(OEM/White label) (Soldering) Tool manufacturers list - AKA: who ripped who off

[frhun]

So, one of my vices is that I sometimes spend way too much time looking at equipment, for which I realistically don't even have a use yet.

While doing that I also somewhat developed an obsession with finding the the OEM for white label (aka store brand) gear.
That inevitably lead me to the (mostly) chinese white label companies that make the stuff you see everywhere under a multitude of meaningless brand names.
I also noticed that blatant design rip offs, including product name and all, seem to be particularly prevalent among soldering equipment manufacturers for some reason. In many cases you can't even tell who ripped off who at this point, because these product lines now have been around for so long.
With the prevalence of rip offs of rip offs it also becomes extremely hard to tell if a tear down of one no name white label product (think 858 station) is applicable to another white label store brand product you can find at your local distributors.

Tangent: I once came across two manufacturers of solar inverters on Aliexpress who both sold practically identical products (say for the different color label), and they hilariously both had pictures on their stores specifically calling out the respective other as a fake version of their superior product.

So anyways: I thought a compilation/wiki of what OEM hides behind some particular brand name could be interesting, so I'll start here by posting what little information I was able to piece together thus far.

Soldering Equipment OEMs/Brands: (best guesses only) (including non rip off Manufacturers, that are commonly ripped off)

Name	White Label OEM?	Website(s)	Riped off who	known brands/names (Region - Seller)	Meta
Hakko	✘	https://www.hakko.com/	—	—	Japanese
Quick	✘	https://en.quick-global.com/	Hakko? (possibly in the olden days)	{sold at TME, and through their european/polish distribution partner https://quick-global.eu/}	Mainland chinese high quality Manufacturer around since 1993; AFAICT the ones that started the 858 hot air station line, and similar irons
ZHONGDI	✔	http://www.china-zhongdi.com/	Weller	Wellemann (EU), Toolcraft (DE - Conrad), Daytools (DE - Pollin), Fixpoint, Goobay	Mainland chinese manufacturer of basically all cheap crap soldering stuff out there. (specifically third hands, and desoldering pumps)
XYTRONIC	✔	http://xytronic.com//	unknown, possibly Weller	RND Lab (DE - Distrelec, Reichelt), ELV (DE), {sold under own name at Reichelt, and TME}	Taiwanese (reasonable quality afaict) OEM that has seemingly been around for quite some time. Also appears under it's own name sometimes. Very weird somewhat unmaintained websitie (formerly operated at soldering-station.com Archive:https://web.archive.org/web/20191122100237/http://www.soldering-station.com/).
ATTEN	✔	https://www.atten.com/	Quick	RS Pro (UK/EU - RS Components), Toolcraft (DE - Conrad), Sparkfun (US), Multicomp (UK - Newark), {commonly sold under own name}	Mainland chinese
BEST	✔	https://www.szbesttool.com/	Hakko, QUICK, JBC	unknown	Mainland chinese, rip off everything that's not on the tree at 3 (not terrible quality, probably), maybe just buying some of their stuff from other OEMs, or the OEM of some companies below
KAISI	(✔ maybe only putting their names on other white label stuff?)	http://kaisitool.com	Hakko, QUICK, JBC, possibly BEST	Sugon, NT, possibly Sparkfun, Baku?	Mainland chinese
YIHUA	✔	http://yihua-soldering.com/	Hakko, QUICK, possibly Weller, possibly BEST	WEP, Baku, X-Tronic, (possibly KAISI/SUGON  ), and likely a whole lot more	Mainland chinese, possibly the source a large proportion of no name cheap soldering stations on sites like Aliexpress
AOYUE	✔	https://www.aoyue3d.com	possibly Hakko	unknown	Mainland chinese
Longwei Electric	✔	https://longweielec.com/	Hakko	unknown, possibly the actual OEM behind some ATTEN/RS Pro Stuff	Mainland chinese, also the source of many no name/white label cheap bench power supplies
MCH	✔	http://china-mch.com	Hakko, QUICK	unknown	Mainland chinese, possibly also only puts their name on white label stuff?
Bakon	?	https://www.bakon.cc/	Hakko, Weller, (to some extent Quick)	unknown	Mainland chinese
KSGER	✘	—	—	—	Mainland chinese, seemingly sell most their stuff direct on Aliexpress/Banggood, and apparently take Irons from existing manufacturers, and put their own electonics on them, their whole gimmick is that they use stm32's for some reason

A lot of this is very fuzzy because I can't really tell the difference between the different companies being OEMs of each other, and them just ripping each other off.

If you have any more info/OEMs/associated brands please don't hesitate to comment them.

I also have a list for Meter, Scope and PSU manufacturers, which I might post here, if there is any interest for the soldering stuff.

[thm_w]

Sparkfun is Atten 852D

CXQ: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/cxg-862-1500w-hot-air-station-odd-induction-claims/ clone of Quick, sort of, but has been cost reduced even further (sheet metal everywhere).
Gordak: clones some Yihua stuff

JDI: the handle is a clone of Quick, but the main unit is much smaller in size. There was no need for the original Quick station to have such a large enclosure. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001993580300.html

[coppercone2]

This is what comes to mind from this thread

[frhun]

What's the deal with JDI, do they have a webpage?
Many of the things i find about them seems to come from India, are they an indian company?

[thm_w]

I don't know of any web page, very hard to find information about them. They don't even sell on alibaba, only aliexpress.
I'm sure its a Chinese company, just that phone repair tools are popular in India.

Another, Mechanic 861DW: https://www.vipprogrammer.com/mechanic-861dw-max-hot-air-lead-free-rework-station-1000w-programmer-7184
They've added extra buttons.

[scopeman]

It appears to me that the KSGER handles are junk. Everytime I go to use them it is always a struggle to get them to maintain contact with the elements.

Does anyone have a solution for this or a source for good quality handles that work with the KSGER elements?

When it works it works well but when it does not they are junk. I have tried several and they all have issues. I have gone back to my old standby Antex TC series.

I have a handful of KSGER elements. It would be nice to be able to use them.

If I can't find a solution I guess the Pace ADS-200 is in my future.

Sam
W3OHM