I am glad someone has a good run with them. I will never buy a ryobi again. I have in the past had drop saws, circular saws, drills, grinders, sanders and not 1 has lasted, every single one has broken down and thrown out, usually within months of it's warranty running out.It's awesome. I love it. I'm kinda invested in the brand thought, drills, sanders, mower, blower etc, so it made sense to me as the battery is separate. I got the one with temp control, the big one.
Back to the soldering iron though, the comment about the gas by big willy is true, in that a cheap gas one would work great for hobby use and you just need to be careful but that is the same with any tools. I was in the repair industry for many years and I have used all types. Up until recently I had a cheap gas one that if it wasn't for the tip finally wearing out, I would still have after 20 years! The weller ones were great but were a lot bigger, the small one I had was small enough to fit in your pocket and had a cap to go over it to protect the tip and had a clip to clip to your pocket. It would heat up almost instantly so no waiting around when doing a quick repair.
