Dk, the only problem with that is you know this, the maker of a 'lead free solder station' may not, so there is NO guarantee of any kind that the label "lead free" if assigned to the station means it has more power (the power should be stated separately)
I have never seen a soldering station that certified the plating thickness on their iron. The thicker the deposit does not mean better because thicker plating also flakes/chips off faster than thinner deposits do and generally are more porous, especially under repeated heating/cooling cycles. You should LIBERALLY use tip tinner/cleaner on your iron. The 'cleaner' portion is just an acidic flux which removes oxide and 'crud' from the iron tip. The 'tinner' portion is tiny tin/lead solder flakes dissolved in the solid flux, you dip the iron, clean it off with a damp sponge and bam it's like a new tip. I got the stuff I use as a small disc from radio shack. I hate radio shack but the stuff works incredbly well, I will be finding a new place to get solid tinner/cleaner discs when the two I have run out.
I tin/clean the tip of my iron before I start soldering, and if I set the iron down for more than 10 seconds (oxidiation), I also tin/clean it about 5 seconds after I shut the iron off and then cool it down to the point where it won't vaporize water anymore, (no oxidation can occurs then) The tip on my iron is still as good as the day I bought it.