Electronics > Beginners

Best Budget Soldering Iron?

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Psi:
I was lucky to get in on a special offer for my thermaltronics TMT-9000

They had a special trade-in deal.
You got the TMT-9000 station for ~AUD$450 and they gave you 20 different tips for free.
The tips are worth like $40 each so really really good deal.

Since it was a trade-in i had to surrender a soldering station to them as part of the deal.
I wish i still had a picture of it, i gave them this really tiny DSE brand station.
Like a 3x3x3 inch cube and plastic toy style iron pencil.
It still worked and said "soldering station" on it but was such a toy and a piece of junk.

Shock:
Got to remember as well they got a little better performance out of the Hakko FX-888D and T18 tip (according to Hakko) but as a sub $100 non Chinese station, with decent tip selection, if you use that criteria it's about the best thing going.


--- Quote from: Psi on April 11, 2019, 12:32:42 pm ---I was lucky to get in on a special offer for my thermaltronics TMT-9000
They had a special trade-in deal.

--- End quote ---

Who was this with?

Psi:
i'm not actually sure, somewhere in Australia. A friend told me about it as he was getting one too.
We are in NZ and arranged to get the stations shipped here and our trade-in stations shipped to Aus.

From memory the deal required more than 10 people or something.
I dont remember all the details though
 

Mp3:

--- Quote from: GreyWoolfe on April 11, 2019, 11:39:15 am ---MP3, here is a question for you.  Do you plan to do a lot of soldering or occasional soldering?  If you plan to do a lot, it behooves you to save your pennies and buy a real and proper name brand unit with OEM tips.  There will be no disappointment there.  Don't be afraid to look at the used market, that is how I have my Metcal MX-500.  If your use is occasional, the Bakon that Shock linked might be a good choice if you have a power supply on hand but I will still recommend OEM tips.  They will simply outlast and out perform the $2 Chinese specials.  My dearly departed father always said that you buy your tool right and only buy it once.

--- End quote ---

Not soldering constantly, somewhere between occasional and whatever the level behind "a lot" is though 8)

I was looking to replace the FX888 i've had for about 8 years, since i have broken 3 handles on it and wanted something else, then i got the TS100 which i absolutely love so far, but i wouldn't have considered it if i was doing tons of soldering and working all day with it. For doing 5-15  minutes of soldering hooked up to a battery to solder in weird places easier, it's a lifesaver.

I actually had a pretty difficult time finding the 950D with the T12 handle, seems like most sellers outside of a few on ebay all sell it with T13 handles, i would definitely use OEM tips though! I was interested in the 950D since it was cheap and looked nice, plus it would mostly just be a backup for the TS100.  :)

I apologize for hijacking the thread. I hope the OP finds some of this useful.

stj:

--- Quote from: ebclr on April 11, 2019, 11:24:47 am ---You can't change a hot probe without burning yourself, I would opt with the long ones instead of this short one

--- End quote ---

that's bullshit,
i hotswap all the time with some longnose pliers.

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