weller use to make a magnetically controlled station that we still use and can still get parts for,
they changed to a thermistor/opamp design a long time ago and those things seemed to be designed to last about 5 years,
and they seem to drift as they get old,
you can still get a cheap TC202 station with the TC201 iron, the pwr switch has not gone out in about 35 years, and i think we have used about 5 tips in the same amount of time.
you can get tips in different temp ranges for those, 700, 800 etc. lower temp means longer life. new tips have a shabby plate job, so that is another advantage to getting a primitive station, you get to buy primitive tips with plating like the bumper of a 65 coupe deville.
working on the pencil is a tight fit, and you might have to buy a heating element once in a while, we need a new mag switch right now, but those are also on evilbay
don't use your tip as a pry bar, you will damage the plating, use solder wik and needle noise to remove parts, after the solder sucker of course.
if you do not do a lot of soldering, a cheap pencil is fine, or even the old hand gun model for Heathkit type stuff, but that is getting pretty retro, you may as well buy a Simpson voltmeter while your at it,
the iron at work blew the opamp circuit so we hardwired it into a variac so the boss won't have to cough for a new one but that is a dangerous and primitive solution best left to full time solder junkies, jus sayin...