Hakko fx951 soldering station

[tawfiq]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to buy a new hakko fx951 soldering station and I was checking different websites for pricing. Please note that the country I am from, this make/model is not available anywhere, so I have to get it from overseas.

Now, when I checked different websites,  it seems that US amazon offers the lowest price which is around US $235 including a 1.6mm chisel tip. But amazon UK site offers it for £285, which is almost double the US price and on top of that, UK amazon offer is without any tip! The same model also available from one of the singapore supplier at a price range from S$614, which is close to the UK amazon offer. Again, Singapore offer does not include any tip.

Why and how US amazon offers it at this price? Is it because they are tax free? Or it can be a fake Chinese copy? Besides, the UK offer mentioned it is Genuine Japanese make.

On the other hand, US model will be 120v AC mains and we have 230/240v AC mains here, so if anyone knows insite of this unit whether if it has a 230 volt tap in the transformer and if I can just change the connection in the board and it will be able to take 230v AC or not, please let me know.

Another issue is - the tip, the US model and website says they are T15 series and UK/Singapore sites say they are T12, is it different in US models or its a mistake?

These are 3 links for reference

US Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FX-951-Soldering-Station-T15-D16/dp/B00OBQGLGG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1432563987&sr=8-2&keywords=hakko+951

UK Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00SRQ53MO?me=&ref=olp_product_details

Singapore supplier
http://sg.element14.com/hakko/fx951/soldering-station-digital/dp/9677933?ost=hakko+fx951&categoryId=800000004978


Any suggestions/comments would be really helpful and appreciated.

Thanks.

[Mechanical Menace]

The UK one isn't from an official distributor so most likely still if not fake at least dodgy and sans warranty.

Try http://www.dancap.co.uk/

EDIT:£179.98 + £10 delivery + £10-20 for a tip + 20% is still less than £285

[helius]

Hakko makes the T12 for the Asian market and the T15 for North America and Europe. They are physically the same shape cartridges and fit the same handles. I don't know what the difference is.

[GreyWoolfe]

Tequipment.net sells it and eevbloggers get a discount.  I don't have the code but hopefully I will be asking for it soon as I am working on getting rid of some ham radio gear to also by a Hakko FX-951 and some tips.  I am sure someone will supply the code to you and you can talk to them on the phone to check pricing and shipping costs.

[Mechanical Menace]

The Amazon US one is fake. B+D Enterprises are known to sell fakes under a different name on eBay. They look quite convincing, but they are not genuine Hakko parts and should be avoided.

Especially at that price. But if I'm honest my £70 rip off off of Banggood isn't bad at all for the price, but that also didn't have the nice iron stand with the power cut off.

Get one from Dancap in the UK. It will be genuine and you won't regret it.

+1. But I'd suggest ringing them to begin with instead of using email.

It doesn't have the temperature locking feature of the 951, but that is only useful in a production environment where you don't trust your staff...

Or on my desktop because I can't trust myself

[nanofrog]

If you want to compare pricing between the US and what you can find elsewhere, take a look at the following (seller ships internationally).

FX-951-66 (US voltage)
FX-951-62 (International voltage)

I suspect it will be cheaper to get the US version and a step-up transformer (or swap it's transformer) since it's on sale v. the international version. 

BTW, Hakko does not ship with any tips, so you'll need to address that.

PM sent.

[tawfiq]

Thanks guys, really helpful.