I got one for X-mass as a cheep-o stocking stuffer.
It is a resistance iron that creates heat through passing high current across whatever you are trying to solder. The tip is split and you have to make contact to both sides to create heat. This would be deadly to any sensitive equipment if you were to bridge 2 leads.
The tip the give is called the chisel tip, think big and fat. They offer a smaller tip on their website.
I tried the whole trick of touching the tip right after soldering something, Yeah not a good idea, I'm sure it was better than touching a metal tip, but not by much. My wife gave me a dope slap after that.