It really is. That's kind of my point. When I was starting I spent a lot of time and effort to make a design with all through-hole components because I perceive

It really is. That's kind of my point. When I was starting I spent a lot of time and effort to make a design with all through-hole components because I perceived that surface mount was difficult. The design suffered massively from that compromise, it was still a pain to assemble, and when I actually tried surface mount later I felt completely cheated. Soldering a large pitch SMD micro is actually quicker and easier than soldering a DIP, even with crap equipment (though it's always more difficult with crap equipment).