I've been out of the game for a few years but have been doing a lot of reading lately, looking to get back into it again and do some circuit modding and soldering etc.
With the Hakko stuff and the clones.. I've been sensing a very strong theme. The Chinese kits, or clones generally work pretty well. Sometimes safety is dodgy and you might need to tidy that up. Sometimes there is random variations and you never know what you are going to get. But one thing for sure is that you need to pony up for the expensive hardware. In terms of using real Hakko solder tips, or in this case.. real Hakko sensors. The Long Life one.. AS5000.
At first glance it seems strange to spend so much but as JimKnopf and AmnevaR showed, it's well worth it. They are expensive but you actually get something that works well. One thing I'm unsure on is the method of using solder while measuring.
Do you guys all do this, or is it considered optional? It's hard to find concrete info on this, it seems a niche topic and open to personal preference. After measurement do you desolder the sensor with wick or a pump or just leave it on? I guess it doesn't matter much either way, but if using AS5000 you are going to want to preserve the life of it as much as possible.
It does make sense though.. to recreate the same conditions that the soldering iron will be put under in real world usage.