[Eliot Ness]

....... I to use solder wick but i am rarely impressed by it because of the long period of time you spend putting heat on the object/area/solder run....... 

I've found over the years that some soldering braid works much better than others.  A little extra liquid flux tends to also help.

.......the long nose hot air variety with a foot pedal are best.  they wont be 20$ though but they are the best.

Unfortunately many of us can't justify the cost of that type of desoldering station for hobby use.   When I worked in the field repairing medical equipment we were also limited to what was available to us.  We became very adapt at using a quality Weller or Ungar pencil along with solder  wick and solder suckers.  

There were a few times when I tossed my Weller soldering station in the van, but desoldering was always wick and solder suckers, and my favorite became the DS017, although for many years the generic smaller aluminum bodied ones worked OK.

My late brother built one out of an old shark vacuum cleaner his wife had around.  Although I never actually tried it, I did see it when I was clearing out his shop for my sister-in-law.  That was one of the few items from his shop that I left behind...... mainly because his wife exclaimed, "that's what happened to my little vacuum cleaner"