Need help choosing soldering station - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: joab
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 03:06:38 pm
content: I have wanted to replace my old soldering iron (yes, not a soldering station) with a proper soldering station. The question is: What should I get?First, I would like to point out a few things. I live in Sweden, which means the closer to Sweden the store is, the better. Of course, that doesn't mean that I can't buy a soldering station from the US, or some other distant place, but I don't want extreme shipping costs and taxes.I've set my budget to 1000 SEK (approximately $150 or £100), including shipping, duties, etc.Now, I've been looking around quite a bit, especially on Swedish online stores. The thing is, I don't know what brands are good or not. I buy most of my things fromwww.electrokit.com. They have a few soldering stations, most of them from Atten or Aoyue. I've looked around a bit to see if any of those are good brands, but I haven't found information. Are those brands good or not?I've also been looking on other places, like eBay, Farnell/Element14 and ELFA. I've tried to find more stores in Sweden that sell quality soldering stations, but most of the stores I've found don't have more than 2 or 3 cheap ones. If you know of any stores in Sweden that sell good soldering stations to a reasonable price AND (most importantly) to "regular" customers (i.e. not only companies), then please tell me.On eBay I've found this Hakko FX888, which I've heard is a good soldering station:http://viewitem.eim.ebay.se/New-Original-Hakko-FX88823BY-FX888-Soldering-Station/181105108637/item/index.en-US.htmlI've also looked at these two Saike 2-in1 soldering/hot air gun stations, since I'm interested in surface-mount soldering/desoldering.http://viewitem.eim.ebay.se/NEW-2-in-1-Saike-852D-Soldering-Rework-Station-with-Hot-Air-Gun-Iron-Solder-11/271195849355/item/index.en-US.htmlhttp://viewitem.eim.ebay.se/SAIKE-898D-Rework-Soldering-Desoldering-Station-SMD-IRON-Hot--Air-Gun-2-IN-1/271195071911/item/index.en-US.html(You may have noticed that all three items are from sellers in Hong Kong. The reason is that shipping is cheap.)Are any of these good? Are there better alternatives within my budget? As I mentioned before, my budget is 1000 SEK.To end this way too long post, I would like to mention that I would prefer if you use eBay Sweden (it's available in English of course, just scroll down to the bottom of the page) if you post links to eBay, since the prices are listed in SEK, I can see the shipping cost for most things and they only show things that can be shipped to Sweden.Thanks a lot in advance for your help!

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 08:05:54 pm
content: Assuming it's genuine (Chinese source makes me nervous), I'd say go for the Hakko, and get a separate hot air station. The reasoning I like separate units, is so if one breaks, you can use the other to repair it.Also note, that the particular P/N of Hakko is a US version, so you'd also need a step-down transformer, which will add to the cost a bit.

author: eKretz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 08:12:38 pm
content: I'd agree with nanofrog. Out of your posted choices, the Hakko is best. I don't like the Chinese copies personally. They always cut too many corners. I almost bought a Hakko until I found an ersa iCon 1 on eBay for a good price. Nanofrog also has a good point about the separate units.

author: joab
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 08:15:36 pm
content: Quote from: nanofrog on April 26, 2013, 08:05:54 pmThanks for your reply! I know that one should be careful when buying things from Chinese sellers on eBay, but I just chose it since it was the cheapest. If I could find a Hakko in the US with (almost) the same shipping price, I would definitely choose that one instead. The problem is, shipping from US is in most cases much higher than the cost of the soldering station itself. I've seen a lot of reasonably priced soldering stations with shipping costs over 1000-1500 SEK!I didn't take the step-down transformer into consideration earlier. Thanks for pointing that out. I've to check that out as well, if I get a soldering station that isn't a EU-version.You've a good point about separate units as well. I won't buy a 2-in-1 solution then.

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2013, 09:31:45 pm
content: Quote from: joab on April 26, 2013, 08:15:36 pmTake a look at this seller then (US based, ships to Sweden):http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hakko-FX888-23BY-FX888-Soldering-Station-Replaces-936-12-Solder-Station-/170990362664?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27cfd1e028Shipping + import fees aren't as expensive as the station ($145.40USD for the station, shipping, and import fees listed for Sweden).Transformer would break your initial budget target, but not horribly so.They also carry the digital version if you prefer.Try to get 300W in a step-down transformer to be sure it can handle the load (specs listed tend to be peak values, not nominal; what I based the pricing on).Nor do you require separate units, but I do find it nicer than trying to do a repair with a fire stick, especially if the item being repaired was originally was put together with lead-free solder.

author: joab
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 03, 2013, 08:37:04 pm
content: Quote from: nanofrog on April 26, 2013, 09:31:45 pmThanks for the link! I checked it out and it seemed like a nice deal. I won't buy it immediately, since I want to look for other alternatives, but I'll keep it in mind. I would like to know if there are some good soldering stations that I can get from somewhere in Europe so that I won't have to pay import duties and stuff like that.So, does anyone know of a good store in Europe which sells quality soldering stations for a reasonable price (i.e. within my budget)?I also want to repeat an earlier question: Are Atten and Aoyue good?@nanofrog:The reason I asked about the 2-in-1 stations was more or less because they were cheap. I've been thinking of buying separate units for the same reasons you mentioned, but since I saw those stations I felt like asking anyways.Thanks for your answers!

author: jpb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2013, 09:39:09 pm
content: I've been very happy so far with my Ersa i-Con nano but it is nearly double your budget (about £180). Ersa do the i-Con pico which is around £115 but this is not ESD safe. In the UK the 888 is more like £130 and I don't think Sweden will be cheaper.I found that contacting Ersa directly was a good thing to do. They put me in touch with the UK importers who were much cheaper than Conrad and Farnell and others. They were also helpful with advice. There is no harm in e-mailing them and asking. I think you could probably get the pico within budget which would be a nice iron but it is not conducting (for ESD). The Hakko is hard to get in Europe there is an importer in Holland and one in the UK but I think they only sell within those countries. Importing cheap ones from the States has issues with voltage level and heavy postal costs etc and you may have problems getting service if there are faults.I don't know your circumstances, but I'd consider perhaps increasing the budget a bit and looking at lower end Ersa irons or finding an official Hakko importer.

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2013, 05:26:03 am
content: Quote from: joab on May 03, 2013, 08:37:04 pmUnderstandable for wanting affordable alternatives closer to home, and why the questions you've posted are seen so often. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any, as it seems this sort of equipment, even for that manufactured somewhere in the EU, is rather expensive for EU residents.From what I understand and have seen of the tear downs, Aoyue is OK, but nothing special. ATTEN seems to be more hit-and-miss by comparison IIRC. But neither are in the same league as the professional brands already mentioned. Some areas are better than others (i.e. irons are substantially better than the desoldering tools regarding the Chinese brands), but in instances such as hot air, Chinese is really the only alternative for hobbyists compared to the major brands (i.e. Chinese for say ~ $100USD vs. nearly $1k or more for Hakko, Weller, ... brands, so too much of a cost difference).

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2013, 10:39:07 am
content: I think it's been mentioned before that Aoyue and Atten are popular in China (used in factories, repair shops, etc.) to the extent that fakes of them exist.

author: joab
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 04, 2013, 09:54:04 pm
content: Thanks a lot for all your answers! I appreciate them all! You've given me a lot of valuable information.I've been looking on the soldering stations on Conrad, but once again, I've no idea if any of them are good. Sure, those Weller and Ersa-branded soldering stations that they sell are probably good quality, but most of them are almost double my budget.There's one Weller station (at Conrad) that's just a tiny bit over my budget, but that shouldn't be much of a problem if it's good quality and there are no better alternatives. It's the Weller WHS 40 (English link,Swedish link). Do you have any comments on that one? Personally I don't like that the pen seems to be quite thick. I would prefer a thinner pen. It fits my hand better and I can solder with a bit more precision.They also sell soldering stations from Toolcraft at Conrad. What about them? Are they good? Does anyone have a Toolkraft soldering station, and in that case, could you share your impressions of it? At least they seem to be within my budget.I'm sorry for asking so many questions. I just want to know what alternatives I there are and what's good and what's bad. I've never thought too much about getting a "good brand" soldering station before, but now I'm interested to know.PS. Atten seem to have some ESD safe soldering stations within my budget. An example is this one:http://www.electrokit.com/lodstation-60w-digital-at938d.50179

author: nanofrog
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2013, 05:11:33 pm
content: Skip the Weller IMHO.Take a look here (reviews of the analog version):http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B0001P17EW/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt/276-1949267-1262933?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1