Wow I've never had such a great tool that lasts a long time, I've never seen a reason to spend more than $20 on a soldering iron until today . Right out of the box I fired up this iron and was able to handle anything I threw at it because the thicker wires raised the temperature and ran away easily. Although there are some cases where a tip with better heat retention is better for larger calibers. Also the size of this iron is amazing for its power, it has always been used for big bulky irons and this thing is tiny!