Hello!
I'm considering to get a soldering station with and/or hot air gun station for home lab / hobby usage. I currently have none of those.
I have found some units that are sold here locally
but I have failed to find any reviews on some particular machines. Perhaps any of you here can shine a light on them? (haven't found topics for them either).
In essence
I would like to have two irons and a heat gun - a main iron and a secondary iron, which I don't expect to be excellent but as a companion for the main one.
So some 2in1 units might come into light. Although most seem bulky and I would appreciate some portability btw gun and iron.
One 2in1 unit which is offered here locally is
Zhondi ZD-8922.
Any impressions on this? Seems pretty small form factor, and it's iron could work well as a secondary. Also it seems to have a built in (diaphragm) air pump - which supposedly is great !?
Or are there better ones? I've seen Atten 8586 or similar, but can't find them locally :/. A bit afraid to buy from the internet due to shitty build quality that I've read in this forum (fixable, but still).//EDIT: I've now found an upgrade to this YIHUA 995D+, which seems pretty good!
My alternative hot air gun pick would be "Pro Kit" or in my case RS rebranded version of
SS-969B. which is 110€. I've seen some decent reviews on similar units (wise to check their construction before using). Without knowing what the Zhondi actually is... visually it seems about the same quality and usability, just no iron.
For the main iron, there's no much issue, other than that I must make up my mind:
I've had experience with Wellers, especially WSD 81i model, which has been quite decent (the tip has survived years of quite bad abuse still looks shiny. Although I have read the tips are fast to wear off).
Found locally, there is
Weller WT 1 , again not much reviews on this..
I really liked
Hakko FX-951 which have really cool irons (color coded switchable tips, great!). But I don't fancy the UI at all
. But then again I don't think I will tinker with the temperature too often for this to become an issue... so perhaps lower cost 888D would do as well... I've read that accessories for these are easier to get.
But I don't have any clue about finding tips or how expensive they are for each model... - research from this point starts to drive me crazy
.
//EDIT:
Btw, decided to link here an awesome topic, covering all sorts of equipment:
=https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/(tip)-best-budgetcheap-soldering-stations-and-tools/msg1324255/#msg1324255(tip)-best-budgetcheap-soldering-stations-and-tools