I'll add to the chorus of disagreement here. If you can see the pins (YMMV on whether you need magnification for this), SMT isn't drastically more difficult to

I'll add to the chorus of disagreement here. If you can see the pins (YMMV on whether you need magnification for this), SMT isn't drastically more difficult to solder than through-hole, in some cases easier. It is slightly less tolerant of bad equipment, though. (And I have pretty shaky hands, but SMD is still fine after a decent amount of caffeine)