A lot of people seem to reference the time it takes for their solder station to heat up (not just in this thread). Am I missing something? Sure it sounds impressive for an iron to heat up in a couple of seconds but does it really matter? People make it sound like they are doing formula 1 style pit stops with PCBs on their bench.

If I'm doing a cap kit my iron is going to be on for a minimum of an hour. If I'm replacing an IC it's going to obviously be less but I'm still going to turn it on and leave it on until the job is done and tested. It's not like I'm flicking it on and off every minute. What's important is that it maintains temperature, the handle doesn't heat up, the handle wire is flexible, etc. I would never avoid a soldering station because it took 20 seconds longer to heat up versus another one.