The old cheap ones have no temperature control whatsoever and crappy tips that oxidize quickly. I had the same experience as you, and have a trusty 888. I actua

The old cheap ones have no temperature control whatsoever and crappy tips that oxidize quickly. I had the same experience as you, and have a trusty 888. I actually got access to a Hakko FM-206 rework station a while back and loved it more than my 888. It has a very compact tip holder, allows you to swap tips when they are still hot, heats up instantly but also cools down when idle to preserve the tip. I looked into getting something similar for home and ended up with a "knockoff T12" that uses the same tips based on discussion on the EEVblog forums. I haven't used my 888 since. Knockoff T12s can use genuine but still cheap Hakko T12 tips (though I've never had a problem with cheap clone tips), with a temperature sensor built in. Using the word knockoff is probably misleading on my part, they aren't low quality counterfeit copies of Hakko and don't pretend to be Hakko, they just use Hakko T12 tips as it's the closest thing to a de facto standard there is. I can't even recommend a specific manufacturer for them, they just all seem to be using the same circuits and whatever one is available is fine. You need to order online basically. I don't know why they haven't replaced the $25 garbage irons sold in hardware stores, but those still exist and I wouldn't say the floor has been raised. Pinecil is also great. It also has temperature sensors built into the tips. It has limited power so you might get frustrated on that one day in a decade that you need to solder something big, but it's so convenient for occasional use. I keep mine in my pen holder, and pull it out for short tasks. I just steal my macbook's usb-c charging cable in these cases (although pine also sells a nice silicone high temperature usb-c cable). Both options have another benefit that I've enjoyed: They have DC power input, and don't become useless after an international move.