I think the iron part gets overlooked a lot, cheap/old irons see a huge temperature dip when soldering. Leaded solder handles that a little better and this is what people perceive as "the difference". Once you use propper technique and a decent iron lead-free isn't worse, just different

I struggled with soldering for years, thinking I was just bad at soldering. Then I got to use a basic Hakko iron and it was infinitely easier. I immediately threw away the Radio Shack iron I had and bought my own Hakko.

The cheapo irons are such a waste of time and money. Unfortunately, I think they tend to set-point people for what to expect for iron prices. Going from $10-15 for a junky iron to $65-80 for a good one seems like a big leap. But this is a tool that should last you forever, if you take care of it, and the productivity improvement is well worth the cost. Consider, you’ll spend hundreds on components for a hobby project of any moderate size. Just buy a good iron already.

It reminds me of how much I hate the phrase, “it is a poor Workman who blames his tools”. Yeah, yeah, skilled people can get good results out of junky tools. But you won’t actually ever see it happen, because skilled people care about their work enough to only use good tools. The only time a skilled person uses junky tools is when there is literally no other option (and no, having to wait for a delivery is not one of those cases).

There are bad tools, and then there are tools that just aren't fit for purpose. If you are trying to melt metal with a machine and that machine cannot translate energy into the required amount of heat fast enough, it might just be the wrong machine to begin with.

Soldering with a bad iron is the equivalent of trying to chisel wood with a flat screwdriver: sure you can do something to the wood – it just might not be the thing you want.

Yep. And honestly, leaded solder is far more forgiving and less sensitive to technique. If someone is just barely able to solder with leaded, they're definitely NOT going to have a good experience with lead-free.

I do think hobbyists should switch to lead-free, but it will involve getting rid of marginal equipment, refining technique through practice, and following instructions. The best way to make this switch, IMHO, is simply to make leaded solder unavailable to the consumer market.

So what's a good soldering iron for a hobbist? Is the TS-100 that was much hyped on the internet some time ago a good choice? Or the TS-80 one? Or should one go for more traditional irons?

A Hakko FX-888 or FX-888D is a good hobbyist iron if you're going to be soldering a decent amount. I have one and it's very much worth the money.

I've heard good things about the TS-100 as well but I've never tried one so I can't confirm anything about it.

I bought a Hakko FX-888D a few years ago and immediately regretted all the time I had wasted using crappy irons for a decade and a half. Suddenly, soldering worked as easily as it did on all those YouTube videos.

I solder so infrequently that it felt like spending $100 on an iron was overkill, and I couldn't have been more wrong.

Same! My first iron was a shitty radioshack one. Shelling out the $100 for a Hakko is absolutely worth it for the time and frustration savings. I actually really enjoy soldering with it because it works so smoothly.

My only regret is not getting the analog version because Hakko kinda sucks at making digital interfaces.

It's hyped because it's small and good enough. Great to bring it to a friend to fix their headphones. I'm also planning to buy something like this as a secondary.

If you want some good primary iron, buy a Weller or a Hakko. They are widely available and have a good value/price ratio. Weller WS81 or Hakko FX-888D are both great starter irons. Most likely serve you for life if you don't need it to do any specialized thing.

I've heard good things about both irons! About to order one myself for field work and looks perfect for most use-cases.

(I personally have a Metcal PS900, very happy with it)

I've been soldering on prototypes for work since what, 1984.

Every time I see a cheap ass or busted soldering iron I have the urge to smash it with a hammer and fling into the dumpster where it belongs.

Leaded solder is much more forgiving, which is important when most hobbyists don't have all of 1, 2 and 3.