Soldering station - advice ?

[Johndowacc]

Hi guys,

I am a first year Uni student (EE) and now I am looking for a good soldering station for general use. I am looking for something in the price range of up to 60pounds /100$. What do you think about these :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/60W-PROTECTION-SOLDERING-IRON-STATION/dp/B004X25LW8/ref=sr_1_1?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1362902215&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fixpoint%C2%AE-Digital-soldering-temperature-fixpoint/dp/B001G2LVE0/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1362900958&sr=1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toolcraft-ST80-D-Digital-Soldering-Station/dp/B003A5UVVA/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ce_2

Thanks for your help!

[Psi]

The main thing to keep in mind when buying a no-name or uncommon brand soldering station is the tips.

You want an iron that takes good quality tips produced by a good company.
A no-name soldering station with a good quality tip (eg hakko) will perform very well.

[Bored@Work]

First and last ones are probably rebadged ATTENs, the second one is a Zhongdi. All prices seem to be on the high side for these stations.

If you can't get a good brand and have to choose between those I would prefer the Zhongdi over anything ATTEN, although that particular Zhongdi is an old model. If you can instead get a real soldering station I wouldn't touch any station from your list.

[Amarbir[Lynx-India]]

Hi guys,

I am a first year Uni student (EE) and now I am looking for a good soldering station for general use. I am looking for something in the price range of up to 60pounds /100$. What do you think about these :
http://www.amazon.co.uk/60W-PROTECTION-SOLDERING-IRON-STATION/dp/B004X25LW8/ref=sr_1_1?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1362902215&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fixpoint%C2%AE-Digital-soldering-temperature-fixpoint/dp/B001G2LVE0/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1362900958&sr=1-8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toolcraft-ST80-D-Digital-Soldering-Station/dp/B003A5UVVA/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ce_2

Thanks for your help!

Sir ,
      Some brands and models to consider ..

1 : Weller WES51 should be in stock with many people in uk .
2 :  Hakko FX-888 " Though EOL You can still get it  "
3 : Goot PX-501 The one i was sinces ages .

[Johndowacc]

Thank you for your help !

HAKKO FX-888 seems like a good choice...the problem is that I don't know if I am buying a genuine one or not (especially when in the description I read something like"manual only in Chinese")... I prefer using amazon.co.uk but for some reason most soldering stations there are unknown brands... Is it really worth spending more money on soldering station like Weller WES51 considering that I am still a student and I don't really need something great... By the way as far as I know toolcraft is a German brand, does anybody have any experience with it ?

[amyk]

You can still get the 936 clones very cheaply. They take standard Hakko tips, replacement parts are plentiful, and the control circuit uses jellybean parts.

[Amarbir[Lynx-India]]

Thank you for your help !

HAKKO FX-888 seems like a good choice...the problem is that I don't know if I am buying a genuine one or not (especially when in the description I read something like"manual only in Chinese")... I prefer using amazon.co.uk but for some reason most soldering stations there are unknown brands... Is it really worth spending more money on soldering station like Weller WES51 considering that I am still a student and I don't really need something great... By the way as far as I know toolcraft is a German brand, does anybody have any experience with it ?

Sir ,
      Do Some Research before you answer the posts .The fx-888 and the weller seem to be priced same and so is goot  .If you ask me i will say go for goot .Its there on toolboom and many sites with delivery to all countries  .I Personally Do Not Sell Most items internationally even being a dealer and i am never biased .I made a small blog to quench my thirst of electronics - >  www.lynxchandigarh.com .I am still adding stuff in the top menu's like about us and all ,But i have posted a few Hindi/English Video Blogs  .The PX-501 i use is years old might be 10+

[flolic]

Any 936 clone with original Hakko tips. Fake tips looks good, until you compare them with original. Original ones perform magnitude better.

[Amarbir[Lynx-India]]

Any 936 clone with original Hakko tips. Fake tips looks good, until you compare them with original. Original ones perform magnitude better.

Well,
    i Do Not Recommend It .The Wand In The Goot Is 80 WAtts Also

[G7PSK]

Try Circuit specialists Europe, I got a soldering station from them and it turned out that the tips at least were Ayoue.
I have had the unit for a year now and not had any trouble with it, not been able to fault it at all really. Circuit specialist also stock spares for what they sell.

http://www.circuitspecialists.eu/

[Bored@Work]

By the way as far as I know toolcraft is a German brand, does anybody have any experience with it ?

Toolcraft is a label that Conrad slaps onto cheap tools they get from Asian OEMs. Just like Conrad slaps their Voltcraft label onto cheap Asian instruments to make them look more valuable. It is just a marketing gimmick, not a brand with any real pedigree.

This Toolcraft thing there is likely an ATTEN AT204D or a similar station from that series. ATTEN in turn has a nasty habit to copy the look of other manufacturers, so there is a small chance that Conrad got the station from another OEM, but I doubt it. ATTEN's copies are popular because they are cheap.

[ddavidebor]

I've an atten digital station.

The quality is very good for the price, and the tip are good, cheap and simple to find.

I prefer it to the old weller i also use.

[jpb]

I assume that you are in the UK.

The Hakko 888 is very good but out of your price range. There is only one dealer in the UK and that is DanCap:
http://www.dancap.co.uk/soldering/fx888.html
The price for the 888 is £88:18 + £10 p&p + VAT which comes to £118 which is roughly double your budget (I know this because I'm looking at buying a soldering station
at present and trying to decide between the Hakko 888D and the Esra i-Con nano which is even more expensive).

My suggestion would be to scrape and save to get the Hakko (Birthday and Christmas presents for the next ten years perhaps! ) as I think if you get something less for £60
you'll end up wanting to replace later anyway.

[IanB]

HAKKO FX-888 seems like a good choice...the problem is that I don't know if I am buying a genuine one or not (especially when in the description I read something like"manual only in Chinese")... I prefer using amazon.co.uk but for some reason most soldering stations there are unknown brands... Is it really worth spending more money on soldering station like Weller WES51 considering that I am still a student and I don't really need something great... By the way as far as I know toolcraft is a German brand, does anybody have any experience with it ?

You could consider the Antex TCS230, a standalone temperature controlled iron:

http://www.antex.co.uk/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=180&P_ID=828

Antex is a brand with an established history in the UK so you should not have any trouble getting a genuine item, spare tips will be readily available, and the price is quite reasonable at £55.

[KJDS]

It's been a long time since I've used a cheap soldering station.

I really like JBC, but I also like having a good range of different tips, so for home use can't justify them. I suspect if I did more soldering than I do then I'd find a way to make the man maths work. Instead I stick with a pair of Metcal SP200s.  I like having two because removing SMT parts becomes trivial. The bits for the Metcals aren't cheap, but there's a good selection readily available at a sensible price and they do manage to get good heat into small bits quickly, not as fast as a JBC but quickly enough for home use.

I've used many Wellers over the years, but for really small work they never quite got it right, and their little irons, whilst not brilliant for small stuff are poor for big stuff. For really big stuff, their big irons are as good as any I've used.

I did have a quick play with an Aoyue recently and that seemed to work ok but wasn't something I'd choose to buy.

[Amarbir[Lynx-India]]

Sir ,
     Goot i found here -> http://gsmserver.com/shop/equipment/soldering_assembly/by_brands/goot/

[Johndowacc]

I assume that you are in the UK.

The Hakko 888 is very good but out of your price range. There is only one dealer in the UK and that is DanCap:
http://www.dancap.co.uk/soldering/fx888.html
The price for the 888 is £88:18 + £10 p&p + VAT which comes to £118 which is roughly double your budget (I know this because I'm looking at buying a soldering station
at present and trying to decide between the Hakko 888D and the Esra i-Con nano which is even more expensive).

My suggestion would be to scrape and save to get the Hakko (Birthday and Christmas presents for the next ten years perhaps! ) as I think if you get something less for £60
you'll end up wanting to replace later anyway.

Well, if I can justify the difference in price between Hakko and some of the other stations I can give some more money...The point is that I am still a beginner (1st year student) so I need soldering station from time to time for trivial soldering (nothing special). So far nobody said what is the real advantage of buying good brand soldering station (apart of the obvious -reliability )...

I found this : http://www.bestofferbuy.com/Genuine-HAKKO-FX888-70W-Soldering-Station-AC-220V-p-78181.html?currency=GBP&utm_source=gbase&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=gbase_uk&gclid=CIaN5r_08rUCFUbKtAodNWoA6A

it is for 73 pounds and free shipping. The word "genuine" in the description is what makes me think that it might be far from genuine but 73 pounds still sounds reasonably if it is really genuine... Apart of that from what I can see from the pictures it doesn't really look like something of good quality... Probably because of the crappy design but since so many people say that it is a good one maybe I will go for it.

The other option is to buy something from USA amazon and wait 2 weeks for delivery....

P.S Thank you all for your replies ! : )

[IanB]

Well, if I can justify the difference in price between Hakko and some of the other stations I can give some more money...The point is that I am still a beginner (1st year student) so I need soldering station from time to time for trivial soldering (nothing special). So far nobody said what is the real advantage of buying good brand soldering station (apart of the obvious -reliability )...

A soldering station offers no advantage at all, apart from being bigger and taking up more room on your bench.

What you really need in an iron is temperature control, and most stations have this, as do some standalone irons like the Antex I mentioned.

With temperature control you can adjust the tip temperature so it is just right--hot enough to activate the flux, transfer heat to the joint, and make the solder flow freely, but not so hot that it burns the flux, lifts traces from the board or damages sensitive components.

The nice thing about temperature control is that it can feed a lot of heat into the job when needed, but automatically dial the heat flow back and keep the tip at the right temperature when the heat is not needed.

[Johndowacc]

What about the power ? Should I get 50w or 80w ? I intend to do mostly small electronics soldering so I guess 50w should be more than enough but the price difference is not big anyway so maybe I should get 80w soldering station? I just talked with a friend who is using toolcraft station and he said that so far he didn't have problems with it...If anybody has experience with toolcraft, please tell us your opinion : ) The other one which I am considering now is Weller WHS40 Z. I probably won't risk buying hakko from China considering the possibility to end up having some cheap fake...I have no idea why most of the good brand soldering stations are not widely available in the UK or if they are they are more expensive than the same thing in the US(amazon.com)...

[IanB]

50 W would be OK for small electronics soldering.

Is there a reason you are not responding to my Antex suggestion? If you have a reason for not liking that idea that's fine, but you don't seem to have acknowledged it either yes or no. That iron would be readily available and the price is good.

[Telstar]

What you really need in an iron is temperature control, and most stations have this, as do some standalone irons like the Antex I mentioned.

If the power is enough, he can find in UK the JBC regulated iron for around 60£ IIRC, but I remember it's only 50W. Google it.

[potatogun96]

Even though the Hakko FX-888 is expensive, it was well worth it. I bought one and couldn't be happier. It is overkill for my needs, but it works amazing and will last 30 years.

[ddavidebor]

Oh a thing... Be sure that the solder doesn't look like the one in the atten-98zd.

There are a lot of chinese good quality solder station with this sucking solder that will burn your hands and broke into 1000 pieces.

Be sure if you pick up a chinese station that it has a solder like the atten 938d

[midasgossye]

I would suggest a hakko soldering station. The price/quality is THE best!

[iamnothim]

I love my 888.
I'm a novice and it is very easy to work with for both new work and rework.
It comes up to temp quickly and is very accurate.  I noticed this between rework and new work.

Because I'm a novice the separate holding/cleaning stand is great.
As clumsy as I am, I'm not going to knock it over.
The integral cleaner amazes me.....  Sponge, rubber scraper, and the wire wool.
Well thought out and easy to use, esp. for a beginner that loses track of where the iron is.