>Is hot air capability mostly a desoldering aid?

Essentially Yes.

>Is it something I actually need to do limited work with
>SMDs? If I really do need hot air to effectively work
>with the larger SMDs then I'll (reluctantly) consider a
>more expensive solution.

Well, I guess the answer to that depends on how many ICs you intend to
remove. That is the major area where hot air is useful. Even for an SO-8 IC,
hot air is the easiest way to remove the chip.

The alternative is to unsolder each lead individually and lift it up with a
fine scalpel blade, so it is clear of the pad, while you do the next one ...
and so on until you have done them all. This can get extremely tedious when
doing larger chips. Using hot air to heat all the pins at once makes the job
a lot easier.

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist