Thanks for the replies, everyone! With all the price comments, I took a look at the Pinecil v2 and apparently it's in the plug-in unregulated iron price range,

Thanks for the replies, everyone! With all the price comments, I took a look at the Pinecil v2 and apparently it's in the plug-in unregulated iron price range, so I can definitely see why some people are choosing that over an unregulated iron for the toolbox. There must be some generational gap where older hackers are used to the mindset of having to buy industrial castoffs and fixing/refurbing to get something decent, whereas a lot of folks getting going now can buy something like the Pinecil and start out way ahead of the Rat Shack plug-in tip melters, heh.