>>943822
I guess it depends on the complexity of your projects, your budget, and how often you'll be using it.

>>943825
small projects, rare to casual usage, mostly to just fix things not build things

>>943826
In that case, I might recommend something such as a 30 watt soldering iron. Perfect for light duty/casual use.

chinese 936 clone is minimally viable
hakko is decent
oki metcal is overkill for /diy/ and if you minmax into buying one it's time to check yoself.

don't cheap out on the consumables.
buy 60/40 or 63/37 tin/lead solder from multicore, kester or cynel. buy desoldering wick from goot or chemtronics. yes it costs more than the iron did. you won't regret it.

>>943840
can't say I understood anything you said

If you want to go as cheap as possible, buy an old one from a thrift store or ebay before you buy one from radioshack. I found one in the basement of the house I'm renting and it's ten times easier to use than the expensive piece of shit I bought from radioshack.

>>943874
don't buy solder that says "lead free." It sucks. Solder with lead is much easier to work with and unless you're eating it it's just as bad for you as lead free solder.

Sound like OP never solder before because of >>943874

He should just get the Make: Getting Started with Soldering Kit

http://www.makershed.com/products/make-getting-started-kit-soldering

and learn how to use it and go on from there.

>>943822
Whatever is cheap on amazon. I bought an el cheapo blue one with temp control dial. Came with all needed tips and works great. Although I suck at soldering and am a pleb automatically for not recommending the top tier soldering iron. Just see the replies to my post.

>>943888

I only ever used leadfree solder. What exactly am I missing? I just turned my iron up way high and it works fine. I did get some pretty expensive solder though.

>>944289
Actually the price and brand of the iron matter less than the tips.

Hobbyking makes a hakko clone that can use hakko tips for something like $12.50.

I've been told it performs almost as good (with hakko tips) if not better than my fx-951.

There really is no point to buying an iron that cost more than the fx888 (analog, the digital is shit) unless you're doing this all day every day.
Even then for most applications the difference is negligible.
That being said, the difference in soldering between my fx951 and the Chinese station I had before was pretty substantial. I attribute this to the tip.

>>943822
OP if you want something good for small or even SMD work, get thin solder, and an adjustable temp iron with small chisel tips. I'd recommend 2mm or smaller for smd. Needle tips are less useful than you might think.
Ceramic heating is easier to work with, but isn't a must.

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>>944327
you can reflow a lead solder joint a couple of times before it goes dull and crappy. lead-free turns to shit if you don't nail it the first time.