First soldering iron/ station- My tips

The first soldering iron- but which one???

Being a electronics hobbyist, your soldering station should be your best friend after your wife. Often you have to decide what is worht buying, and what you can even find in the dumpster day.

Here I compared 6 different soldering stations reaching from 30$ to 700$.

1. Weller WLC100

The weller WLC100 ist probably the best, most inexpencive and very durable soldering station I have seen. I personally hav not that much experience wit hit, but I had a chinese clone of this station (that was my 2nd soldering iron) but I took it apart because I wanted to know what is inseide ;D

You can find this soldering station from 20$ to 40$ and someone may even give one away.

Pros:

- cheap

- very easy to use and beginner friendly

- nice spongy grip

- very light

- light and compact

- different tips

- tips easy to change out

Cons:

- cheapy iron holder

- short and stiff leads (with the time they get loose though)

- instead of thmperature it has a number scale (1-4)

- teperature unknown (at least to me lol)

2. Atten 8586 2 in 1 soldering station (chinese fake but still :D)

Atten station are more known for hot air desoldering gun thingy, but on Ebay etc. you can find chinese fakes for about 70$ to 130$, what I think is a real deal. I have one of these scince about 2 years and it works great.

If you want to read more about it, just klick on this text.

3. Hakko FX-888

If you ever watched EEVblog, then you know what I mean.

This is I belive that is the best soldering station for beginners reachng from 70$ to 140$. It is very nice, there is also the digital temperature- set version of it (but I recommand the analog version), so some 7 segment displays are showing the temperature to you. And I would NOT buy chinese clones of them, because you will not be happy with it, it`ll jut suck.

Pros:

- simple temperature adjustment, 200°c to 480°C

- again, easy to use

- nice soldering iron

- different tips

- °C and °F diplay (digital version)

- very good, solid cast iron soldering iron holder

Cons:

- connector between iron and station kondof cheapy

- shotr lead, about 60cm (but that depends on, what reach do you need)

- from here you have to tell your wife not to buy expencive shoes-

4. Weller WS 81

Or the digital version, the WSD- 80

Looking at the fact, that you will have to spent al little bit more for this soldering station, about 220$ to 300$, I have to say You get what you pay for!.

his soldering station is probably the best middle range station for Hobbyists.

Pros:

- Light weight

- separate iron stand

- different soldering irons you can buy for it

- different tips

- temp. range from 150°C to 450°C ( not a pro, more a fact...)

- high quality, german made

Cons:

- for its age kondof expencive

5. JBC - BT-2BWA

Yes, its 200$ to 480$ can rip you apart, but it rocks. You can change outh the tip im a matter of seconds, it is portable and allows a nice soldering. It also has some brothers, for example with digital discplays.

Pros:

- diffferent fast exchangeble tips

- tips are just "plugged " into the handpiece

- light and robust design

- 90°C to 450°C

- very hight thermal capacity

- SMD part desoldering tweezers (but they cost extra ;( )

- through- hole desoldering irons ( look up)

- very fast heatup

- iron switches off after in stand (reed switch)

- ergonomic handle

- very flexible pvc cable