Honestly, the best iron I've purchased is a Proctor Silex I got from the hardware store, of all places, for $10. It gets hot hot and best of all, doesn't turn off until I tell it to. However, this is my preference in an iron.
I was gifted a wonderful iron years ago, it was a Reliable Digital Velocity and I loved it. But it eventually quit working and when I went to replace it, I discovered it was out of my budget. Then I found the hardware store iron and have been happy since.