What soldering station do you own ?

[Alex]

The purchasing decision process is very complex and varies greatly from person to person.

Personally I do enjoy the experience of using overly-polished equipment, even if the basic function is the same. I look for the luxurious experience too when making a purchase and I'm willing to pay for it. I think a lot of it has to do with my early years, when I had a 25W fixed temp Antex without a stand for more than 15 years. Then coming out of that old lab and into the ones with £800k logic analysers run by people with the 'let's buy both to see which fits better' mentality, you can see why I am spoiled.

However, technical specifications will always come first. Quick example is the Dremel vs Proxxon rotary hand tools. The Dremel is prettier and popular, but the Proxxon is mechanically superior. I have the Proxxon.

Reflecting upon my purchasing decisions, extracting the most value for money is not as important for me as having a tool that I can rely on for many years. The more mature the technology is, the more likely I am to spend more money on something. You could say that I consider my tools as investments. Having said that, I won't buy a GHz scope for audio. So there is some realism in my decisions. Also, I do read the manuals extensively and maintain my tools. My Fluke 289 still has the screen protection film on since 2007.

You mentioned a perfect example of this, screwdrivers. A screw is a screw and the screwdriver will not become obsolete during our lifetimes. So you can spend more on quality heat treated alloys. There is absolutely nothing that I find more annoying than trying to work on something using malfunctioning equipment. I bought a 40-pin ZIF socket from ebay the other day and tried to solder it. The plating on the pins was poor, and the solder did not wet. Frustrated, I threw the socket in the bin feeling great satisfaction. I am also notorious for literally throwing away in the bin the £5 multimeters of my colleagues when I am helping. I say, 'There, now we can be sure this bad measurement and future ones are not due to the multimeter'.

There you go, my buyer's profile.

[Kiriakos GR]

I will share a photo story so to both smile and relax. 

The gun soldering iron is inheritance from my father (cars electrician) at 1985 ( I was sixteen years old).
I always believed that is a 200W as there was one red sticker label on it which were lost .
Manufacturing date unknown but it is made in Chicago USA.

From the other three the huge monster must be 400W label lost too.
And the smaller ones are easily recognizable and their production date must be beginning of 90s. 

In conclusion an electrician needs multiple weapons LOL , the modern stations is just one of them.   

[dergi]

@ Kiriakos GR, I own a Metcal soldering station. It has got multiple tips, reaches the required temperature in around 5s, it has a maximum temperature range of 500C, which is a lot for me. I have been using this for the last two years in my lab and I couldn’t be more satisfied with the soldering station. It was an investment that gave me a lot of profit and is still working.

[Kiriakos GR]

Hi @dergi,
Features and product pricing are both essential factors, in some parts of this world you have different options due the pricing mostly.
I am happy that you are happy with your tool, and I am also very satisfied with my own, with the force of 90W I can remove capacitors from 5 layers( or more) motherboards with out using hot-air at all.
This dynamic heat up of my soldering station helps also with soldering of large cable over large transformers.
Therefore for my own multiple applications it does the trick.