Hakko FX-888D 230v vs ERSA i-CON Nano

[capf]

Hello everyone  ,

I live in Europe and I want to buy a good soldering station that will last many years. I will use mainly for smartphone repairs (hobbyist).
I searched for a while and I'm having some trouble deciding between the Hakko FX-888D and the ERSA i-CON Nano .

I can buy the hakko from batterfly for ~140 € / 163$ (including shipping etc..) and the ERSA from Amazon.de for ~186€ / 216$

I understant that both are great choices but in your opinion what would be the most reasonable choice ?

Thank you

[frozenfrogz]

Personally I would go with the Ersa i-Con Nano.
The small i-Tool is great IMO. Feature wise both stations should give you a decent selection of soldering tips. Heat up time of the Ersa is significantly faster than the Hakko.

Since the question has been asked before: Here is a thread to look at and you should find a lot of input via the search function.
Right now the Nano is on discount at amazon.de for 170€ shipped.

[Andy Watson]

Another vote for the nano. Remember to check the price and availability of consumables - like bits.

[wraper]

888D is a joke compared to nano.

[nanofrog]

888D is a joke compared to nano.

+1

The Ersa iCon Nano would kick the FX-888D to the curb. 

[IanB]

I think the Hakko FX-951 is more comparable to the ERSA, but probably more expensive...

[nanofrog]

I think the Hakko FX-951 is more comparable to the ERSA, but probably more expensive...

FWIW, Batterfly has the FX-951 for 279EUR before VAT. Get the cart to 300EUR, and shipping is free (a few tips would take care of this). 

[Gromitt]

I think the Hakko FX-951 is more comparable to the ERSA, but probably more expensive...

FWIW, Batterfly has the FX-951 for 279EUR before VAT. Get the cart to 300EUR, and shipping is free (a few tips would take care of this). 

And for roughly the same price as a FX-951 you can get a Ersa i-CON1 https://www.ersa-shop.com/ersa-icon1-profil%C3%B6tstation-itool-150w-autostandby-p-2224.html

[nanofrog]

I think the Hakko FX-951 is more comparable to the ERSA, but probably more expensive...

FWIW, Batterfly has the FX-951 for 279EUR before VAT. Get the cart to 300EUR, and shipping is free (a few tips would take care of this). 

And for roughly the same price as a FX-951 you can get a Ersa i-CON1 https://www.ersa-shop.com/ersa-icon1-profil%C3%B6tstation-itool-150w-autostandby-p-2224.html

Not sure how bad customs fees are (heard some stories), so figured best to stay between the two requested stations.

That said, I'd opt for the I-Con 1 if it were me in this situation. The UI alone would be worth the extra money IMHO, and Ersa also offers tweezers for it if needed (FX-951 only works with 2 irons).

[Nuno_pt]

Inside EEC there is no customs fees. The customs fees are only for products outside EEC country's.

In Portugal for everything above 22€ declared value, you've to pay 23% VAT on top of the declared price + 10€ for opening the package, plus some other TAX depending on the product, can go from 0% to over 30%.

But it pass many things over that value and without any problems.

[wraper]

Including VAT FX-951 would be EUR 340. Better to buy I-CON 1 for a little bit less if that's the choice. Also ersa have cheaper and more durable tips. Not that there is a lot of difference between nano and I-CON 1 if you don't use large tips, though. I-CON 1 have motion sensor inside the handpiece, so standby mode works really well, and higher power. Heater and tips are the same, however Nano powers heater from 16.5V, I-CON 1 from 24V.

[wraper]

BTW I would suggest to buy tip holder for each tip you use as it makes changing them much easier.

[nanofrog]

BTW I would suggest to buy tip holder for each tip you use as it makes changing them much easier.

+1 

[sn4k3]

+1 for ERSA and you can buy directly from ERSA-SHOP
Buy a tip holder for each tip as suggested
Myself i have the i-con 2V [i-tool + chip-tool] but nano is just as fine and i-tool is one of the best handpiece ever. About chip tool i think is not worth, i had problems on first months and got replaced, thermal and performance fell inferior compared to i-tool when soldering

You can also read this: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/(tip)-best-budgetcheap-soldering-stations-and-tools/
Nano on the list

[capf]

thank you everyone for your help 

after reading all the posts I think I will buy the i-CON nano. The Fx-951 and the ERSA I-CON 1 are very expensive  , or should I say, they are over my budget. I don't know if the possibility of using the tweezers justify or not the price difference

[Rolo]

I followed this post in making a choice what soldering station I should buy. I have made a decision and this is on my desk today :



A genuine Hakko, 230V AC model with europe mains plug (I live in The Netherlands). They are a bit more expensive here compared to the US, but I wanted an original. I hope this will serve me a few years. The iron feels very good, nice grip, light. Following Dave's advice on I bought three tips with it, all chissel shaped, 0,8 - 1,6 - 3,2 mm. There was a round, thin tip in the iron from the factory.

[nanofrog]

A genuine Hakko, 230V AC model with Europe mains plug (I live in The Netherlands). They are a bit more expensive here compared to the US, but I wanted an original. I hope this will serve me a few years.

It will. 

And with basic care (keep it tinned), tips can last 10+ years.

[KL27x]

I followed this post in making a choice what soldering station I should buy [Hakko 888D]

^This is ironic, because there are many recommendations in this specific post. And ALL of them recommend the Ersa. I think you made a good choice, though. Hakko have great tip selection and are made to last. You can't hardly break it, if you tried.

I recommended to a friend (who already has several $200+ stations) to buy a 936 clone for a particular job, so he could use some specific Hakko tips, and when I incidentally used it, one day... lol. I noticed the handle got weirdly hot within just a few minutes of turning it on. So clones are not necessarily a good way to judge a Hakko 888. But for under 30.00, he can try some great tips shapes and buy the real thing, later, if he finds them useful.

Ersa might have better stats. But IME, tip selection/shape, ergos, run-cost, and reliability are pretty important. As long as the station is powerful enough to do the biz, the warm up time means nothing to me. Prices depends a bit on the market. Ergos are kinda subjective. Tip selection depends a bit on what your doing and also somewhat subjective. Reliability? I don't think there's any question. You can't find a broken Hakko 888. I've poked around in mine, doing some stuff. And it survived some pretty bone-headed mistakes/shorts... as in making sparks. I'm genuinely surprised I didn't break it.

If doing lead-free, I think the standby/sleep is an nice feature of the Ersa. But not necessary for most lead soldering. I leave mine on for hours at a time (while debugging/coding I might have it on for hours while making one or two joints) and have yet to buy a replacement tip in over 8 years. The "wake up" time is instant when you just leave it on, lol.

[sainter]

+1 For Ersa i-con nano. I think i-con 1 is not worth the money (chirp tool only works with V model stations, that is i-con 1V and i-con 2V).
+1 on buying a holder for all your tips. Because changing holders is not a quick job to do. It's a good thing the holders are cheap.

Tip selection for ersa is excellent, and there is a fine selection of more exotic tips also.

[KL27x]

I wonder why the tip holder needs to be so tight? If you just sanded out it out so the tip dropped out easily, wouldn't it still work? Then you wouldn't need to buy a holder for every tip?

As for tip selection, it is different. I don't see TFO tips. Maybe I just don't know how to find them. Hakko website makes it easy to see what's available. OTOH, Ersa makes some really huge chisels that you can't get for a Hakko. I suppose it depends on your needs.

IMO, buy the tool for the job. Whichever one that does it more efficiently. (And the right tip is a large part of this, IME). All else equal, I tend to go with whatever costs less (in the long run). Ersa have a good reputation, for sure. But sometimes we see things as "upgrades" which don't really affect anything. 951 is only an upgrade over an 888, for instance, if it does something more efficiently for you.  And IME, if you have ever found a tip that is magic for you, you wouldn't consider buying a soldering iron, period, until you have found the right tips for it. The other stats don't matter squat compared to that.

[Rolo]

Yes, most votes were for the Ersa Nano, here are some arguments that made me choose the Hakko :
- Combined sponge and brass curls in holder.
- Price, I preffered to buy the whole package (with 3 tips) for about 150 euro.
- All the reviews were positive

Not having the standby/sleep was an issue but I think I will not miss it, I only use leaded solder. And having a 30 seconds warm up time I can shut it off if not used for a longer time. I'm doing only hobby work.
Also the preset can be used to emulate standby, have to experiment with that.
 

[frozenfrogz]

Congrats to your new tool!

I think i-con 1 is not worth the money (chirp tool only works with V model stations, that is i-con 1V and i-con 2V).

...unless you get lucky and can hunt down one of the first i-Con stations (without number) used and cheap, what is basically the 1V.
I bought one a week ago from small ads for 110€ because of defective back light (fixing takes 10 minutes and less than 1€ in parts). It "only" came with the power tool, but I also found an i-Tool in excellent condition for 75€ - that is 185€ total and now I wonder how I could have been soldering with anything else in the past!
The My-first-Sony look of the Hakkos always threw me of a little and I already knew the performance of i-Con Nano stations.
However, Hakko and Ersa are pretty comparable performance wise IMO, plus the Hakko tips are widely available and much cheaper - particularly the »special« tips, such as horse shoe wells etc. Ersa charges at least three times more for these compared to the basic 102 series tips, where Hakko tips are almost all the same price (and even cheaper than the basic 102 and 832 tips).

[KL27x]

Not having the standby/sleep was an issue but I think I will not miss it, I only use leaded solder. And having a 30 seconds warm up time I can shut it off if not used for a longer time. I'm doing only hobby work.
Also the preset can be used to emulate standby, have to experiment with that.

I have experimented with that, extensively, lol. My 888D is modified with 5 preset buttons, so I don't have to use the Hakko UI. I can change to a standby temp with the press of a button. After playing with that for a month, I no longer do it, like ever. Unless I have to up the temp to over maybe 340C, I don't care one bit about leaving it on. (Somewhere much north of about 350, maybe, the chrome plating on the tip will darken if you leave it on for 10 hours while you are asleep.)* Shut it off if not used for a longer time? No way; not til I'm done. I am not going to save the planet by using 6-7W less power.

*I suppose it probably depends on the atmospheric conditions where you are, though. And maybe what kind of solder/flux you use.

[wraper]

As for tip selection, it is different. I don't see TFO tips. Maybe I just don't know how to find them. Hakko website makes it easy to see what's available. OTOH, Ersa makes some really huge chisels that you can't get for a Hakko. I suppose it depends on your needs.

There are with flat bottom and solder wave. Page 40, 41.
http://www.microsolder.hu/letoltesek/ERSA%20m%C5%B1szaki%20adatlapok/Ersa_Werkzeugkatalog_eng_web_2017.pdf

[KL27x]

There are with flat bottom and solder wave. Page 40, 41.

Help?
How do you know which ones are TFO? I have looked at page 40 and 41, and I know they're not ALL TFO, because there are bent conicals, or I guess Ersa calls them "pencil points" on those pages.

I wish manufacturers would show the line where the chrome plating stops. Hakko doesn't do this, either, but they at least list "tinned face only" in the description at the bottom of the tip mechanical drawing, and they use suffix "F" for the part number.

Hakko describes what the part number actually means, quite clearly, such as:
"Shape D

This type has a shape like a flat-blade screwdriver and is capable of soldering by applying the tip in 2 ways: line and face.
The width (size of tip) suitable for the workpiece can be selected, and it can be used for any soldering work."

D is chisel, basically. B is conical. C is "cut face" (bevel/hoof). CM is a modified cut-face (spoon/well), CF is a TFO hoof. BC would be hoof with a conical shaft/base. The number at the end is the diameter of a hoof or width of a chisel, in millimeters. I'm having hard time to figure out if Ersa part numbers have a rhyme or reason.

Not to mention Hakko tip selector you can sort by the station? Wouldn't that be nice.

Do they have a TFO chisel or knife tip? I kinda assume all knives are TFO, but maybe that's just how hakko does it.