Originally Posted by
turbowop
I disagree. I've been soldering for years with a cheap Craftsman 45w iron. It's all about technique and preparation. A new iron tip needs to be tinned with solder, then tin the posts and wire and all should melt together without issue. I've even used my 45w iron on Turnigy 8awg wires.
That said, those Hakko setups look pretty sweet. But I wouldn't label them as "necessary".
I consider myself experienced and pretty good at soldering... I have soldered two RX8, one with a 45W soldering station and one with a cheap 80W iron. All I can say is that the 80W iron did the job MUCH easier and better.
My experience is that the RX8 is much harder to solder than other things I've done because the heat is dissipating so fast through to the heat sink.