Hi all,
Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but I couldn't find much recently on searching the forum. I'm looking for a desoldering gun on ebay. I've wanted one since the ZD-985 was featured on the blog but didn't have justification for spending the money until now because I'm doing quite a bit more plated through holes at the moment. However now there are several similar looking models to choose from I wondered if I could get some opinions.
Firstly I should say I've already got solder wick and a spring loaded solder sucker, so please don't suggest those. I've seen desoldering irons on ebay that combine a $0.99 soldersucker and a $0.99 soldering iron into a single unit
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-1PC-Solder-Sucker-Desoldering-Pump-Tool-Removal-Vacuum-Soldering-Iron-/181925246653and something very similar but a lot more bulky, still sprung loaded not an electric vacuum pump
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30W-220V-50Hz-Electric-Vacuum-Solder-Sucker-Desoldering-Pump-Tool-Iron-Gun-/121783724650I expect the first one at least will clog up very easily and really I want something with continuous suction to clear out plated through holes nicely. I don't think these would be any better than a hand held solder sucker, so these are ruled out for now.
Now there are the following options as far as I can tell in a few minutes of looking:
Options with a base station, but other than the look of it I can't see much difference.
ZD-915 / Duratool d00672 £83
ZD-985 £90
Options that plug straight into the wall with a single pump in the gun. I can't see any difference between the 2 other than one has 2 extra tips in the listing. If anyone knows the difference please tell me.
S-993A £74
S-995A £86. It also looks like the temperature dial has moved and got a knob on it rather than needing a screwdriver to set. I don't know if this means one is a more regulated temperature than the other though or just the pot has been moved.
As above but with 2 pumps in the back. I've pretty much ruled that out, but I wanted to ask out of curiosity, why would you need 2 pumps?
S-996A £122
S-998A £131
Hakko 808. Nice but over budget and genuine Hakko is very difficult to get here (other than fake 888s on ebay).
So can anyone help me out by telling me any differences between the models I should be aware of, any experiece on quality and whether it'd be worthwhile to buy, any opinions on getting one with a base station vs one that plugs right into the wall etc. Do the base station ones have beefier pumps than the others?
Cheers,
Matt