It's 16-18$ but there's nothing stocked in the European warehouse for example. Shipping is between 1$5 and $79, depending on choices.. and the cheapest depends if the item is in Europe warehouse which is not the case.
It is a good deal if you buy 5-10 of them, in which case the shipping fees would probably be good.
They do come back into stock. Shipping from a local warehouse is not too expensive.
And if you clean your cookies and leave the Hobbyking page open it will do a one time offer of 14$, thats just above 10€, 10€ was how much a tip for my non temperature controlled JBC costed.
the Temp Pot feels really good
It might "feel OK", but the Hakko uses a proper ALPS brand, the cheapie will use whatever rubbish is on the shelf this week.
I have an Atten version of this. The ONLY difference is that the transformer was not grounded and the ground wire went directly to the PCB. It was hanging on by two or three strands. Given that a Hakko 888D goes for less than $100 + shipping on fleabay, I could never recommend anyone go for this. Buy a mains plug iron for a first/backup and then save your money for a proper iron. Really.
EDIT: Ooops! One other difference. The transformer also had a 14-0-14 secondary with connector that was unused. I guess they got a cheap job lot that day.
Given that a Hakko 888D goes for less than $100 + shipping on fleabay
Legit ones for the majority of the planet don't, no.
Given that a Hakko 888D goes for less than $100 + shipping on fleabay
There are lots of counterfeit copies of the 888. The fake ones don't have a microcontroller in them, purely analog control, while the real ones have a micro. You won't know unless you open it up, they are probably using the same mouldings, may well be from the same factory working a "ghost shift".
See this thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/too-good-to-be-true-(220v-hakko-fx-888-replica)/I wouldn't be at all surprised if the 888D was also heavily counterfeited
Oh right...
You should invest in 120V on your bench. I have 240V on mine and its been a godsend.
Oh right...
You should invest in 120V on your bench. I have 240V on mine and its been a godsend.
Sure, let me just get that gigantic transformer so I can power equipment I have to import and pay 20% VAT on, so that I can save.. what, exactly?
If Hakko sold their stations at a reasonable rate on special as they do in the US and Japan I'd get the real thing for $60 anyway.
But we along with Europe have to pay triple for almost everything.
Can't agree more. The 240V market are paying too much a premium, not only for the irons but also for the tips, and other spare parts. Why is it so? Guess, market too small for them to protect against the clones? I am leaning to investing on converter and using the 110V versions now. And for 240V version, I bought direct from Aoyue China, and my luck with them have been excellent. The problem with people who get from resellers, traders, on DX, is these people normally try to squeeze the China OEM too much and drag payment too long, and so the OEM normally give them the left over stuff. Quality of clones can vary greatly.
What you didn't show in the video is the station actually works fine for general soldering (in cal).
From memory it is actually a lower rated than the Hakko unit as well so believe it or not it actually does pretty much what it claims.
Of course, I showed it working at the appropriate temp on some high mass parts, and also said it worked fine. It's a given that a temp controlled soldering iron can solder low thermal mass parts, no need to show it soldering SMD or something.
I am getting the feeling that the reason it was so cheap is that board looks like garbage. A sort of just get these ones out of here type price. Sell them so cheap nobody will complain about the rust and flux and winky LED. The transformer looks surprisingly good, but that may be a bad thing.... Cheap manufacturers who don't use silicon coated laminations will chromate plate the soft iron so it does not rust before varnishing, if it is even varnished. It can lead to leaky, lossy transformers but they look pretty. We fool round eye with pretty. Sell much more. Cost much less..
Cheap as hell..in here for $16 i only can get 40W stick non regulated solder...
cheapest regulated one is $160 Aten Branded
Hakko 888D is about $200..
How much for a typical plastic project box that large? I bet they could make more money just selling the empty box.
I am getting the feeling that the reason it was so cheap is that board looks like garbage. A sort of just get these ones out of here type price.
Possibly, but Hobby King have been selling these at this price for quite a long time, and I'm fairly sure they sell out and restock on occasion, so it's obviously something they still get their hands on. I can't imagine there is much money in it, but realistically there's not many components involved either, the biggest cost must be the transformer.
The transformer is also the biggest cost in buying this thing due to the shipping, I think to ship that to NZ it would make that $16 USD soldering iron into a $60 USD soldering iron.
Which is much less of a deal.
I don't know why switch mode supply DC driven irons are not "a thing", I have one (chinese driver, running off a laptop supply, using the typical 900 type handle), it does the job just fine, for a hobbiest, way smaller and lighter, in one my bodged together coreflute enclosures.
Hobby King don't supply crap!
I've never received crap from them. None of the people I know have received crap from then.
Only Dave Jones has received a suspect product.
Makes you wonder.
I suspect the variance in quality is part of the reason it is so cheap, I wouldn't make it and sell it for that price.
115V AC or thereabout is very handy to have around, you often don't have to import a transformer, I didn't need to here in Australia.
They may just be passing it along at cost to encourage sales of other items as well. It always gets me when you can buy something retail for less that it would cost to ship.
They may just be passing it along at cost to encourage sales of other items as well. It always gets me when you can buy something retail for less that it would cost to ship.
Loss leader would make some sense.
To sell retail at $16.00 it has to leave the factory gates at $6.00 or under the retailer will mark up 50% the wholesaler will have his cut and there is transport costs as well.
It looks to me like they are salvaged water damaged units.
How do they measure the temperature. Given the price I can't imagine a thermocouple circuit. Just a thermistor away from the heating element? A wire wound resistor with "large" temp coefficient?
Alexander.
How do they measure the temperature. Given the price I can't imagine a thermocouple circuit. Just a thermistor away from the heating element? A wire wound resistor with "large" temp coefficient?
Alexander.
Who needs stinking temp measuring, as long it melts the solder, QC passed and QC sticker applied !
Who needs stinking temp measuring, as long it melts the solder, QC passed and QC sticker applied !
Corrected that for you. You're welcome.