I'm not the soldering expert in my family, however my dad is. Whenever he isn't using or anticipates a slight break in soldering action, he will load up the tip of the soldering iron with solder... lots of solder - and now with his fancier soldering station he turns the heat down too. He will also do this before he turns the iron off.
I forget why he does it. I want to say it helps to prevent the tip to from oxidizing and becoming brittle, but for some reason, I feel like I'm making that up.
Nonetheless, when he's ready to solder again, he'll turn the heat back up, wipe the tip clean and with the freshly "tinned" tip, go back at it. I can't remember him ever having to replace a tip, unless he needs a different size or my brother breaks it.
As for brands, I have a basic Weller model that was a hand-me-down. I have another one that I'm guessing came from Harbor Freight. It has adjustable heat control. For electronics assembly, you wouldn't want more than 700 degrees for most parts.
That's my 2 cents. Happy building!
Steve