I was ready to pull the trigger on the Ihua Hakko clone soldering station from Hobby King, but ran into alot of problems with them and it didnt go through. Any suggestions on a decent 60w station similar to the Hakko, hopefully ships from U.S. Started out with a small R.S. 20 watter, doesnt get hot enough. Bought an EGC 60 watter in the meantime, and sure it gets hot, but I wore down the damn tip in one sitting, barely doing anything with it. Just need a station when funds are available.
i have this one
it works great
edit: its on backorder all the time, but if you sign up to be notified when its in stock you should be able to get it
they restock every ~2-3 weeks and stock this in the USA warehouse
edit 2:
if you keep opening a browser with this item they will offer it to you for $15.62 
i got a message that popped up saying something like “hello - we noticed you were looking at this, heres a one time low price” Ive seen this on a number of other HK items
This one has served me really well so far...
That looks nice, even eyeing up the digital one 60w.
+1
Ordered one of these early in the new year when they had it in stock in their Australian warehouse. Picked one immediately after all the recommendations here. I can say that it has worked really well for me as well. I need to buy more tips for it though, but the standard fine tip works great when you’re working on the driver.
I've been using the HobbyKing iron for the past few months quite a bit and it has been great so far! Well worth the money. Time will tell how it holds up in the future but I've already got a spare replacement.
HINT: if you go to order the station from HobbyKing, stay on the page for a minute or two and they will offer you a slightly lower price. When you go to checkout, create an account as it seems that the PayPal Express function on the site is broken.
Yeah, Richard, thats the one I really wanted and researched about, but I had a problem with Hobby King and my debit card. Actually the order is still pending. I tried to chat with them online, but that didnt go well. I guess I need to contact my bank, maybe its flagged because of being overseas. I even got the pack of 10 tips today, I ordered them before the station. I’ll figure something out, I just kind of gave up on that one out of frustration.
That's a bummer! It really is a nice station for the money, especially since it takes all of the nice Hakko tips.
I have a genuine Hakko 936, but I can vouch for this station - I’ve used it, and it’s pretty much an identical copy of the Hakko. Seems decently built, and it takes genuine Hakko tips.
I wouldn’t bother getting a digital display station - it’s much quicker to reach over and give the temp knob a twist on an analog station, than it is to tap buttons on a digital station to put the temperature where you want it.
I've owned several through the years but this one has been what I can term my favorite.
Another vote for Weller, one of my Wellers is still going strong after almost 40 years of use by both my father and I.
Yep I have a Weller too, analog dial. I can’t remember the model number but it’s been going strong for a long time.
Best thing I can say about tips is don’t leave them on and keep them cleaned up. Save your old tips to use when you don’t need to be precise.
I want to get a complete set and it seems that there is no budget ones available othere than Chinese ones ( off course if you call these budget). I have considered Hakko with just the iron part. But smd (de)soldering is becoming inevitable. And Hakko ones seemed like a Fisher-price toys and possible Chines fakes. If I am going the get a Chinese pruduct , it might as well be original. I will have to pay a decent amount for shipping and will have to pay 20% at customs. I have to avoid DHL/TNT or similar cargo companies as they would charge 200$ per package for customs handling (crazy huh). So I have 2 models of aoyue below that I could come up with. What do you think?
And for Weller, metcal or whatever pro brand advocates there might come and advice me about the benefits of them, I have to agree with buying good stuff for once, but I won’t be using it profesionally to so it won’t pay for itself. If you have other models to advice please feel free to do so, bearing in mind that it would have to be shipped to Turkey, and the price range.
This is me. Its not a variable output model. If I had a chance to do it all over again, it would be. But….for a knob like me, it works so much better than that radio shack stuff.
When the sponge wears out or gets funky, you can use one from the kitchen. 0:) Just cut to size. :bigsmile: Make sure you buy some of that tip cleaning stuff too. Helps keep it so fresh & so clean clean. :party:
EDIT: Hey pros, whats the best solder to use on a circuit board of a light? I just have the non rosin stuff. Been using it for years. Don’t know any different. Should I try something different?