My hand held, cord goes from wall right into the pencil type soldering iron, is 25 watts, just checked and this is enough, with patience, to melt all the solder I've encountered, but sometimes with difficulty. My weller is very old, like 30 years and has regular phone cord cable, very flexible. Regular cable like a radio.

I bought a cheap Radio Shack piece of junk 40 watt one that lasted about 3 months before it burnt out. The 40 one would desolder things very quickly. I plan on getting a good quality 40 watt one.

Also, if you learn to do basic soldering, you will be able to fix all sorts of things around the house that break down. Usually all you need to do is resolder a shorted out wire, unplugged of course, or solder a wire back together that a dog chewed in half. I have saved a lot of money soldering wires back on terminals, back together, etc. And used quite a bit of electrical tape. And by the way, 3M electrical tape costs more but is far better to use than the cheap walmart or other cheap brands. This is something that you should pay a little more for and I've found 3M to make some good grades, they are even rated for the average temperature or temp extremes of the part you are going to use them at. Different types for very cold or hot places.

Hope this is encouraging. A quality iron is something you want. I wish I knew the brand names of some decent ones. Maybe Craftsman. Don't get the GUN type, they get in the way and melt other wire insulation.

As stated by ChOjin, maybe the quality of Weller has gone way down. My old one is a champ.

Duffy