Low Cost Soldering Station hobbyist use

[poorchava]

Tips are reasonably good. I'm using mine almost daily, often many hours in a row and I've had the same tip for more than 2 years, I don't remember exactly. Those can be bought on auction sites like ebay or other country-specific ones. The knife-blade shaped tip I use for almost everything costed about 7€ or somehing like that.

[bneo99]

Sent to Hakko Singapore and they didn't reply so I emailed again to Hakko Malaysia in KL and this is their reply. (I asked for the price for both FX-888D and FX-951)

Hakko Sdn Bhd KL Sales
   
09:00 (10 hours ago)
      
to me

Dear Bryan,


Thank you for your enquiry and we are sole distributor in Malaysia. Our address is :-
 

Hakko Products Sdn Bhd

No.22 Jalan Pemberita U1/49,

Sekeyrn U1,

Temasya Industrial Park,

41050 Glenmarie, Shah Alam Selangor.
 

Tel:03-55695223

Fax:03-55695221

The price for FX888D-2243C(B) is RM488.00 per set and FX951-5833C is RM950.00 per set both ex stock.

(both also 3Core ) If you want American plug only  100V/110V) And also we will charge courier charge according to the weight.

Regards

So the price they offered me is about half the price of the same one at element14 but I asked them again is there any discount and they replied nope.

[dannyf]

So the price they offered me is about half the price of the same one at element14 but I asked them again is there any discount and they replied nope.

Sounds like you want a more-than-fair price.

[Rick Law]

...
So the price they offered me is about half the price of the same one at element14 but I asked them again is there any discount and they replied nope.

For professionals, time is money.  Product means income and quality is part of that.  Any unnecessary fiddling a professional do to achieve "professional outcome" is money lost.

In my view, for hobbyist however, I think one should not get too stuck about the "quality tool".  My experience is that one learns a lot more having to improvise and adept.  When budget-for-hobby is limited, perhaps it is a good idea to spread the money around from one item to another. You may be better off learning on something less expensive (but good enough), and when you outgrow that less expensive tool, then shoot for a better one.  Mean time, you can use that $ saved to try different projects.

I would suggest you look again at these two replies (quoted below) that Danny wrote earlier in this thread.

Rick

I would suggest that you find your budget first, and then explore what can be done within that budget.

I would say if you pay more than $40 for a temperature controlled iron, you have paid too much, particularly given that you can use irons intended for China (220v vs. 240v).

There are many ways to control temperature. I would pay more attention to availability / quality of tips, handles and such. There are also irons with the controller integrated into the handle, at a much lower price point.

It may not be worth it, or possible, for you to buy the real Hakko solder iron.

There are also irons with the controller integrated into the handle, at a much lower price point.

Here is what I meant, shamelessly copied from ebay.

I have two of them, bought 5 - 10 years ago and thoroughly abused, one with its heating element broken, and one with its tip going red hot (more like white hot). They are still working today.

They are my throw-away irons, except that they simply refuse to die.

The brand name is called "Yellow Flower", with transparent body. The latest iteration has a lcd read-out, going for 5 - 6 usd in China (220v version). They should be better than mine (knock offs).

[bneo99]

So the price they offered me is about half the price of the same one at element14 but I asked them again is there any discount and they replied nope.

Sounds like you want a more-than-fair price.

Students, poor students in a country where the money value drops by the day. LOL

...
So the price they offered me is about half the price of the same one at element14 but I asked them again is there any discount and they replied nope.

For professionals, time is money.  Product means income and quality is part of that.  Any unnecessary fiddling a professional do to achieve "professional outcome" is money lost.

In my view, for hobbyist however, I think one should not get too stuck about the "quality tool".  My experience is that one learns a lot more having to improvise and adept.  When budget-for-hobby is limited, perhaps it is a good idea to spread the money around from one item to another. You may be better off learning on something less expensive (but good enough), and when you outgrow that less expensive tool, then shoot for a better one.  Mean time, you can use that $ saved to try different projects.

I would suggest you look again at these two replies (quoted below) that Danny wrote earlier in this thread.

Rick
*removed the 2 quoted replies because they make this reply long...

Yeah but I do not plan to change my station anytime soon (5-10 years or more?) so I would prefer something that would last that much amount of time (of course when used with care)

Also, I want the quality because I plan to occasionally do repairs for people like friends and families members so having a quality brand tool that have been getting recommendations by people helps me to be sure that It will be safe for soldering random sensitive components.

[nanofrog]

Yeah but I do not plan to change my station anytime soon (5-10 years or more?) so I would prefer something that would last that much amount of time (of course when used with care)

The problem is, quality costs money. 

As I see it, you've three potential solutions:
1. Save up for a brand new quality station (assumes the latest quote is out of budget). Just requires patience.
2. Look for a good quality used unit (just make sure it has all the necessary parts to make it work, and that spares are still available).
3. Buy Chinese and cross your fingers.  

#2 is the best way you'll get to your goal of quality at low cost. Compromise being it's used, likely not that wonderful cosmetically speaking, and may not have all of the bits and pieces it came with (i.e. you get the base + iron, but the stand is missing).

You'll need to be patient for a good deal on a used station to appear, assuming they come available in your market.

[dannyf]

to be sure that It will be safe for soldering random sensitive components.

Those $4 irons sold by Radioshack, just as an example, are perfectly safe for soldering random sensitive components.

If that's your top priority, picking one is easy, especially if you want to pay more.

[analogix]

Yeah, Goot are good 
I've used their regular soldering irons since the early 80s and barely had to change a tip but have no experience with their soldering stations though.
Considering a low cost soldering station myself the Hakko FX888D comes up as a natural quality choice (despite the "toy" appearance) but I see Goot have soldering stations as well though I'm not sure about their availability or prices in Europe/USA. At least they have a more professional appearance.

UPDATE: Apparently far from as common as Hakko, Weller etc. I've found that they are actually available from the following sites (hopefully more as well):

Toolboom (Hong Kong)
Renex (Poland)
Procon Technology (Australia)
Howard electronic instrument Inc (USA)
GSMserver (USA)
Mwave (Australia)
Warcom (Australia)
Synergy electronics (New Zealand)
PCBA tools (India)
Amazon (USA)

They're not "dirt cheap" but I hear their quality is great from the few posts I've found on the subject. The Goot RX-711 seems to be the one to go for with analog control (a dial knob) and a digital readout. Pity they're more expensive than the Hakko FX888 though.

[bneo99]

UPDATE: After realizing that I could just contact the Hakko distributor for my country to get a quote on the FX-888D, I emailed them and around the end of March 2015 I got myself a brand new genuine Hakko FX-888D for RM523 (USD 140~ at that time). Have been using it for almost a year now and I'm very satisfied with it.

[knotlogic]

UPDATE: After realizing that I could just contact the Hakko distributor for my country to get a quote on the FX-888D, I emailed them and around the end of March 2015 I got myself a brand new genuine Hakko FX-888D for RM523 (USD 140~ at that time). Have been using it for almost a year now and I'm very satisfied with it.

I would say that's a good deal.  I'm just south of the border from you and we just got one at work.  Cost us roughly USD 200.

Ours is some assembly required too:  it comes with bare leads and a BS 1363 plug included in the box.