My first soldering iron (one that I tried to use properly anyway) was a Hakko, it worked well and I did not know it, because I did not know how to solder.
I got a second one, usually the second tool is the better one, but like I said I did not know any better and went cheap, $3 cheap for a soldering iron. It was bad, really bad. So bad that I learned quick my first soldering iron was actually good.
So today I got a Weller soldering iron, and after using such a bad tool, and with some experience with soldering, it was actually a joy to solder.
Actually got off my workout early today, ran 1 lap and walked one, was gonna run two but had new if I tried to run to I would be hurting to use the bathroom.