I have an older Radio Shack solder station but it doesn’t get much use. For a good while now I have been using a Pinecil soldering iron and love them. But for Christmas I got a Fanttik T1 Max and it has been great so far as well. Love that its truly cordless.
I have been using this .8mm solder that I saw recommended as GREAT solder a few places. It has been working great for my needs. And using this flux as well. I just use an acid brush to put it where I need it if its on a PCB, or just stick the end of the wire/end stop in it for that type of thing. 99.9% of the time it seems like I am just soldering endstops LOL.
I have yet to give hot air a try. But maybe one day. I have thought about picking up a hot air station if nothing else to use for heat shrink 