Can someone tell me some high quality options for high power (ideally 200W+) soldering stations? My Pace ADS200 has a known defect (poor higher power performance) where it is not able to sustain continuous 120W as rated, but rather effectively limited to 60W as evidenced in SDG's youtube review and month-long testing a few years back (is there even a firmware update path to fix this?). I know of the recently released Hakko FX-805 (Hakko known for mediocre UI) and Metcal's GT120 (not really high power), but surely there's more in the landscape.
I want to buy 1 high-quality high-power soldering station with usable UI, decent tip selection, and be done with it.
Hakko FX-805400W
50C to 500C
ESD SAFE
HAKKO T37 TIPS
cMETus certified
960 USD (but no tips!)
Wattage Comparison Video:
Also found:
Weller WXSmart 200W (
https://www.weller-tools.com/us/en/industrial-soldering) (WXS2012 is the heavy duty soldering set) (I know weller for their simple irons from a decade+ back, pretty old school impression, but these are fancy, though I don't need all these production control settings and wireless datafeed) (alternatively, the WT family seems to go up to 150W but it's an oldie 7+ years old)
1300 USD (station)
1600-2600 USD (kits)
Animated Usage Video:
UPDATE: might as well post details of what I found
UPDATE 2024-03-20: I ended up getting the Hakko FX-805 (needs T37 tips ordered separately). Reasoning is it's the highest power (400W), electrically certified (cMETus), video-demonstrated power comparison (150W vs 300W vs 400W), and even less expensive (960 USD + 75 USD per tip) than the reputable high-power alternatives (1500USD + tips). I know some people have mixed feelings about Hakko especially after Louis's video about their technical non-openness, and I share that sentiment, but it doesn't look like there's a kicad-like alternative here. In other words, JBC, Weller, Metcal, they all look similar in my eyes to Hakko. Even though the JBC first impression was good, I heard about their business/technical hiccups too (ex.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/warning-to-jbc-dde-1c-soldering-station-owners-check-your-firmware!/)