Huhubol Cordless Portable Soldering Iron

[EEVblog]

Already raised $100k
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/huhubolpro2/huhubol-a-cordless-portable-soldering-iron-for-diyers

Did they actually solder anything in that video? 

[Kim Christensen]

Well, they did melt a blob of solder above the PCB... Maybe later, in the cut part of the video, it fell off the iron and stuck loosely to something.
Seems like those clips are for an ultra ADHD audience who can't watch videos longer than 2 seconds.
It boggles the mind how much money they can raise. I wonder if its a fake number designed to induce FOMO in suckers?

[EEVblog]

It boggles the mind how much money they can raise. I wonder if its a fake number designed to induce FOMO in suckers?

Nah, it's not hard to convince 716 people to part with their money.

[Kean]

Someone keeps posting a link in the comments to an AliExpress product that looks nearly identical (except the colour, and sold without battery).

I love that video snippet of them attempting to tin some stranded wire, and totally failing. 

Edit:
Adding the AliExpress product link here for reference.  Not something I'd recommend as it looks pretty poor quality and underpowered.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805809166061.html

I also reported the project to Kickstarter, but I think it is too late for them to do anything.
The creator insists theirs is a better product, and has probably already been questioned by Kickstarter staff.

It is pretty common in China that several factories in the same region will all make slightly different versions of essentially the same devices, just with slightly different specs as they tweak it for their own manufacturing processes, parts sourcing, and cost reductions.

[J-R]

Yes, 100% obvious it's the exact same product, just with branding changed at the factory.  That does break the Kickstarter rules, so I'm sure the project will be nuked shortly.

Related note, the Hakko FX-901 is a bit weak, but it works OK for small jobs.  I've been using mine with Eneloop Pros and liked it well enough I bought a second one.  https://hakkousa.com/fx-901-cordless-soldering-iron.html

[Halcyon]

... just with branding changed at the factory.

I don't think they even went that far. It looks like for the video, they just printed a paper label and stuck it over the existing one. It's even peeling in the corners where they probably used the crappiest glue stick.