My old soldering iron finally gave up a few days back. I am looking for a soldering station with temperature controlled tip. Came across a site. It has some reviews about these best soldering stations models. Are they really best? Not too sure.
I heard weller wesd51 before. But, never heard about Hakko. Yet, that hakko fx888d has a perfect 5 star rating from amazon. Plus, it is a lot cheaper than weller's. My budget is around $100. Seriously do not know what to choose. I am wondering if any of you guys have used hakko fx888d before. How is your experience with it? Any input could be helpful. Thank you.
Appreciate it. Looks like it is indeed good. I am seriously thinking about buying it. By the way, what are those "Hakko Sensor For Solder Tip Thermometer" for?
As LarryD says, the Hakko FX888 is very popular but beware there are many inferior copies being passed off as genune Hakkos, so ensure you buy from a genuine local Hakko dealer.
Go to Hakkos web site to view the distributors list for your country.
The Weller irons are probably one of the best around, well liked by the trade users, but at ridiculous prices for the average hobbyist.
The Hakkos go for around for around the $130 mark, but if your budget cannnot go to that, consider something like a clone 936, just search ebay on "936 solder station" , you can pick one up for around $30.
Got one myself, perfect for basic work.
If your really want to know about solding stations then look up the EEVblog forum and ytubes where solder stations are always a hot topic.
The two items in post #2 go together.
You can measure iron tip temperature with this meter, ~50 measurements with each sensor.
The Hakko iron can then be calibrated to this measured temperature, mine was initially out by 10'C at 400'C.
This thermometer is not needed, but for about ~30 dollars not too expensive.
Appreciate the input. Did not know there are many hakko clones around. According to that review, some of the clones do not look too bad actually..
ricky101:
As LarryD says, the Hakko FX888 is very popular but beware there are many inferior copies being passed off as genune Hakkos, so ensure you buy from a genuine local Hakko dealer.
Go to Hakkos web site to view the distributors list for your country.
The Weller irons are probably one of the best around, well liked by the trade users, but at ridiculous prices for the average hobbyist.
The Hakkos go for around for around the $130 mark, but if your budget cannnot go to that, consider something like a clone 936, just search ebay on "936 solder station" , you can pick one up for around $30.
Got one myself, perfect for basic work.
wongg:
Appreciate the input. Did not know there are many hakko clones around. According to that review, some of the clones do not look too bad actually..
The real point was that many folk have ordered what they though was a genuine Hakko, only to discover it was a clone.
The 936 original was the FX888 of its day but the one I bought was known as a clone and its low price relected that, still a decent station though, now 2 years old, and , within its price bracket, also give it 5 out of 5.
This guy actually did a video review about hakko 936 and one of its clones. 15 minute video. Quite interesting. The takeaway is that the quality of the clone is inferior than that of hakko's. But, he think that the clone is well worth $25. Not sure how to post the video. Here is the link. Yihua Hakko 936 Soldering Station Comparison - YouTube
What you have not mentioned is how much you use such an iron, light or heavy hobby level or repair or small production ..
Those WES 51 seem to be an American only unit as they only list as 110v, never seen 240v for Europe.
The Hakko FX88, I would be careful even buying from Amazon, make sure the actual seller is on the Hakko ldistributors list , otherwise you could get a fake, unless you intentionally go for a clone.
List of distrubutors here -
The humble 936 clone at $25 ish - you could get one first and even if you decided to then go for a FX88 the 936 would still be a good backup / portable tool.
I've been soldering for a long time too, but as an amateur the whole time. I used to just get a cheapie, and replace it when it wouldn't work. Well, that's good philosophy no matter what, right?
I now use a Hakko 990, 20 watt iron - with a high power (130 watt) push button. I LOVE the button!
Temperature controlled irons are great for predictable soldering of similar joints. As an amateur, I often encounter situations that are a one-off.so it's nice to have that button: I hold my iron against a joint. Nothing melts for a second or two, so I push the button. Suddenly, everything melts, so I position things fast, release the button, and as soon as I like it, withdraw the iron. I get a perfect, shiny joint nearly every time, no matter how weird it is!
For the last 20 yrs, or so, before I retired, I had access to many different irons. For the last 15 yrs I used, exclusivly an Ersa DIGITAL 2000 A. This I had attached to a, now, obsolete switch box which allowed me to have ant of 3 irons available at a push of a button.
Ersa are not cheap, but they are very good and very reliable.
Exist different kinds of solder iron, so you can easily manage with various projects of soldering. And because of this i think a Soldering station is a good like a "universal soldering" they have a display for temperature controlled and you can make Temperature enough for the project you manage. Because when you need to get a soldering iron first you must know for what project you will use and choose the right one for you. Also, find this Review and information to choose the right Soldering Iron. You can find details about Soldering irons types and Soldering Irons tips
