The newer ones put thermocouple and heater in the tip so you get much faster reaction, which means they can get away with less power as they react faster. Not gonna help with desoldering some thick cables tho, for that you need raw power. Then again, ones like TS101 have the raw power comparable to the stations.

That being said difference between one and good classical soldering station isn't that big.

> but I'm not sure why someone would choose them for their bench iron, which seems to be what a bunch of attendees were suggesting they do with their USB/battery irons.

Frankly because they are cheaper...