The new wellers are very good. I have a weller WE101, a Weller Curie-point iron from the mid 2000s and a Metcal 5200. I also have a Metcal rework station at wo

The new wellers are very good. I have a weller WE101, a Weller Curie-point iron from the mid 2000s and a Metcal 5200. I also have a Metcal rework station at work which was actually cheap for a metcal rework station at just under $10K. The rework station came with almost all of the screws rattling around the preheater and the heating profile menu is so convoluted its barely usable. The new 5200 I have spontaneously goes into a calibration menu that I cant find documentation on. The older metcals we have a re more rugged although the older 500 series doesn't actually turn off the main power supply when you flip the on/off switch to "off" (look at the schematic online if you don't believe me) only the regulators turn off. The WE101 is rock solid although most people that solder alot don't use temperature adjustment, but I keep it around in case I ever do need it. Point is, any weirdness with the metcals are made up for with their selection of tips and the heating speed even when soldering components to chassis' or ground planes. If you can find a used metcal, even if its not working, you can fix them up easily and they are worth the $200 bucks even for a broken one on Ebay.