Budget soldering station quandary

[lborl]

My cheap plastic 58W variable temp unit just died mid-project and I figured it was time for an upgrade to something with temperature control. I've read through pretty much every relevant forum thread Google could find both here and elsewhere and the internet consensus seems to be to 'just invest 80 dollars in the Hakko FX888D'.

But. A Hakko FX888D is £110 over here in the UK. According to Google that's more like $145. And according to the sick feeling in my stomach that's about twice what I can afford right now. What I really want is something £60 or under.

So can anyone advise me on a few of these other poor man's options eBay and Amazon are offering right now? I've literally spent all of last night trying to sort through it myself and am just going round in circles. Here's the ones I've been looking at:


-  YIHUA / AOYUE / etc 936/937+
Chinese Hakko knockoff. Price varies from about £30 - £50 depending on branding. Advantages are wide availability and vague promise of compatibility with actual Hakko parts. Disadvantages appear to be inconsistent quality control and accompanying feeling of imposter syndrome


- XYTRONICS 137 ESD
read an old post either here or on DIY stompboxes comparing this equably with the proper Hakko 936, presumably when the latter was still available. An eBay seller is currently offering these 'new, unused, not in packaging' for £40 shipped with a 'make an offer' option. Seller also has the 136 ESD (no digital display) for about £30. Disadvantages are the potential difficulty finding replacement tips / parts and it being something of unknown quantity. I can't even find a reliable indicator of what its original RRP was. Also iron is hardwired to the unit on these


- XYTRONICS T-1976
again, available for £50 on eBay. Silicon cord and general simplicity of it (dial and two leds, no digital display) would seem promise some measure of unpretentious quality. Only 45W though and unsure if iron is removable. However, I can't find anything about it online except a YouTube demo for a 'Dick Smith Electronics' branded variant, though that has a temperature readout which the ebay model doesn't: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1URIk2w9zs


- TENMA 60W 21-10115
the black thing with the blue LCD display. Seems a nice simple interface and can be had for £50 online (£70 in store at Maplin). A couple of quite positive unboxing / first go videos from hobbyists on YouTube including a guy who fixes up old games consoles. Says in his unboxing video he'll be using it as his main station. However, there's also some disgruntled reviews online about the iron not heating enough (although it's sort of inferred they're talking about using the stock small conical tip) and the temperature readout basically lying. Also apparently the stand is crappy. I think I'm currently narrowly leaning towards this one.


- YIHUA etc 852D+ 2 IN 1 HOT AIR / SOLDERING STATION
the first one I noticed online and was just going to buy straight out until I read some of the reviews. Advantages are lots of lights and dials plus a hot air gun I can use for heatshrink instead of holding it over a lighter - two toys for the price of one. Main disadvantages are horror stories about the hot air gun spontaneously coming on sometimes even though it's switched off on the unit, and Youtube 'teardowns' of people identifying missing heatsinks and so on. Also very little information about the actual quality of the iron itself other than it's 60W. I can see myself being influenced towards this though if anyone here has had good experience with one. £63 from Amazon, although the listing tries to make out that's down from an RRP of £199.99 which is clearly bullshit.


Thanks

[Beaker]

Can't comment on the others as I have never used them, but I have used a Xytronic 137ESD unit for several years. Bomb proof, totally reliable and a joy to use. Tips and spares are pretty easy to find, and the tips last years - I bought a spare set when I bought the unit, and they are still unused in the box.

The iron is plug in with a DIN type plug - no hardwired. Therefore replacing the iron and lead is an easy option.

They used to sell for over £100.

I got mine here:

http://www.thesolderman.co.uk/

Their website is down for upgrading at the moment, and there is little on their ebay shop, but it's worth giving them a phone call in my opinion. They were very helpful to me when I was deciding what model to buy.

If you can find one cheaper elsewhere, then go for it - you won't regret it.

[Travis]

I use a Weller WES51 which I think you may be able to get for about £70. Not sure how much they cost in the UK but that's about what they cost in the US

Mine has been very reliable and easy to use. It still has the original tip after several years and it hasn't deteriorated. It heats up in about 30 seconds, has a nice pencil, and pretty much just does everything I think one would need. Haven't tried the Hakko so can't compare, but from my experience the Weller is great

[Silver Blues]

I second the WES51/WESD51 recommendation. I've used one of these and it's a treat though I don't actually own one (everyone knows the story of my ancient WP35). I have also heard good things about the 137ESD (and Xytronic as a brand has been good to me over time as well).

[lborl]

Cool. Thanks everyoe.

I looked at that Weller but it's as much or more than the Hakko over here once shipping's taken in account. It's looking more and more like the Xytronic 137ESD is the way to go - its currently only 35 quid delivered from that eBay seller which increasingly seems like a pretty good deal.

I have to admit of all of them its the one I was least hoping to be persuaded towards because it's kind of visually the least sexy looking but I guess thats why you can pick it up cheap now so I'm certainly not about to argue. In fact I  think I'm just going to go for it now before someone recommends the Tenma and muddles my resolve.

I only hope of course that it actually a real Xytronics and not some kind of counterfeit but I think it's worth the shot. Thanks again

[lborl]

Heres the listing by the way if anyone else is interested:  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/322177297126

[Beaker]

Well it looks exactly like my unit, except that the one in the listing has the extractor tube, which mine does not have. I agree that they don't look sexy, but I'll take plain simplicity and reliability every time. I'm a Murphy's Law guy, so IMO the more things that can go wrong...

I have just found the reciept for mine - I bought it ten years ago, and the unit and eight tips (2 rounded needle, 2 rounded needle with a flat, 2 small chisel, and 2 large chisel tips) set me back £127.

Based on that, the listed one is a bargain!

I have to say that Xytronic irons are not cut price, second rate items. They are high quality industrial grade units.

I get to use £300 Weller's sometimes at work, and frankly they are no better than the Xytronic. In fact they constantly lock out and need resetting (Murphy again) - and the tips only last five minutes.

Weller used to be be the bomb, but not any more.

[Sensei Tim]

I used to have an AOYUE 936. I ended up buying a hakko 888

my opinions:

the single biggest thing that drove me batty with the Aoyue was that it felt like they were using a solid core 0 gauge wire to connect the power supply to the soldering iron. i'm not joking. it got to a point where if i was trying to do precision soldering the cable would not allow me to make the fine adjustments of the soldering iron due to resistance.

Also, if i remember, the cable was much shorter than the Hakko.

The iron holder was pretty flimsy on the Aoyue. the sponge was pretty much useless and the little thing to hold your spool of solder was frustrating.  the hakko has a good sponge with a deep water reservoir and has a spot for the brass brush to clean your tip. the holder is rock solid.

i burnt out 2 or 3 heating elements on the aoyue in the 1 year that i had it. so far so good with the hakko (but i probably just jinixed myself now).

the Hakko heats up MUCH quicker than the Aoyue does.  The power supply on the hakko seems to be much stronger, also. It would take me forever to be able to heat up a solder joint on the back of a pot in a guitar with the Aoyue, but it's done within seconds on the hakko.

TL;DR  Aoyue is ok for a starter station, but you may get frustrated with the stiff cable and eating through heating elements rather quickly.

your up front cost might be lower for a chinese knock off, but that old maxim of "you get what you pay for" comes into play. if you find yourself buying a new soldering station every 1-2 years then that slightly larger up front cost of the hakko makes more sense as it will outlast any chinese knock off.

[bogey]

I was tempted by the hakko because everybody says they're so good (and i'm sure they are) but I couldn't find a seller who offered the 240v version that I trusted.

Instead I opted for this from Rapid
https://www.rapidonline.com/xytronic-168-3cd-temperature-controlled-digital-soldering-station-502636

My soldering skills went through the roof overnight , there is magic in these irons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've even left it on for a couple of days (more than once) and the tip is still as good as new.

I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination.....but this or something similar gets my vote.

Oh and sponges belong in the sea and nowhere near a solder station

[Silver Blues]

bogey wrote

Oh and sponges belong in the sea and nowhere near a solder station

I agree wholeheartedly. The brass wool balls are infinitely better for cleaning iron tips than those sponges.

[Beaker]

Agree on the sponges - brass wool balls are infinitely better.

The iron stand on the Xytronic 137ESD has a holder for a brass ball built in.

As the iron Bogey linked to is £68 not including postage and the 137ESD I bought was £95 ten years ago, it makes that one on ebay even more of a bargain.

Even at £95 I still consider that mine was well worth the money, and I would buy one at that price again if I needed to. Therefore £30 for one is a steal.

Rapid online in the UK do a full range of tips, accessories and replacement parts for Xytronic irons, so sourcing tips is not a problem.

Have you gone ahead and got one yet Iborl?

[scimitar]

I would just like to thank the OP for drawing my attention to the Xytronics 137ESD on Ebay, I have just bought one from the seller and everything looks as it should. as he stated there is a "make an offer" option so I offered £25 and it was accepted. It arrived last night in proper commercial packaging (the seller is clearly a company not an individual), inside the outer packaging was the Xytronics packaging containing the main unit, the soldering iron (which is a separate unpluggable part) complete with fume extractor tube (need to work out if I can use that with my home made fan) and also despite it not being shown on the Ebay pictures - a soldering iron stand complete with brass wool tip cleaner. Also comes with UK and continental plug leads.
Whilst I don't have anything to compare it to I can't see that this is anything but a genuine item and at the price is an amazing bargain - whilst looking to see if I could find a way to hook up the fume extractor I found that just the fume extractor kit is selling for £30 currently. So far I have only tinned the bit so can't give any report on how good it is but I was amazed at the speed it heats up -can't wait to use it.

[rocket88]

just adding a quick comment. i've read good things about the Xytronics, and if i'm not mistaken it's basically a hakko knockoff, and you can use the hakko tips, which is nice if you do want to make the switch to a hakko when you've got more cash for a new station.

i'll be honest that i'm a firm believer in that one thing you never go cheap on is tools, and that you get what you pay for. the way i think about it is that a tool is there to allow you to complete a specific task and you want it to be reliable.

i'm not saying that you need to spend a ton of money on them, but i never trust cheap tools. it may be because of my science background, and something that i learned from my father due to his job, and from building cars, and other experiences. in the end when you spend less you end up having to replace sooner and end up spending more in the long run, where as if you buy something good and reliable from the get go you usually have to buy it once, and if it breaks you can get replacement parts. not to mention with soldering irons and stations i want to trust that when i set it to a certain temperature it's at that temperature.

my dad still has and uses the same iron from the 60's, which he uses almost daily and it's never let him down. while the first iron i bought for myself died in a year and a half, so i replaced it, that had to be replaced in about the same time span. when i bought my soldering station i researched for weeks to find one that was good, reliable, and not crazy expensive. i ended up spending a little more then i really wanted at the time, i think with shipping was about $175USD including shipping, but i got one that is used commercially, has replacement parts, can be recalibrated at home if need by, and is beyond reliable and known for being built like a tank.

side note, i don't use tools that do 9million things good, i always use tools designed for a specific job and do it great. if i put my faith in my tools i need to know they will always do what i ask of them.

not saying that all of the cheaper stations are automatically bad. its like if you want a new fender guitar, do you save and get an american or do you just run out and buy a squire. just another way to think about it.

btw, i found this site that has the hakko fx-888d for 79quid, not sure if that's in your price range or not.