What soldering station manufacturer is best?

[fonograph]

I've never seen auto feeding solder for hand soldering work very well.

What brand unit you saw with auto feed? Did you saw the JBC one?

Also,whats the benefit of having more than one iron unit? Why 2 or 4?

[cs.dk]

I think with most top of the line products you will get a great station.
Got my self a Metcal MX-5210, and i really like it. Have no other top tier stations to compare with though.

Forgot to say, i've never missed temp control. Power it up, and get the job done. Works every time

[wraper]

Also,whats the benefit of having more than one iron unit? Why 2 or 4?

First of all you can have several irons with different tips. Grab one that is right for the job and solder right away. Secondly you can solder with 2 irons. SMD tweezers not always are up to the task, especially when you need 2 large tips. I don't use SMD tweezers at all, just 2 irons.

[fonograph]

Secondly you can solder with 2 irons.

That is a commonly used technique? I never heard about that... I was just about set on getting single "channel" JBC Heavy Duty station becose it has 200W instead of the double one that is only 150W per iron.Funny thing is that heavy duty one is much more expensive,more watts = more SWAG am I right?

[wraper]

Secondly you can solder with 2 irons.

That is a commonly used technique? I never heard about that... I was just about set on getting single "channel" JBC Heavy Duty station becose it has 200W instead of the double one that is only 150W per iron.Funny thing is that heavy duty one is much more expensive,more watts = more SWAG am I right?

Regular handpiece/cartridges are not 200W. FYI Ersa has 250W i-tool high power. 2 irons are used mostly for removing components. Dunno how widespread it is but I've seen it in educational video form Nokia.

[james_s]

Best? Probably Metcal or Pace, but that assumes money is no object. Best value is highly subjective, but I'm generally a fan of Hakko. Their current product line is butt ugly with that gaudy yellow and purple scheme but as it's a tool I'm not overly bothered by that.

[GreyWoolfe]

Best value is highly subjective.

Maybe you might know people that have different high end stations that you can test drive?  Otherwise, any purchase could be a leap of faith that falls short of the mark.  What works for one, won't work for another.  I went for my Metcal MX-500 based on a good friends' recommendation, he was ISO certified and did rework for a military contractor.  He also managed to get his for nothing when the company cycled them out per contract before they wised up and started to offer the equipment to the employees by auction.  When I told him what the cost was, he said I'd be an idiot to pass it up.  I chose not to be an idiot.

I bought my Hakko FX-951 based on having the 936 for years and wanting an upgrade.  I switch between both.  The Hakko has a lighter wand but the Metcal has a better feel, IMHO.  Yes, the Hakko looks like a toy but I am not looking at it when soldering so no big deal.  For me and what I do, it is not far off the Metcal.

Edit:  my hot air station is a Quick 957DW.  I like it.  I used it in anger Friday to do the Aneng mods on 2 meters.  I was surprised how little airflow was needed.  The flow ended up set between 1 and 2.  Very happy with it also.  I will probably get rid of my Yihua 858D.

[nanofrog]

What about Weller? I am not sure but I think I read something two years back that Weller isnt as good as it used to be,that they moved the production to China.

Weller doesn't make anything in China.

Most of their stations are made in Germany, though the entry level professional stations are made in Mexico (they have had QC issues with products from that facility).

FWIW, my current setup consists of a Weller WD1, WSP80 and WMP irons, and a setback stand (connects to the station). Tips made in the US, Germany, and Japan have all been great. Tips from Bosnia have had QC issues (~30% back of the envelope calc.). I wanted non-cartridge tips to keep a lower TCO.

If you don't want cartridge tips that will last a long time, I'd suggest taking a very hard look at Ersa. Especially given your location (spares would be very easy to come by).

My hot air station is a Quick 861DW, and it does very well.

[Shock]

It's more the best "for your purposes". But some brands/models have reasons to stay away.

As I'm more old school, personally I'm not a fan of touch screen displays and over complicated gadgetry and design. I prefer being able to repair the station itself easily once it's out of warranty as well. I've just replaced most of my essential gear with Pace. Primarily the aluminum TD-200 irons on the ADS 200 stations, I also wanted a new desoldering iron so eventually decided on a SX-100 but with the MBT 350 rework station so I can add more handpieces later and one of them will be precision hot air for reflow.

Pace are the opposite to some other designs, they tend to focus heavily for durability as industry/military is their target market and have a long product life cycle and parts selection. More hours of use means more consumables (tips etc) so subsequently both their cost of upkeep and consumables price is lower.

[Zucca]

Don't listen to me, I am a Metcal addicted.
To me nothing can beat Metcal, in ebay there are always good deal.

Anyway once you tried a 1K$ iron, regerdless which one, you will understand how crappy all the cheap others are.

[GreyWoolfe]

Don't listen to me, I am a Metcal addicted.
To me nothing can beat Metcal, in ebay there are always good deal.

Anyway once you tried a 1K$ iron, regerdless which one, you will understand how crappy all the cheap others are.