There's a model made in Korea or whatever marketed under the name Tenma and a few others. Has bar graph LED display across the top and a temp control. There is als a digital readout model but you don't need that.
Apparently they lost some sort of certification for static or something and now sell for like $50. I think they are worth that. You have to really crank them to do lead free, but for old fashioned normal solder they are fine.
Better is the Hakko 888. I don't have one but have used one. However it is a bit more money. I'll probably get one when I find a low enough price. (yes, I am the ultimate cheapskate, I make Crassus look like Andrew Carnegie)
I think the main thing about this is availability of tips. If they give you a bunch of extras with it, especially different types, that is a plus. One of my favorite tips is (I think) called the micro spade lug which has two ground surfaces at 90 degrees to each other and about 30-45 degrees from the axis. However those do disintegrate quite quickly, I guess because of being sharp. No thermal mass at the end. I use them enough that I just stick with the conical now because I don't want to replace it once a week.
You can grind your own tips but unless you nickel plate them they won't last. I actually have some nickel saved for just that purpose but don't know enough about electroplating yet to get er done. Plus the fact that this nickel is saved for a pretty cool project. I want to use one of my 8200s with a special tip made for a vacuum desoldering station, and then instead of a motor, I am going to set up two one way valves and a speaker screwed to a piece of wood. The vacuum will come up faster and be more powerful. I'm thinking like q 12.6 volt transforer and an 8 inch woofer. The valves would be reed valves like you would find in a refrigerator compressor.
I don't even know where to buy nickel, what I have came from when my buddy got a bug up his (_|_) and decided to ake a ring out of a Canadian silver dollar, which that year was not silver, but nickel. I know that US nickels are not nickel, they are mostly aluminum. Aluminum will not work. Actually there is process by which you can get the plating on (not that I know it at this moment) but it will not tin.
I really do like pure copper tips but they just don't last. I liked the shape of the tip on my Weller because I could change ICs with it. You have to keep turning it on and off to regulate the temperature or you burn up the wick and lose foils on the board. I would not recommend trying it, but I used to do it. An iron is so much easier to deal with.
Another thing to remember is that, like audio, it doesn't matter what you spend. You could find a little 25 watt iron for like $10 and it might be just fine. When I went to work at Electrasound, an ASC for almost everyone, the iron they gave me was an elcheapo 25 watt, they said they found these things were really good. And once I used it I found they were right. No thermostat, no temperature control, not even a box, just plugged into the wall. Worked great.
! kept pretty good care of it, looks new and I've file the tip a few times lol.. (missing the foam inside core mount, new, got it on sale that way) Kinda glad you brought it up to take another look at it... maybe practice with it some. Kinda got used to the pencil style but no harm in "putting" a little.