I’m about to buy a Hakko FX-888D when I stumble across this gem on eBay. I can’t find much information on it, but to say it’s appealing is an understatement.
Carbon fiber handle, machined iron stand, and the form factor is tiny. Not cheap at roughly $135, but genune T12-style Hakko stations are way more than double that. FX-888D is $92 at Amazon.
Problem is, I don’t have much of a clue about Hakko T12 iron tips. It looks like T12 tips have the heating element built-in, unlike the T18-style of the FX-888D. More expensive, but they don’t appear to be drastically more expensive. Also don’t know much about how it does ESD/temp sensing - it has 5 prongs on the connector, but the real Hakko soldering station has 7 for the T12-style handle. T18 only does 5-wire, so maybe this is the same?
I got the Hakko 936 clone for 15$ off Hobbyking and I love it. For the basic/random flashlight mod jobs it is totally fine. If I wanted to spend any additional funds I would go for the authentic Hakko brand; I think they are blue/yellow now.
This one does look great but I don’t know anything about the brand or reliability. so unless you could find good reviews online it might look pretty but die further down the road… don’t know.
Normally I’d just go for the Hakko 936 clone and call it a day, but SWMBO gave the go-ahead to get the FX-888D as kind of a post-deployment present. Plus the geek in me likes seeing the digital readout.
Can you buy different soldering tips for it? because this spike type tip is good for nothing (at least not for soldering).
I prefer using 900M-T-1.6D tip…
This device is available through various resellers, auction platforms, and shops for around 13-17$ US. It is by far the best investment I made (in relation to the price) in my tool section.
It is also available with a digital display in red, but some hobby forums mentioned it might be a weak point. I don’t know whether it is - I have the manual variant and I prefer turning knobs on my soldering station rather pushing a button or similar.
The digital read out just displays temp or error message(like a cold joint in the wand reads E5) but still has a knob to adjust temp and same on/off side switch.
