<p>I'd like to second this with all my heart. You cannot imagine how much nicer the soldering experience is if you have a decent variable iron. It's really night and day between the cheapo ones and the nicer ones.</p>
<p>There are some good mid level, affordable units out there. I found a nice Weller for $45 USD on Amazon (Model Weller WLC100) that has been excellent for me. It's variable and has replaceable tips. Having a smaller tip is a huge thing (haha, pun) for me. Allowed me to get in to a lot smaller areas and leave less pass-by solder blips.
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