I just looked on ebay Aus & there are plenty of Hakko clones, both digital & analogue that look like they will do the job for around $50 AU or less
This one is digital & comes with a selection of tips & solder
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/937D-75W-Digital-Display-Soldering-Iron-Station-4-Tip-Lead-Welding-Tool-Kit-/272645689490?hash=item3f7af31092:g:YSQAAOSwzqFZADuj
$55 AU delivered which is less than £30 or about $35 US.
I have THIS ONE , which looks basically like the one listed above except for “brand” name.
It works just fine for my needs also…. just as Ian mentioned did his. :+1:
Shoot M4DM4X a message for 30Q button tops, good price and done 
Possibly all the clones are coming out of the same factory just with different branding on them ?
Anyhoo $35 US for a station or probably at least $20 US for 4 cells with a M4DM4X code, assuming you can get them delivered to your country as isn”t Australia one of the countries where there is problems importing Li-Ions, I know which I would do.
I have found my station very useful since I have had it & because it is so much better & easier to use than the old unregulated iron I had I have had the confidence to do more soldering in the last 6-8 months than I had done in the previous 6-8 years
Also didn”t Tom E report slightly higher numbers with “boobed” flat tops than button tops ?
Another plus for getting a station 
/\\\
Your probably right about that they all come from the same place just branded different. Me too on the soldering, this little station is so much better than what I had been using it is like the difference between daylight & dark. :+1:
Yep…. boobs do seem to outdo buttons. Good, well formed boobs anyway. :+1:
I bought the cells recommended by MadMax but soldering is still a VERY useful skill to learn.
Yes it is
It is my firm belief a soldering iron are a must in the arsenal of tools that make up a mans property.
I have several though i mostly use my cheapo soldering station as the really fine one are in storage and have not been used since i soldered resistors to the legs of ICs on computer motherboards to be able to increase voltage to the North bridge.
Now i cant even see the same IC legs, really got to look into getting reading glasses.
I've said it before. For the best performance, if (big if) you can solder or get them soldered, the VTC6's at GearBest is an outstanding deal for 4 for $20 shipped, $2 each cheaper than other discounters, plus extra for shipping. I've decided to go with these as my primary cell in my modded 16X XHP50 6 cell light (S88 clone here), and other modded lights such as the HaikeLite MT03 and MT07, SupFire L1's, SRK's, Q8, etc. I received 12 so far and have 12 more ordered and not sure if that's enough.
Of course the problem with the VTC6 is it doesn't seem to be available with a button top at the usual battery retailers/discounters.
Just choose the SONY VTC6 and Samsung 30Q here on HJK's comparator, and select only 5A - that's about where it will be in a Q8. The 30Q is an excellent cell and recommended if you can get a good deal, but the VTC6 does consistently slightly better and has slightly higher capacity. To me it's between the VTC6 and for lower performance but better runtimes, the SANYO GA or LG MJ1 with a slight advantage given to the GA (also better at higher amps of 7A and 10A, but we don't need it).
The HKJ tests were done on flat top cells though. Button tops will perform slightly lower, but solder tops will be much closer to flat tops in performance.
Also as my measurements seemed to show solder/flat tops better than button tops, here's more evidence. Run HJK's comparator, choose EnerPower+ 18650 2900 mAh (Blue) BT 2015 and EnerPower+ 18650 2900 mAh (Blue) FT 2015 and look at the discharge curves over various amp levels.
Here is one of the soldering irons mentioned above for the US market. Better price than Ebays $54 and free shipping.
Question… Many years ago when I was taking electronics in school we used a Sal Ammoniac block to clean iron tips. I haven’t seen one in years; are they still available? BTW, Sal Ammoniac is the only name I know it by but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other names for it.
I HIGHLY recommend getting a solder station with a hot air reflow if you plan to do any modding at all. All the drivers now days are SMD and far far easier to work with using hot air. In fact I would say anyone can hot air reflow solder. As long as you don’t melt whatever you are working on and line everything up, it is easy.
I got my combo station for $40 off ebay from a US supplier. It is an 852D+ and has worked great.
Get good solder to go with it as well, good solder makes all the difference if you will be using it on a regular basis. You can get by with cheap solder if you have some extra flux in many cases though.
Could you pls put me ob the list too? Ty, and well hello blf people
Got any good tips you could recommend with the 852D? Apparently, accoring to eevblog chisel should cover MOST use cases.
Welcome to BLF
Yes will update list later
The one I got came with 5 tips, I tried a few of them but ended up with a basic “normal” sized chisel tip that indeed does work for the vast majority of things. There are some times I wish it was larger but it is not worth changing the tip so I usually just raise the temp instead.
I see a few different brands making the 852D+. Are they the same internally with just different silkscreen in on the front panel or do you think they different inside?
Adding solder blobs was talked about in this thread starting on post 6600 which is on page 220.
Link to post 6600
There are also few videos on youtube with demo how it works.
I looked and looked but never could find a good answer to this. I think they are all close enough though. The quality has more to do with who put it together then the parts themselves in many cases anyways.
Interesting, a quick Google search says it’s ammonium chloride and is a type of salt which can sometimes be found at a grocery store.
I used to use a small sponge to clean the tips, but you loose too much heat. So I switched to the brass sponge cleaners.
I got one for about $5 or so. It appearantly has flux mixed in it. All I know is it works great. I dip the tip in there right before I solder and it comes out nice and shiny. Then I touch it to the end of some rosin core solder, which should melt instanly, and I’m ready to go.