I've been soldering for over a decade now, and the thing that I think matters more than anything is the solder itself. You can do perfectly decent work with a

I've been soldering for over a decade now, and the thing that I think matters more than anything is the solder itself. You can do perfectly decent work with a shitty 40w pencil iron, the tip included in the pack and sone Jaycar home brand wick. But if you cheap out on the solder, or opt for lead-free when you don't know what you're doing, you're going to have an awful time. Would strongly recommend Multicore leaded, or at the very least something a bit thicker (~1mm) with rosin core. The thin stuff that requires external flux just isn't good for beginners. It's hard to work with and your repairs will degrade over a 1-2 year period. (That said, I don't regret dropping $x00 on my FX-888 and FR-301 which have resurrected thousands of things between them; just don't think they're strictly necessary for someone just looking to fix some random item for the first time.)