Weller just doesn’t seem as good these days. Their irons remain as expensive as ever, yet numerous people have checked their stations over the past few years and found that there’s about a 1 in 3 chance that there’s even a fuse installed on the input, even for identical models bought around the same time; Weller QC may not be what it once was.
JBC stations are very nice, but expensive. Pace is making a wonderful iron (in the U.S.A.) as well and the tips were much cheaper than JBC’s when I last checked. Either of these brands are super-expensive for hobbyists, though.
Hakko T12 clones, such as KSGER, are my current favorite for budget stations, but it seems nearly impossible to choose a seller shipping units with good quality control.
Many of the Quicko/Quecoo/Laecho units seem to be manufactured better than those from KSGER, but it’s suspicious that Quicko keeps changing their brand name and it’s likely that they stole their firmware from KSGER. Even “real” KSGER stations seem to have poor quality control and a confusing array of models, however, and the T12 handles are mostly junk, even the over-priced “stainless steel” models.
Rui Deng, which makes budget items like bench power supplies and USB testers, deals with clones of their products by having its own online stores to distribute genuine, fair-quality units and it’s hard to understand why a company like KSGER can’t learn from them. There are youtube tear-downs of units bought from KSGER “official” stores and the manufacturing quality is so variable that they are obviously hand-building them with little or no oversight.
I’ll also mention that virtually all of the T12 clones with AC inputs have the Chinese design flaw where 110/220VAC tracks are separated from chassis-grounded heat sinks by a mere solder mask layer. There’s simply no excuse for this, IMO, but most brands have settled upon switch-mode supply designs that include this “feature”.
- If you purchase any switch-mode power supply from China, make certain that it has a proper input fuse and a screwed, not soldered, ground lug from the AC power cord. These boards are good values only if they don’t kill you .
While older soldering technologies where the heater is not built into the tip would seem less expensive to maintain, the reality is that genuine T18 Hakko tips are quite expensive, while China is now producing generic T12 tips at a volume where they are cheaper despite their complexity. However, a look at various user reports suggests that generic T12 tips are much less accurate than genuine tips and cannot heat beyond ~400C even at 100% duty. Generic T12 users must calibrate their individual tips, as they are often 50C out of line with the thermocouple readings.
If you don’t want to deal with any of this, start saving for a Pace .