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| Hakko FX-888 soldering station discontinued |
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| andersm:
--- Quote from: T4P on November 17, 2012, 07:32:14 pm ---OH wait, weller's still making them, in red colour it's the WLC100 --- End quote --- Huh, I've never seen that one before, is it some kind of US-only (or non-Europe) model? In Europe, their cheap hobbyist models are the WHS40 and its digital variant WHS40D. They're both still about two to three times as expensive as the Velleman one, depending on where you look. |
| T4P:
No idea but i've been looking on amazon, still very expensive for essentially a light dimmer in a box that is practically useless for electronics i'll tell ya |
| saturation:
It could, but the 951 heater is much faster, uses a different set of tips, is self calibrating and that's the true value of it, pretty much any iron that can senses the true tip temp without offset doesn't require calibration, implementing such is worth spending since it requires much more technology. The 937 uses the same technology as 888, except for its digital panel. When makers recommend calibration, tip temp drifts away from cal for many reasons, and it can happen fairly quickly [ the 888 or 936 manual recommend calibration every time a tip, iron or heater is changed, not including wear of the current tip, so tip swapping routinely on 888 technology would really make the readout accuracy suffer if it were down to 1C as a LSD]. The basic technology of Metcal and clones and JBC are also self-calibrating. So what you see on the digital panel is truly what you get in self cal systems, always. So the 888 truly would not be on par with the 951 even if it has some of its features. Now the question how much is self calibration worth, or fast temp ramp ups? I think if a user soldered much or is in a professional setting such as full time hand assemblers, you'd quickly see the value in fast heaters, self cal and hot swaps and move up to better stations. 888 is Hakkos' entry level station and for many folks who only solder for prototyping, low volume repair or hacking, its more than adequate. The FX951 is a next level up, but those curve performances aren't on par still with JBC or Metcal, which also cost more money; so there is a niche for every level of user. --- Quote from: nanofrog on November 16, 2012, 06:58:20 pm --- --- Quote from: saturation on November 16, 2012, 03:37:11 pm ---If one wanted to improve the 888, what I think some useful add ons would be: auto-off power on light a method to hot swap tips lower prices, especially the EU and UK market --- End quote --- I suspect it would cut into sales of the FX-951 if they had, so they intentionally restricted the feature set to prevent this. --- End quote --- |
| nanofrog:
--- Quote from: saturation on November 18, 2012, 01:48:06 pm ---It could, but the 951 heater is much faster... --- End quote --- I looked at it as another feature, albeit a significant one that differentiates the FX-951 from the FX-888D, but was looking a bit broader at the additional features of the controller as well when I posted. There's a lot of advantages to the FX-951 IMHO, and doesn't require nearly as significant of a cost investment vs. JBC (sticking to temp controllable stations). Especially for a hobbyist. Granted, the JBC is a better station, but the FX-951 offers a lot of bang-for-the-buck based on US pricing, which I would think makes it rather attractive for a lot of members here if they aren't being gouged due to their location. I ended up with a Weller WD1001 as I found one for less than an FM-202 at the time, and much cheaper than a JBC. I definitely made a compromise, but I'm not using it professionally, and it does do what I need (can afford to wait a sec or two more between joints if need be, though it's no slouch). Looking back however, I'd make a different choice based on their QC and cost of replacement parts (iron alone is more expensive than the FX-888), and JBC's is half that of the Weller iron. Tips these days are closer to JBC in cost as well ::) (~$11 - 20 per, depending on style for the NT series). |
| LoyalServant:
Wow.... IMHO it's a shame that they went to the digital stuff. I like knobs :) I am not the kind of person that after all these decades will find it comfortable to reach over to punch a button. The rare occasion that I even change the temperature on my iron I am reaching for a knob. I worked with some techs in the past that were damn good techs but had the worst soldering habits... The first thing I would do when going to this other techs bench was reach for that knob and turn it a half turn to the left :) If I even come back to the electronics industry in any capacity I hope they leave some irons with knobs for old farts like me. |
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