I retired after 45 years in all area's of electronics and by far the BEST soldering tool i have EVER used is MY Hakko 926 soldering station. I started out using a wood burning tool for a soldering iron 53 years ago at age 13. My first commercial soldering iron was a 125 watt soldering gun made by Weller (made my own tips from 10 Ga solid wire from electricians 'discards' and I have used every type of iron since. The Wellers are great irons BUT they use an alloy that is a "Curie point" alloy (look it up on Wiki) and any steel along side the iron will defeat the magnetic sensor. There is also the issue of the switch (mechanical) that controls power to the iron... Ungar made an iron in the 60's that has a famous history... it seems that the iron has a replaceable "Heat Cartridge" and replaceable tips... The Heater occasionally fail and vaporize internally... since it was "plugged it in it only had one way to go out and it would do so. Once I picked up my Trusty Iron only to have it go off like a small cannon and embed the heater cartridge in the ceiling.. (TRUTH). The Hakko with the variety of available tips (I just bought 10 of them for $10.00 on Ebay) is the BEST one I have Ever used. I have one a foot to my right arm that I've owned for 10 years and I have replaced a dozen or so tips and 3 heating elements... Not too bad at all. Complete replacement Hakko irons can be purchased for under $20.00 anytime.
Doc
I received the tips for my old... Hakko 900/926/936 iron today and they are perfect... copies of $5.00 tips sold here in the US. Bosity from Ebay sells 10 of them for $9.95 8 or 10 different styles/sizes and a 45 deg chisel tip (1/4" long) that is perfect for small soldering at it's point to flipping an SMT part off of a PCB with the side of the 45 deg knife edge... If the plating is as good as the original (They Look identical) I should have a lifetime supply of tips. The only way to damage them is to burn plastic with them and bake it on (not clean or wipe it quickly) or to try to sharpen them by filing the tips as that removes the plating...