I believe there have been other upgrades as well. I think the heating is much faster…0 to 700° in thirty seconds. I know I researched all over the place about the same things before I bought, but I can’t remember much anymore. Being in Canada I paid a lot more than what you can get it for, and I got a great price. I have no regrets.
Edit: It’s also really helpful when soldering something that initially absorbs a lot of heat. You can observe the tip temperature dropping and rising on the display.
Thanks. BTW, the pic for both have one where the pencil tip is pointed at the front panel. Is that for the “wireless” thing, i.e., it senses the actual temperature from the pencil, but you have to bring the pencil up to the front panel?
Also, forgot to mention: Looking at the blown pencil, there’s a black hole on the cord near where it goes into the pencil handle. I’m thinking either a short or maybe a thermofuse that blew :(.
I’ve been using a real Hakko 936 for the last few years, but picked up a couple of these for spares/gifts after they got good reviews over on RCGroups.
I’ve already used it to do some work, soldering leads on an emitter, and it works fine.
It comes with 10 tips, plus an extra ceramic element. It comes with a sponge and sponge tray, and solder holder/roller (don’t use), but I bought one of the brass cleaner thingies at the same time.
It heats up super fast. I didn’t time it though.
Seems pretty good for the price.
Jim
Edit: I bought this tip from Fasttech awhile ago (not sure why), but the package it comes in says “Hakko”, and it works in this Aouyue:
Ohhh, shiny
Looks like a nice iron. Heating up fast is good. Mine is just OK in that department. Not sure if that is a power thing, but it seems to do OK with larger heating jobs.
Having the extra heating element is a nice thing to have. They are inexpensive, but they can (rarely) break and do it suddenly so you would be stuck without a backup.
60W is nice, I think mine is 50W which is adequate. I also have a genuine Hakko 936 that I can use if two irons are needed (not often at all).
If that FT tip is genuine, it a good deal at $1. How does it perform? Stays tinned for a while, good heat transfer, etc?