I have a project where I'm about to order the PCB's for a first prototype, and I'm staring at the option of HASL vs. ENIG on the website. I will hand solder it with an iron, the smallest pitch part is 0.5mm (which I've succesfully soldered before, though with some difficulty, on a board with HASL finish). My skills with the soldering iron are not especially good, although as mentioned, I have succesfully soldered similar parts before, and I'm learning to be better all the time.
Now based on this question, I suppose an ENIG finish might save me some headache at these pitches. On the other hand, based on this website, one of the disadvantages of ENIG is "not reworkable".
Since this is a prototype, I will certainly have to swap around some 0603 resistors and maybe capacitors, once I get to evaluate the device in action, to find the right values, and test if some noise-reducing RC -filters are even necessary in the first place.
The question is: is ENIG so bad for rework that, considering I know for sure I will have to replace at least some resistors, I should go for HASL and just deal with the HASLle of soldering the fine pitch parts there?
In terms of price, the difference in the board house I'm using is 25$ for 10 PCB's between HASL vs. ENIG, which is not prohibitive, although if it's a close match, the price might be a tie-breaker in favor of HASL.