New Soldering Station

[Kinski]

The Hakko FX-888D. This thing is so awesome. Its a MAJOR upgrade from my previous crap station. Warms up in just a few seconds.

[Travis]

Nice! I haven't tried anything from Hakko, but I hear they're top knotch

It's so great going from a shitty basic iron to a nice temp controlled one that heats up fast. My girlfriend gave me a WES51 for Christmas a couple years ago and I love that thing! I think it's pretty amazing that I've never changed the tip on it and it's still in perfect shape.

Hope you enjoy it

[Silver Blues]

Yeah Weller tips seem to have that reputation

[rocket88]

Awesome man. I was looking at getting that one, and the reviews are fantastic. I ended up going for the edsyn 951sxe. I haven't had a chance to use mine, but will this weekend. I've been waiting from some different tips to show up, cause I'm used to using a pointy cone tip and this came with a small chisel tip. I figure that since I'm going to have to learn to use this one, I might as well try different tips, maybe it will be able to get even better just by using a different style tip.

Here's my new baby.

[Travis]

"Yeah Weller tips seem to have that reputation"

If you're being facetious, I totally agree. The Weller I had before would go through tips pretty fast.. They always developed a hot spot that would burn into a crater.. That hasn't happened at all with the new one though. No hot spot or deterioration.

The first one I got was DOA but the eBay seller sent a replacement for free (and let us keep the broken one). I guess Weller may have some QC issues

[rocket88]

supposedly there quality hasn't been the same since moving their facility to mexico....

[Stinger25]

Great stuff! I have the FX-888 (with an analog knob) - great station, plenty tip options.

[Kinski]

Nice, Rocket88! I have the Edsyn FXF-11 Fume Extractor. Works very well. Very small, and quiet.

[Silver Blues]

Travis wrote

"Yeah Weller tips seem to have that reputation"

If you're being facetious, I totally agree. The Weller I had before would go through tips pretty fast.. They always developed a hot spot that would burn into a crater.. That hasn't happened at all with the new one though. No hot spot or deterioration.

The first one I got was DOA but the eBay seller sent a replacement for free (and let us keep the broken one). I guess Weller may have some QC issues

I think QC is the problem. I have a super old WP35 that still has the original tip, it's my dad's and whatnot (I'm sure I've told this story before lol) that's just been going and going and going. I've heard though that some of the newer Wellers burn tips like kerosene...