What soldering iron at 50$ should I pick?

[samocamo123]

I was just wondering, what soldering iron at about 50$ should I pick? I don't do an insane amount of soldering so I want to keep the budget around 50$ I was looking at the TS100/Sainsmart Pro 32 because it is portable and heats up insanely fast (5-10 sec) but I was wondering if something like the YiHUA 936 or even the 8786D which has a hot air rework gun (which could be useful if I ever want to go more advanced into electronics repair and etc) would be better. What soldering iron do you think is the best at about 50$

[james_s]

Maybe look for a used Hakko 936? That's one of my favorite irons.

There isn't much out there between the junky $20 Chinese clones and $100+ name brand soldering stations.

[Kjelt]

Buy a second hand older Weller/JBC/Hakko/......... and a new tip.

[GreyWoolfe]

Be careful buying used Hakko 936s.  Make sure they are complete and sold from the US.  Also know that any new 936s are fake.  Hakko discontinued them several years ago.  The biggest problem with the fake 936s is that the tip to heating element fit isn't very tight which affects thermal performance.  Also the fake tips are crap.

[james_s]

Yes that's a good point, the Hakko 936 is probably the most faked soldering station in the world, and most(all?) of the fakes are pretty crappy. I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It's too bad they discontinued it.

[saturation]

For US buyer consider the $50 Japanese Hakko FX601-01, its the reimagined 936, search for old posts in the forum.  Its rated at 100VAC but will work well in the USA at 120VAC; Japanese packaging.  May be available from Amazon but definitely eBay.  US version is 601-05 and is $80 and just packaged for US distribution.