When I first bought mine I tried to adjust the temperature in what felt like the natural way to do so, without rtfm first of course.
Then I quickly learned that I had adjusted the temperature calibration. I reverted what I had done but now I am not confident about the temperature its operating at, at all. Seems a terrible interface design.
I recalibrated by using the thermocouple on my multimeter.
That's not my biggest problem though - my biggest problem has just been keeping tips tinned properly. I've succeeded once, but it constantly feels like a struggle.
I found that brass wool works better at keeping tips tinned. A sponge removes all the solder and you have to quickly tin the tip immediately after wiping, otherwise it oxidizes. Wiping with brass wool leaves a thin layer of solder on the tip.
Also keeping the tip at moderate temperature range helps avoid oxidation - most manufacturers recommend to never exceed 400 C. JBC recommends to not exceed 370 C.
For affordable, semi-professional grade equipment, it is hard to beat Quick. I have Quick 202d + Quick 861dw. The tips on 202d are integrated with thermocouples and heating is indirect but inductive, which strikes a nice balance between the price of the tips (3x more affordable than cartridge tips) and performance (heats just like cartridge tips). The handle is light and has short grip-to-tip distance. I still use the original tips I bought a few years ago, so they last. I always soldered lead free and I’m shocked people on the internet find lead free hard. Some even said I must be nuts to solder lead free at 600-650F.
In the hakko line, fx-951 is the step-up which uses a heater and sensor in the tip (t15/t12 tips).
The alternative, for a hobbyist, would be something like this new iFixit iron, the Pinecil, Miniware TS80/TS100 or one of the variety of chinese irons from amazon and Aliexpress that take Hakko T12 tips (Quicko and similar).
On the high-end, professional side, it's JBC and Metcal. Expensive.
The handle is so light! Active tips! Heats up in 2 seconds. Goes to standby mode when you put away the handle to save the tips.
There's even a lighter compatible precision handle that you can buy.
Luke Gorrie posted a bunch of Twitter threads where he compare the sizes of soldering handles. Can't find it now but https://github.com/lukego/soldering might lead you to them.
I'm a ADS200 fan, too. Bought one recently after way too many years of using a 30W Weller. Having a big choice of tips is nice. As a bonus, it's made in the US. I've been able to tackle projects that I'd never have even thought of trying with the old soldering iron.
