Yep, ditto, except my realization came from a JBC encounter at work. I had to learn this meta lesson several times the hard way, because media portrayals lie and I had nobody to tell me different.

    Learn Good Tools -> Learn Bad Tools

is easy

    Learn Bad Tools -> Learn Good Tools

is hard. Learning has nonlinear difficulty in the number of variables and bad tools introduce distraction variables. Unless you literally can't afford the good tools, "survey professionals and then buy once cry once" is almost always the right approach.

As always, it depends. If I bought the best (or even pretty good) model tool for every hobby I start, I'd be broke. Not every tool needs to be the best.

Same. When I started to take my hobby seriously I was basically replacing a "cheap" soldering iron every couple of months and tips would have lasted me a couple of week.

When I done the maths, it has become quite expensive.

So that's when I decided to buy a Hakko FX-951 and I couldn't have been happier. It makes a huge difference between the cheap ones.

It's been working well for over 3 years now, no issues. Just make sure to use original tips. I had some knock offs and some have burned off the same day I started using them. Original tips last ages.

Don't get me wrong - the cheap ones will work and are great if you need to solder something from time to time. But if you plan to do some serious amount of soldering, don't bother with cheap tools.

I'd say there's a world of difference between a $20 cheap iron and a $50 adjustable temperature station, but once I got to the $50 level I find I can do everything I need to do (including SMD).

Same here, had a cheapo soldering iron thinking I didn't need much to start, fucked up quite a few outboards I needed to add header pins to. Bought a digital Weller iron and never had a hiccup with my soldering since then.

I spent more destroying parts than I would have just buying the Weller in the first place, lesson learned.

I got lucky and bought a $100 Hakko in... maybe my 3rd year of EE? Early 20s? Like you say, my ability to solder improved dramatically overnight. The first time I went over to my (now) wife's house, I saw she had the same iron sitting on her dining room table for some cables she was fixing. Her and I still have the same pair of irons, they still work flawlessly. We've replaced tips a number of times, but I don't think either of us have ever had to replace the ceramic heater inside. I'm turning 40 this year.

yeah $4 crap to $35 Hakko is night and day.

No such thing as $35 Hakko. There are crap $35 Hakko clones, they are BAD. Anything that uses 900 series tip is bad and should be avoided. Cheapest T12 cartridge heater/tip combo DIY kits start at ~$40 on ebay/aliexpress, thats a bare minimum good soldering iron experience. Step above are JBC C245 DIY kits, ~$40 + $20 24V/8A supply and +$10 each for additional tips, you want at least IS and K. no DIY normal station JBC clones start at $200 for something like SUGON T21.

I have this https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Hakko-temperature-limiting-sol...

oh man :( "temperature limiting" means there is a triac light dimmer in there to control power output. I havent even considered soldering irons that arent a proper temperature controlled station.

yeah maybe that's why it's cheapest adjustable product, but not very accurate temperature isn't much matter for hobby.