If you want cheap and reliable, go with the low end Weller mentioned above. They are reliable and you can get tips easily. I'm personally fond of Metcals, but at $220 for their low end unit, it's probably more than you want to spend.
You can often get a used Metcal for a reasonable price, e.g., an RFG-30 or PS2E-01. An MX-500 usually sells for quite a bit more. All three of those models use the same RM3E (STSS or MX) handpiece and associated tip cartridges (which is the important part, as the handpiece and short grip-to-tip distance is a big part of what makes Metcals so great).
With the way RF-based Metcals work, if you buy a new tip cartridge, you have a new soldering station in terms of performance, because the power supply itself is just a big RF generator (if it works it works); all of the things which affect performance (such as temperature regulation, i.e. the heat control mechanism) are contained in the tip cartridge.
This is my RFG-30 that I got used/untested for less than $40 shipped on eBay about 5 years ago (it included the handpiece, stand, and a used tip cartridge):
My video shows the other thing which makes Metcals so great; i.e., the very fast recovery time (the tip reaches operating temperature, starting from room temperature, in 10 seconds [from 0:30 to 0:40 in the video]).
I learned to solder on a Metcal about 15 years ago when I got a job in a PCB factory (and all other brands of soldering irons feel like junk to me in comparison). I worked there for about 2 years, soldering and inspecting about 1,000 boards a night. We used the RFG-30, PS2E-01, and MX-500 models interchangeably (my preferred tip cartridge was/is the STTC-126), and I never noticed any difference in performance among them. The PS2E-01 and MX-500 models do have more wattage than the RFG-30, but the RFG-30 already had plenty of power to keep up with extremely rapid, sustained assembly line soldering (about 1 through-hole joint per second, for many hours at a time).
This BYOAC thread that I made when I first got my own Metcal to use at home has a lot of information for anyone looking to buy a used Metcal.