[serviceberry]

It's really OK. With modern formulations such as SAC305 and with temperature-controlled stations, there's no real difference, and no need to stick to lead.

I think the resistance to the idea has two roots. First, there's a lot of old-timers who just didn't like the idea of the government meddling with their hobby, so they go out of their way to convince others to use leaded solder.

Second, the first years of the switch were painful. You needed to upgrade some equipment, the early alloys were not performing great, there were problems with tin whiskers (which aren't specific to lead-free soldering, but were apparently happening more commonly), etc. But these days are gone. The industry has moved on.

[jeffbee]

The government did not meddle with the hobby, though. You, hobbyist, can acquire and use as much lead as you want. You can order an 4kg bar of 60/40 lead solder on the internet right now. That's enough lead to measurably lower the IQ of 15 million children, if optimally applied. Nobody will stop you.

[lazide]

The hard part is holding them down while you apply it. They squirm like crazy!

Also, you can buy pure lead in 1000 lb quantities (and leaded solder) at places like [https://www.rotometals.com/] with no paperwork.

[giantg2]

I will say, you need to use high quality lead-free solder when you could get away with decent lead solder. The cheaper lead-free stuff has been junk in my experience.

[marcus0x62]

Do you have any recommendations? I was soldering earlier today and noticed a particular joint wasn’t flowing well at all. I looked over and had grabbed the lead-free solder from my spool holder. All the other joints with my crappy Radio Shack leaded solder were fine.

[Ccecil]

With lead free use SAC305 with "no clean" flux (I prefer the name "low solids"...since you still need to clean it).

For leaded Kester44 is my favorite.

Set the iron temp to the datasheet of the solder...then never touch it.

For larger pads use larger tips...a lot of people get into trouble cranking things out of range.

[giantg2]

I don't. I have a roll of lead-free that works OK, but I got it so long ago that I don't know. I think it's an off-brand that doesn't even have a name on it, or the sticker peeled off. It's still more temperature sensitive than lead, but not bad. I think my better quality lead roll is from them too. I wish I knew the name so I could order more of each.

On a related note, I've had terrible luck with any of the Chinese solders off of places like Temu or Banggood. Even the lead ones were junky.

[syntheticgate]

I'll second the Kester recommendation, the stuff is a bit expensive but if you've used bad solder you know it's worth it! I'm using Kester 275 on the bench and have been very happy with it, and as it's a true no-clean flux, it's a bit less messy than Kester 44 without much performance difference (lead free vs lead differences are real still- Lead-free is still not as easy to work with, but the world went lead free so my bench did too). You can find some comparisons here (since kester's website is down currently for some reason) https://www.jameco.com/Jameco/Products/ProdDS/2188246.pdf

[photon_rancher]

Chipquik works fine. There’s probably better stuff but it is consistently good and doesn’t seem to go bad (i can’t tell much performance stuff between a roll that’s old enough to have the label rubbed off and a brand new one).