> The heating element is in the tip rather than the body of the iron. That was an innovation compared to old pen shaped irons, but our old beloved gun shaped s

> The heating element is in the tip rather than the body of the iron. That was an innovation compared to old pen shaped irons, but our old beloved gun shaped solder irons were much better wrt heat transfer: the heating element wan't just inside the tip, it was the tip. that's why they could deliver insanely fast heating times like two or three seconds from turned off to maximum temperature. I still have a couple of them, and they literally spank my Weller styluses asses when soldering heavy stuff, but alas their shape and big tips aren't suitable for use on very small stuff, not to mention SMT devices.