New Yihua soldering station with T12 tips!?

[eevnoob]

decisions, decisions... presumably as the demand for clone JBC tips grows along with these more affordable stations, so too will the quality of them improve in the future as competition grows... or at least decrease the price of the genuine ones? if the variety and quality of T12 tips is already good, there must be a good reason people are currently willing to pay several times more for T210/T245/T115 tips? is the soldering performance that much improved? i too can't afford $30 genuine JBC, but if the clone tips are decent and still perform better than genuine T12s, it seems like a better long term investment? of course if you needed a large assortment of tips right at this moment, i can see why T12 would be necessary. thanks for helping me figure it out.

[Pizzabroodje]

Clone JBC 115/210/245 tips are down to $10-16 now:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803976467917.html
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804158794977.html

That said, i've not seen conclusive testing if the clone JBC tips are good. Some users here posted bad fit between the heater and pressed on tip. The thermocouple inside IF constructed the same way that JBC does it, should be good.

The clone T12 tips are generally OK at only $2-5 each, but not as good as genuine Hakko tips ($15/ea). Higher failure rates and lower thermal performance.
Yes, WAY more variety for T12. Its nice to get a handful of tips just to try the various styles out, even some of the weird specialized types.

The Oss tips are even available for just €5 (free shipment for orders over €10):
https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExsMcnb
Multiple people having issues with them though. And most good reviews are by people who haven't used them yet or just for a short period (also no temperature testing and such).
One person with an A9 said they (or at least one) didn't work on his A9. Another said that it burned the tip after 10 seconds at 390°C with his A9 while the tip that came with it can handle 400°C.

Here's a product page of the Relife tips with more reviews:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExNfOpr
Quality wise they might be a little bit better but still nowhere near original. Also two people mentioned it doesn't work with the Aifen A9.

Another issue is that they only have 3 types available, all in just one size.

There's some brand with a bigger selection, but they cost €13-14 and the durability remains a question:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_Ewm1BRf
https://a.aliexpress.com/_Eu0mXkh
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EJHXdhL
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EzHaV3r
 
You can get T12 clones in (pretty much) every type and size available, even a lot of specialty ones (those are more expensive, but original would cost upwards of €100), like these spade tips for example:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EIXZDZL

For myself I ordered a 10-pack and two separate T12 tips from the official Quicko store. The 10-pack costed me €25,60 and the seperate ones €3,67 a pop. After discount it costed just €29,75 for twelve tips.

[Pizzabroodje]

decisions, decisions... presumably as the demand for clone JBC tips grows along with these more affordable stations, so too will the quality of them improve in the future as competition grows... or at least decrease the price of the genuine ones? if the variety and quality of T12 tips is already good, there must be a good reason people are currently willing to pay several times more for T210/T245/T115 tips? is the soldering performance that much improved? i too can't afford $30 genuine JBC, but if the clone tips are decent and still perform better than genuine T12s, it seems like a better long term investment? thanks for helping me figure it out.

I think it's mostly the heat-up time. For me the +/- 10 seconds that it takes for a T12 tip to go from room temperature to melting solder is more than good enough. Quality and durability wise, I think the T12 clone tips might very well outperform the JBC clones.
In terms of them improving, they might, but they might also not. JBC clones already have been out for multiple years though.

Here's a video by Louis Rossmann on the matter:
https://youtu.be/kmq769_ed9w
And here's another one:
https://youtu.be/le3MKFfKaII

[eevnoob]

thanks for the info. do you know of a good affordable soldering tip thermometer for calibration? i see that yihua makes one (192), as well as sugon (S-191).

https://www.yihuatools.com/Product/Spare_100000140131301.html
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803502333708.html

there also appear to be many clones of the hakko (FG100) available.

[Pizzabroodje]

I just got a cheapo FG-100 clone for €12:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EJw5PHx

Though maybe not the best I doubt the others would do much better, it's 1/3 the price though if the Sugon and YIHUA.

[thm_w]

Never bothered to calibrate any of my irons personally.

You can also use a normal Type K thermocouple, if you have a spare cheap one that you don't mind trashing. Takes some technique to grab a ball of solder and make good contact with the thermocouple, works better with larger tips.

[Pizzabroodje]

Sugon sent out my station a few days ago. They (the 'Sugon parts tool Store' on AliExpress at least) seem to test each station and tip before shipping them out, which is reassuring. (They also sent me a picture of the complete package with the shipping label laying on it.)

[Pizzabroodje]

As I guessed: the 948DB+II is back on the 'official' store now.