Good soldering gear for occasional use?

[TTL]

I believe I need a new soldering iron as I have a feeling my trusty old Goot (a Japanese brand) CS-30 (25W, an older model, similar to the CS-31) just doesn't cut it for stuff like desoldering (it takes too long to melt the existing solder which in turn makes it easier to destroy PCB traces) and soldering in general.

I've discussed the subject before and the conclusion was that an Ersa i-con Pico (or was it i-con Nano?) would be an ideal choice for quality vs. cost.

That's all good, but I seem to get less and less time for this hobby and not enough space to store all my tools and gear so I was wondering if there's something else I could look into (for the occasional through-hole projects (so far I haven't done any SMD stuff), kits and repair (desoldering/soldering back in replaced components)? I know there are soldering irons with adjustable power settings, but never tried them myself, but it seems less of hassle to stow away and set up than a soldering station and I could use it for a variety of different situations (less power for ICs etc., more for larger stuff and desoldering). What do you suggest?

Hakko FX-600 adjustable soldering iron:

Goot PX-201 adjustable soldering iron:

 

[shrtrnd]

Have you tried re-tinning your soldering tip. The heat transfer problem sounds to me more like a soldering tip
problem than an actual problem with the iron itself.

 

[TTL]

It looks OK as far as I can see. I hadn't really thought about it until now, but maybe I'm really just using the wrong sort of tip -a sharp "pencil" type, and I'm likely distributing heat to a small specific area rather than around the whole section I'm trying to solder/desolder. Maybe I should replace the tip with a flatter one.

But do you reckon 25W is enough in any case?

 

[(*steve*)]

Tips that look like a small screwdriver are my choice for general purpose work.

If you really want something small, look at the 60W 24V (I think) microcontroller controlled devices. I used one yesterday for some serious work and I was impressed. The main drawback is the need for an appropriate DC power supply

Edit: google TS100

The weak point is the power connection. Run them at their max voltage to reduce the current (I think they have an internal dc-dc converter (I may be wrong))