What soldering gear do i need?

[Jerry-rigged]

Aside from trigger on-switch, and maybe a thicker standard tip, does the gun style offer something the pencil style doesn't? Wattage is wattage, right? So if the tip size is the same size, and wattage is the same, wouldn't you get roughly equal performance from both?

What I'm sensing here is that a good starter iron would be a higher wattage one with interchangeable tips (or fat tips in general) so as to allow quick build up of heat, a decent amount of heat "storage", and then more surface area to transfer heat? Aside from that, pencil and gun is just "style"?

The gun style heats VERY quickly; and doesn't have a limiter on how hot they can get... So you can get the tip red hot if you like. If you are soldering 10g or 8 gauge, they can be handy, but for 12g they are overkill to the point of making the job harder - you have to learn to cycle the trigger on and off to regulate the heat, or you will melt the plug, melt the wire insulation, scorch/carbonize the flux, etc. This is true with 10g too, but you have a bit more leeway. For 8g wire, I will often grab my 90w Milwaukee M12 iron, as the 60w can get a bit slow for big wire on big plugs. the 60w will get the job done, but it will take longer, which gives time for the wire the heat soak.

 

[LibertyMKiii]

I use this one to solder 8ga. wire to battery tabs. In that scenario you need to melt the solder very fast without heating up the lipo cell

https://www.amazon.com/Weller-W100P...mzn1.fos.18ed3cb5-28d5-4975-8bc7-93deae8f9840

For smaller/precision work I use a smaller fine point 60 weller.