“For the first ten years of my electronics journey, I wrestled with traditional soldering irons.”
Twenty-five years of hobby electronics and lcamtuf’s best purchase was a pencil-style Weller station in 2007. The cheapest brand-name equivalent today runs about $470. His other advice: use more flux than seems reasonable and buy 0.5 mm solder. Most gear advice online is paid reviews and snobbery, and this one names part numbers.