What is the best affordable soldering iron?

PilotSam

Judge me by my age?
Hey guys! I'm looking for good quality, affordable soldering equipment, such as a soldering iron, stand, and solder wire. Anybody have any suggestions?
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Soldering irons / stations can serve many purposes over time so its actually one of those forever purchases that you want to invest in. I suggest you go with any of the temp controlled ones as they are even more versatile then fixed power ones. Just remember to grab a set of tips to match whatever manufacturer you go with. This discussion happened in another thread recently so no need to hash out what one is best as its another one of those personal preference things.
 

PilotSam

Judge me by my age?
Thanks so much for all of your quick responses! I will look into the ones you showed me. Thanks again!
 

PilotSam

Judge me by my age?
Hi! thanks for responding to my thread! I have one question: what is the best soldering wire and where should I get it?
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
60/40 rosin core is best for electronics. That is the ratio of metals and has flux in the center to automatically clean your area for good joints. .032 inch diameter is for finer electronics and is pretty much industry standard or at least it was when I was working in manufacturing.

I used to get mine from work or from radio shack. But I am sure a quick search on Amazon will pull up a bunch of different results.