Hakko Soldering Station - Clone

[Lunat1c]

Are these soldering stations any good? Not that I expect them to be first class but how's their value for money? Being from europe it costs a fortune to ship a good weller/hakko station from overseas but these come with Free P&P.

e.g. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/220V-SOLDERING-STATION-IRON-TOOL-WELDING-60W-936-/190500201942?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item2c5ab265d6#ht_3820wt_905

[Simon]

my gut feeling is: too good to be true but hey, I'm no expert

[Bored@Work]

They do work. I wouldn't want one in a professional workshop, and they would probably break quickly under heavy 8h/day x 5days/week usage in a workshop, but they are usable for hobby work. Don't expect superior quality, but they typically get hot and keep their temperature.

The eBay item you pointed to will be shipped from China. So your local customs might collect duties for it, which might make it more expensive than you would expect. http://www.pcb-soldering.co.uk/soldering-irons.html sells cheap soldering stations directly in the UK, but their 936 clone is currently out of stock.

[Lunat1c]

The eBay item you pointed to will be shipped from China. So your local customs might collect duties for it, which might make it more expensive than you would expect. http://www.pcb-soldering.co.uk/soldering-irons.html sells cheap soldering stations directly in the UK, but their 936 clone is currently out of stock.

I checked and apparently they don't collect duties for anything <$150 and no VAT for anything <$30.

pcb-soldering.co.uk seems to have some nice soldering stations indeed. In fact this one seems great: http://www.pcb-soldering.co.uk/atten-at938d-professional-60w-soldering-station.html

The only downside is that it would cost 24GBP just to ship it. More than half its price!! I hate the fact that I don't live in mainland europe 

[Alex]

I always say that 'the cheapest tools are the expensive ones', but I appreciate not everyone can afford investing in one.

At this price range, a variable temperature soldering station is screaming that some major cost-reductions were made.
Therefore, for this price point, I feel it is better to buy a fixed temperature soldering iron from Ersa, Weller or Antex, also from ebay. Temperature control is overrated.

Alex

[Simon]

I find I can work quite well with a nice antex iron, I currently use the 12W version, it costs £18 and the tips are around £ 3-4, I use the 2.3mm and 1mm depending on the work I'm doing.