Soldering Station for an Electronics Noob

[TJDoesCode]

DISCLAIMER: I AM A BEGINNER
I should come up-front and say that I'm a beginner. Please excuse my lack of knowledge.

I'm very new to electronics and I've just decided that it's about time for me to get a soldering iron. I've spent a few months playing around with basic components from an inland basic assorted parts kit on a breadboard. After messing around with basic prototyping stuff with my Raspberry Pi, I've decided I want an iron to start doing real work and to start building actual Arduino-based projects.

I had my mind set on the XTronic 3020 Station, but after seeing Dave's video comparing the Weller WE1010NA and the Hakko FX888D (EEVBlog #1063), I started to have second thoughts. I was led to the XTronic from this article, and the Amazon reviews looked pretty good. The Newegg reviews made me skeptical, but the customer support seemed to handle things pretty well. After seeing the comparison video, I dug a little deeper and found some concerning posts on this forum about other XTronic products. Now I'm not so sure and I want the advice of people who know what they're doing.

I think I've narrowed it down to a few options:

• Weller WE1010NA
• Hakko FX888D-23BY
• ersa i-CON PICO or NANO
• Weller WLC100

Each of these stations have their advantages and their disadvantages, but I can't decide what matters more.

Weller WE1010NA
This station is probably my preferred choice. It's a trusted brand, an acceptable cost, has all of the features I could possibly need at my level, a nice user interface, all the bells and whistles, you name it. However, from Dave's video, I can't help but raise an eyebrow at the thermal performance. The drastic drop you experience when simply from using the sponge is concerning. It seems to perform well in soldering, but I can't help but be concerned.

Hakko FX888D
This station is also a solid choice. It's also a trusted brand, acceptable cost, fully-featured, future-proofed, yadda yadda yadda. I do HATE the user interface and the common accidental re-calibration seems like a real nuisance. From Dave's video, the thermal performance seems to be far superior to the Weller, but I don't know. This iron, like most, does not have a temperature sensor in the tip. From the behavior of the temperature readout, I'm led to wonder if this iron is simply hiding its performance better. Although it looks like a toy, it does appear to be more sturdily built, as was said in Dave's video. I like the sturdy-looking stand, and indeed, the dicky wire holder on the Weller's stand seems kinda meh. The major trade-off of this station that prevents me from jumping on it in a heartbeat is the awful user interface.

ersa i-CON PICO or NANO
These stations are a little bit out of my price point. I'm sort of indifferent to the design, and I really don't like that you have to pay a premium for the NANO's ESD protection. From what I can tell, these stations would have the best thermal performance due to the heater actually being a part of the iron itself, rather than blindly heating from the control unit. However, I don't even know if that's actually how these stations are designed. I might just be totally wrong and sound like a moron. If the thermals of these stations would be worth my money, please let me know. It seems like a nice station, and if the extra money is actually reflected in a superior design, I'm willing to pay up. I just really don't like the idea of using a non-ESD safe iron. I plan to do Arduino work, and I really don't like the idea of frying a pro mini.

Weller WLC100
This is a bare-bones station. It's the absolute minimum I would need. It's got variable power control, but not variable temperature. It could do the job without paying extra for all of the bells and whistles of the digital stations. I'm entirely not sure about its pros and cons, if it's ESD safe, anything, but it's a basic station that would probably be plenty for a beginner.

So that's my two cents on my picks. I don't know what's the best option, and I'm not sure if I just made myself sound like an idiot by spewing a load of garbage. Either way, let me know what you think. I want everyone's complete opinion.

[MosherIV]

From Dave's video, the thermal performance seems to be far superior to the Weller, but I don't know. This iron, like most, does not have a temperature sensor in the tip. From the behavior of the temperature readout, I'm led to wonder if this iron is simply hiding its performance better.

Hi, welcome to the forum.
Well, you are along the right line. Yes, the Hako888 appears to have better temo capacity because it is measuring the heating element temp, not the tip. I am surprised Dave did not realise thus and mention it.

As to which iron, I do not have any of the one you mention say I cannot advise, sorry.
Sounds like you want to buy a good quality station, good on you.

I will tell you that choice of iron is a very personal thing. It also depends on the type of soldering that you do. Most of my work colleague agree that the classic Weller TCP irons are the best for through hole soldering or making cables. Not so good for surface mount.
Here in UK, the 2 main makes that you find in the work enviroment (therefore the ones I tend to go for) are JBC and Metcal. Both heat up in under 20s. Both provide plenty of power. Both have a large range of tips, though I tend to only use 2 or 3 (very fine for smd or big conicle for through hole/cables).
My personal preference is Metcal. I picked an old SP200 off ebay. I have never had to change temp of iron. The Metcal just delivers so much power when soldering large thermal mass that it only takes a little longer to solder, do not need to turn up the power.

If you get a chance to try some out, make your choice on your experience.

If you want something cheap while you decide, look at the Bakon 950D. Get rid of the cheap clone T12/T15 tip and get a real Hakko tip (they cost as much as the whole station). The real quality comes from the tip anyway.

Good luck 

[GreyWoolfe]

I don't own one but the Bakon might not be a bad first iron.  I agree, ditch the chinesium tips and get real Hakko tips from a proper distributor.  The closer the tip to grip distance is, the more control over the wand you will have.  My first real soldering iron was a Hakko 936 which I had for a number of years.  I upgraded to a Hakko FX-951 and, probably subjectively, my soldering has improved with the better equipment.  Like MosherIV, I also have a Metcal, a MX-500P that I scored for stupid cheap.  There is really nothing like a Metcal.  If you don't want to save up for the Ersa, try the Bakon, it is not a huge cash outlay, even with a couple of real Hakko tips.  You can get the tips from TEquipment.net with the eevBlog discount (can't remember where the thread to ask for it is.)

[lem_ix]

That Xtronic is just some Chinese Weller lookalike with horrible ergonomics. Nothing wrong with cheap irons but then sell them as such ...

For a hobby user and even a professional the Hakko fx888 or the new weller 1010 will do just fine. Personally I have an Ersa I-CON1(Big brother of Nano same handle) and I'm really happy with it. The heating element on the Pico is of poor quality and I'd skip that one.

In your place I'd probably take the Hakko as it's a proven design, the Weller is new and I have no idea about tip availability. On the other hand the UI of the Weller seems better.

If you decide to buy a Chinese station please check the wiring, some are deadly. I've personally had new stuff explode on power on.

[Elasia]

Get a Weller WES51, a used one is only like 50 bucks.  Tons out there in use and built like a tank with a large tip selection.  That will handle just about anything you need, just make sure to use a suitable tip for what your application is.

Once you have learned to solder and if you feel like the weller is holding you back.. look at a pace/hakko etc cartridge type.

Avoid the chinese junk tips from like banggood etc... they will just give you bad soldering habits and crappier welds over all.. i say that no matter what base iron you get.

[Shock]

I think I've narrowed it down to a few options:
WE1010NA
Hakko FX888D-23BY
i-CON PICO or NANO
Weller WLC100

Don't buy the WLC100 waste of money there and you'll end up hating it.

Not sure on the performance of the WE1010NA but you will need to compare it vs the power and tip selection of the Hakko FX-888D which is a decent reliable entry level station.

The Pico is not ESD safe so if your looking for something long term then it might not be the best choice. Really depends how much money you want to spend, the Nano is $239 so please read below if deciding on that model.

If quality and performance is important and price not such an issue, consider the new Pace ADS200 soldering station. It's a professional all metal construction station. Fine for beginners to learn on, in fact it probably has one of the easiest interfaces out there.

The big deal about it is the 120W performance and the price. It serves double duty as a station suitable for precision soldering as well as heavy duty jobs like ground planes and heatsinks. US EEVblog members can pick up from Tequipement.net (using our 6% off discount code) for $206 incl shipping and tips start are around $11/$13. Value for money wise this would be 100% value for money. Dave will hopefully have a review model in his hands within a few weeks but so far it's looking very promising.

[Elasia]

I completely agree with Shock.. only reason I didnt mention it was due to it being in the mid 250 range with a handful of starter tips which was well past the one you were hesitent on price on.

If you dont mind letting go of the extra cost, it really is the best bang for your buck and a solid iron that will pretty much last you your entire life if you take care of it.. including the tips.

And if you ever get junk tips you hose up.. dont toss em, keep em, they make good desoldering tips you can poke and pry with that you would never want to do to your production tips.

Only side note about the pace if you go that way.. I'd wait about another 5-8 weeks to give them some time to iron out the kinks with it since your a beginner.  Their support is phenomenal but you probly dont want to get right into debugging and breaking down an iron right off the bat either lol


But if your on a budget, i still recommend a good old WES51 or WESD51 off ebay.. just get some new tips from like mouser or digikey so you know you arent getting chinese fake shit.

[Deridex]

I got a Ersa I-Con Pico and i'm very happy with it.
Going after the video-reviews i think i would not recommend the WE1010NA.

[agehall]

Depending on what you want to do - consider getting a station with a micro pencil instead of the bigger, clunkier, handles. This will probably imply higher cost as most of these stations tend to be professional level but if you are serious about the hobby, it is well worth it.

Now, any station with temperature control will work for almost any task, the question is just how difficult it will be accomplish certain things. Having a smaller handle (which in turn usually implies there are finer tips available) is perfect for small SMD work. Having a larger handle usually implies more power and thermal mass which is what you want for bigger tasks such as working with huge ground planes.

On the Arduino level, you can probably get by with anything, so unless you are sure of where you want to go with your hobby, buy something that isn't too expensive and expect to replace it when you get further down the line. At that point you'll probably have a much better idea of what you want anyhow...

[grantb5]

Did you ever pull the trigger TJDoesCode?  I initially started looking at the Weller WE1010NA, but then progressed rather rapidly to eyeing the i-CON PICO or NANO and the Pace ADS200.  I'm in NA so the Pace and the NANO are both mid-$200's.

I'm still using my WTCPR from way back when but after the better part of 30 years maybe it's time to keep that only as a spare.  It's still in great shape though (my neighbor always wants to borrow my stuff and I won't lend my one and only trusty soldering station!).

Anyone able to compare the ersa i-CON NANO vs the Pace ADS200?

[sn4k3]

ERSA i-CON Nano is your best bet, even if outside your range is not for that much, and you will have a iron for very years with very good performance and good tips. As bonus i-tool is one of the best handpieces i ever used. If you don't solder with huge tips and high thermal planes you will not need the i-con 1 and the performance with small tips will be the same
As alternative you have PACE ADS200 but more expensive, that compete with i-con 1 and not with Nano!

That are the best cheap stations and worth the money.

You can also go for cheap T12 clone

[KL27x]

Xtronic is a halfway decent Hakko clone. Not the best, not the worst. I had an Xtronic 75W iron that came along with a combo hot air station.

The heater was slightly undersized compared to a Hakko. The performance was pretty close as far as I could tell. But the handpiece plastic was noticeably cheap. The plastic threads were not well formed. The front of the handpiece got warmer than the Hakko. The Xtronic had a more rubber type of thing pulled over the handle that gets slippery if your hand sweats. The Hakko 888 has a hard closed cell foam type overmold that doesn't get slick. And it doesn't wear out or peel off.

OP lives in the US. The genuine 888 is peanuts, here. I think it's $120-130 or so, everyday price, last I checked. I have T12 clones, as well. I would take the 888D every day of the week over the T12 clone. Better tip selection for me (YMMV) at better prices, better ergos for me, and the preformance of the 888D is slightly better for my uses. The only indisputable technical advantage of the T12 clones is in sustained output. The T12 cartridge can output more high duty cycle sustained power without heating up the handle. This is of rare concern/notice, even if you do production soldering. It is either a problem or it isn't. It depends on what you're soldering 50x in a row. But the T12 can definitely do some things without warming up the handle that the 888D can't. The 888D is plenty good in this department, though. Many of the T18 clones are fairly deficient in this regard, due to the handle construction/materials.

In hindsight, any of these irons is pretty good. You should be more concerned with tip selection and your personal ergonomic preferences than perhaps anything else. If you don't have much experience, you may not care. A tip is a tip, if you don't know any better.

But I would strongly suggest the 888D over the Xtronic version, because you live in the US. Xtronic electronics are fine, and the LCD display might float your boat. The handpiece and the iron holder are definitely not as good. Those are the parts that are more important, IMO, than any bells or whistles.

[grantb5]

ERSA i-CON Nano is your best bet, even if outside your range is not for that much, and you will have a iron for very years with very good performance and good tips. As bonus i-tool is one of the best handpieces i ever used. If you don't solder with huge tips and high thermal planes you will not need the i-con 1 and the performance with small tips will be the same
As alternative you have PACE ADS200 but more expensive, that compete with i-con 1 and not with Nano!

That are the best cheap stations and worth the money.

Where I am the ersa i-CON NANO and Pace ADS200 are both the same price (~$240 USD).

[KL27x]

Having a smaller handle (which in turn usually implies there are finer tips available) is perfect for small SMD work. Having a larger handle usually implies more power and thermal mass which is what you want for bigger tasks such as working with huge ground planes.

To me, it is way more likely to have to solder tiny SMD parts to huge ground planes. And for SMD stuff, the super fine tips are rarely desirable for me. YMMV, but in my experience, the smaller tips are most useful for point to point soldering of bodge wires to fine SMD parts. Everything I've ever watched Louis Rossman do on a  Mac board, I would have done with a 2+mm bevel tip. Everything. To each their own.

Soldering SMD stuff is insanely easy, for the most part. All that air around the fine pointy tip, there is often a lot of empty space where you could have loads more thermal conduction and a good bead area with a larger tip shape.* All you have to avoid doing is touching unpopulated pads. With only a few exceptions, reworking PCB traces, deadbugging, and generally making prototypes on proto/veroboard using fly wires is much more difficult than assembling or replacing SMD parts the way they were intended to go on a PCB. The hacking/prototyping and reworking is where the finer tips are more useful to me. The larger tips might obscure some of your vision and be more difficult to control, but if you can grasp 3D shapes and spatial relationships, you will quickly get the feel for using a larger tip in tight spots.

*Larger usable/wetted surface area generally improves the ability to both suck out bridges and to add solder to the board. And sharply pointed conical wet surface area is not useable in this sense. It is flat or only gently curved faces that will do this.

[Shock]

Anyone able to compare the ersa i-CON NANO vs the Pace ADS200?

I own two new Pace ADS200 stations, there are no comparisons with Esra or Hakko $200 range these are totally different products. I'm very pleased with my decision.

The Pace ADS200 is an ESD safe all metal station and stand, high quality build, cool aluminum iron, silicon cabling, high visibility display, easy interface. Up to 120W power, micro to high mass tips, small tip working distance, swaps takes 5 seconds, cheapest high quality tips on the market, no tip offset or calibration required. Super robust, accurate, intended for industry with a low cost of ownership. Comes with tip swapping tool, heatpad, thermal sponge and brass wool. Thermal tweezers coming soon (Pace makes great tweezers). Pace manufactures locally in the USA and been around forever.

The stand probably cost more to make than most plastic stations combined. The Pace ADS200 cost just over $200 at tequipment.net delivered if you use the eevblog discount. Remember to order tips when you buy one.

[KL27x]

Interesting, the only thing Teq has for the ADS200 for a bevel is a 3mm miniwave spoon tip.

Seems like western companies are all about chisels and sharp pointy tips.

It might be that Hakko is the only company that makes a TFO bevel tip.  This is the tip that changed the way I solder things.

[Shock]

Interesting, the only thing Teq has for the ADS200 for a bevel is a 3mm miniwave spoon tip.

Seems like western companies are all about chisels and sharp pointy tips.

It might be that Hakko is the only company that makes a TFO bevel tip.  This is the tip that changed the way I solder things.

Closet John Gammell fan perhaps? Since the Pace ADS 200 is still a fairly new station Pace hasn't released their full tip range for the accompanying TD-200 iron yet. Pace does TFO as well as regular bevels alongside their miniwaves (hoof) for the TD-100 iron this list shows the full compliment of cartridge tips they have made in the past, there is about 140 or so in the range.

I've got a few miniwaves but not yet had a chance to do them justice, I ditched regular bevels a while back for a selection of chisels anyway so I can hold out, but I can use anything in a pinch just depends on how rough you want it to look hehehe.

[grantb5]

Can someone explain the Pace "instant set back stand"?  It's about a $25 add-on (not major money), but I don't get how that helps me. I solder small circuit boards, mainly digital PTH stuff with occasional SMD.

[lem_ix]

If you do professional work and leave the station on for long periods of time then this stand is a good investment. By reducing the temperature when idling you prolong the life of the tips. For your average hobbyist not really important.

[GreyWoolfe]

If you do professional work and leave the station on for long periods of time then this stand is a good investment. By reducing the temperature when idling you prolong the life of the tips. For your average hobbyist not really important.

Unless you have a memory as long as a grasshopper's shoestring and leave it on all weekend.   Don't ask.  I really appreciate the sleep modes on the stations I have now.

[nanofrog]

If you do professional work and leave the station on for long periods of time then this stand is a good investment. By reducing the temperature when idling you prolong the life of the tips. For your average hobbyist not really important.

I'd disagree with this bit, as it's very easy to get distracted and forget to turn the station off.

A setback stand will lower the idle temp, and auto-off will cut the power to the iron after a set period of time. Not only will this extend tip life, it reduces the risk of a fire as we tend to keep flammable liquids in close proximity to heat sources (i.e. IPA, acetone, MEK, xylene, ...).

And for only an additional $25 for the ISB stand version, it's cheap insurance IMHO.

[Shock]

Can someone explain the Pace "instant set back stand"?  It's about a $25 add-on (not major money), but I don't get how that helps me. I solder small circuit boards, mainly digital PTH stuff with occasional SMD.

Setback - Puts the iron into the setback temperature after a configurable period of inactivity. To resume working temp you need to touch the iron to a wet sponge or press a button.

Instant Setback (requires optional Instant Setback stand) - Has a cable that connects the stand to the station, and puts the iron into setback after a configurable period of inactivity (of the iron being in the stand). To resume working temp you need to just remove the iron from the stand.

Auto Off - Turns the iron off after a configurable period of the iron being in setback.

So the Instant Setback stand just gives you more control over the iron, whether it be for temp control, power saving, tip life, safety etc. The only downside is that the cable from the stand has to be connected to the station but aside from that quite useful. You can always remove the cable if you don't like Instant Setback later.

[grantb5]

Thanks, super helpful!

I pulled the trigger on the ADS200 with setback, I figured, like you mentioned, I don't have to use it if it's a hassle.  With the eevblog discount it was pretty much paid for right there. Not sure yet about tips so I got a few to play with for now. Pace is a name I've known forever so that's good (although all the other cool names I've known forever are now owned by Chinese holding companies haha). First time dealing with TEquipment.net (hope that's spelled right). Seems like a good operation.

My old 80's (?) era Weller has been solid, but then at work we had some more recently, like 10 years ago or a bit more, and they were so-so. I'm looking forward to changing tips in way less time. Now I can lend my Weller to my neighbor that keeps asking me to solder his 110vac wiring. ;-)

[Shock]

Cool, congrats! I currently have my ADS200s presets to act like boost. So single tap is my lowest temp, double tap is that plus +20C higher, triple tap +40C. Don't bother using the silicon pad use the included tip tool, in my opinion it's way faster and less clumsy to use.