Soldering iron

I would stay away from gas for any serious soldering. The decent soldering stations all heat up in like 2 minutes and you can watch the temperature readout climb up rapidly.

Yeah I'm not going to be a pro solderer or anything so a few minutes to heat up isn't a big deal to me. If it was my living I would invest in whatever, but its not, its just for hobby stuff so I don't think I need to spend coin like that.

I'm probably going to go with a weller.

Bumping this thread since I need a new soldering iron- the one I posted in this thread that I bough when I was like 10 finally died. I wonder if I can find a decent soldering station for like $70-$80

The good thing about soldering irons is the technology doesn't really change much. Unless you count that battery operated, instant heat thing radio shack was selling. I never could get it to work right.

I wonder how these cheap ebay digital soldering stations are

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATTEN-SOLDER...ht_3775wt_1165

Attachment 9560

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atten-Digita...ht_3173wt_1398

Attachment 9561

http://www.ebay.com/itm/60W-Solderin...ht_1508wt_1141




http://www.ebay.com/itm/60W-Solderin...ht_3748wt_1398

there's a bunch of cheap ones like this- wonder how they are- I would like to get a weller or hakko with digital control but don't really want to spend $140. I don't solder that much but when I do I want something good.

edit:

hmm it looks like radioshack is branding and selling the same iron as that atten linked above

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LAjm8_HmxY

Ended up ordering this Hakko for $80 from amazon with 2 day shipping from amazon prime

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._AA1500_.jpg

The new hakkos kind of look like colorful toys but you can't beat the quality and I guess a digital temp readout isn't that important and I would rather have a better quality iron.

I was gonna say just to get Weller and never think about it again, but…apparently I chimed in a bit late.

Hakko > Weller but yeah.

Enh…I've never had a weller fail on me. I've also never paid for one myself.

Holy crap this Hakko FX-888 is amazing. Easily one of the best soldering iron I've ever used. I remembered the old Hakkos were good but this is even better- it's definitely a noticeable step up from the wellers. Incredibly precise temperature control (accurate within 1 degree vs. 10 degrees on the wellers), great build quality, and really well designed. The funky colored base that looks plastic is actually some solid high tech ceramic- very well engineered.

This thing heats u so fast I thought it was off- heats up to 700 degrees it literally 10-15 seconds. You can see when the heater turns on and off from the LED and the temperature control is very stable. Highly recommended for $80 and you can't beat it considering it beats wellers and other brands priced double. I need to get some other tips for it.

http://i.imgur.com/2rxMD.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/XJB2f.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/fVoEx.jpg

yeah I solder in my kitchen, what?