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I have both, but haven't used hot air yet. I have some packages (DFN-8 with two thermal pads) that I'll be using or try to use, that would be difficult to use an iron.
I bought a very nice soldering station from Circuit Specialists.
BGA's would be impossible too although these may need preheating from the opposite side.
So, I think your survey is invalid. The iron works sometimes.
Soldering I know with an Iron. Only like 38 Years experience here with everything from the old Antex Irons and everything in between. 51 here and have been there. I still have my little Antex 18W Iron I proudly bought when my Mom allowed me to use a 220VAC Iron for the first time....instead of flattening my Dad's car battery with a 12VDC Iron in the garage...and his car would not start the next Day..... he was the Boss of the place he was employed at...the Manager is late...his car won't start...and it was a Merc.
Around 1974 something.
Digressing, my poor parents. They put up with my stuff. And @ the age of 51, I am still as crazy as hell. I probably drive everyone crazy that knows me.
Except the people that work with me:
I have my reasons for doing things the way I do. And it works.
I know the road. I know how to not make more work for myself or anybody working next to me.
I know how to make money for a company with minimal effort.
I know how to treat repairs with the respect they deserve....give me crap to fix...I charge. Give me decent stuff that nobody has fiddled with...minimum charge. No matter my effort.
That's the way I do stuff. No private jobs. No after hours work. No slyness.
Straight forward in the Customers face..........they know I live here on the premises...they know that I can possibly do favors after hours for them
Simply not interested. I am a bit of a****** ****** that way. It's either through the business or nothing.
I sleep peacefully at night knowing I walk the talk.
Kind use was fits the job. At my employment, I had access to a resistance soldering system. Best thing for soldering terminals.
I also did nearly daily soldering with Indium, so a very small iron was used for that.
Then I had access to oxy/MAPP, oxy/acetelene, or oxy/propane or oxy/hydrogen torches
I have one of those 100 W Weller guns, but I use a butane iron for those jobs now. Besides it heats up fast and has a heat shrink attachment.
I used to have a Propane torch with a soldering iron attachment. The torch end got stolen. Now, THEY don;t want you to disconnect anything, e.g. paint stripper, soldering iron, pencil tip and regular tip just changing the heads.
So, I have a small iron and a medium sized iron not temperature controlled at home and a full blown one of these: **broken link removed**
No percipience yet with stencils. Plan to shortly.
One thing i noticed about hot air is it heats up quick, so you can start soldering right away. I hate waiting for my regular iron to heat up. Maybe the resistive element irons heat up faster than the inductive type element irons?
We have this kind of soldering station at work https://www.jbctools.com/cd-b-soldering-station-product-505-category-1-menu-1.html , and it has the heating element right inside the tip which makes the tip hot in about 5 seconds from room temperature, and it also keeps it perfectly hot even when you solder large thermal mass objects. Definitely would recommend if you are going to buy a new iron.
I hate to admit this after many years and many experiences with irons....original Wellers before Cooper Tools became involved were the finest around.
Instant heat on demand.
I know people like AG that are still using original Weller irons that are yonks old. And are still 100% reliable.
I burned my fingers with Weller in the 90's. Saved my money for many Months. Bought a Weller. It failed within 6 Months......it was supposed to have lasted a lifetime....a Rolls Royce product....
I started a new job as an Electronics Engineer a month or so ago and our department was given a "windfall" to buy some extra tools.
I suggested the Metcal soldering iron and they bought a couple - I got a rather nice MFR-1100 which is a seriously nice bit of kit to work with. Heat up times in around 10 seconds and when you put the iron back in the holder it throttles back the heat to save the bit. It even powers off if you don't use it for a couple of hours.
I've soldered everything from small stuff to whopping great capacitors on a heavy ground plane and it has coped with it all.
We have this kind of soldering station at work https://www.jbctools.com/cd-b-soldering-station-product-505-category-1-menu-1.html , and it has the heating element right inside the tip which makes the tip hot in about 5 seconds from room temperature, and it also keeps it perfectly hot even when you solder large thermal mass objects. Definitely would recommend if you are going to buy a new iron.
One thing i noticed about hot air is it heats up quick, so you can start soldering right away. I hate waiting for my regular iron to heat up. Maybe the resistive element irons heat up faster than the inductive type element irons?
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