted for those in the future who stop by and read soldering station information on this thread. The YiHua is not recommended but not totally awful either.

I had to look up that PRC-2000 and it is pretty crazy. Probably way more than what I need, but it is pretty cool. If I was doing packages bigger than SOIC-8 on a regular basis I might consider it .

Try JBC soldering and you will never touch anything else JBC. Mine is T245.

Ergonomic handle, very fast reaction, hot swapable tips, warmup from cold in a couple of seconds, standby/sleep timers. Pleasure to work with.

I heard on the grapevine TP is going to donate one to you as a thanks for all the hard work your doing here. I knew all along he was a nice guy.