whats the best soldering iron

[mattstolte]

im looking to puchase a new cheap soldering iron? anybody give me some guidace on what to use? i have just a regular one from radio shack works good but looking for something better. i do alot of soldering on my circuit boards for tv repair, whats the cheapest one i could buy off ebay or something?

[stj]

Re: whats the best soldering iron

budget?

[tom66]

Re: whats the best soldering iron

Depends entirely on your budget as stj says.

You really need an iron which has ideally adjustable and most importantly regulated temperature.

Regulated temperature is far more important than being adjustable, so don't buy one of those "lamp dimmer" soldering irons which only varies power levels.

The higher power rating of a regulated soldering iron helps improve temperature recovery and load response (any iron's temperature will drop when soldering, but the best one drops as little as possible, and recovers rapidly.) The control loop performance also helps; the iron must not significantly over-shoot when recovering from a temperature drop. On most irons you can see if they overshoot because the heating LED will go off for a long time after being on for only a few seconds (after removing heat.) This indicates they are cooling down after a significant over-recovery.

I recommend a power rating of at least 50 watts and ideally 65 watts or more. With a regulated iron, more watts are better - you can't overheat a board (assuming it does not overshoot of course.) You won't use this during most soldering, but it really helps for ground planes and large through hole.

Personally I love my Antex 690SD (so much I bought a second one.) If you are patient and can wait on eBay, you can get them very cheap. I paid £50 for one ($80USD) including the soldering iron, controller and stand. Metcal/OKI irons are brilliant, using entirely different magnetic heating technology, but they are expensive. Weller, Antex, Hakko are all very good and provide excellent value for money. Some Chinese manufacturers are quite good. Xytronix for example has a pretty decent 50W iron. Avoid Aoyue, Atten, etc., and clones of Hakko irons. They are pretty poor.

[mariushm]

Re: whats the best soldering iron

Stop looking for irons, get a soldering station, it pays off if you do repairs often, and the quality difference is huge.

If you want a quality soldering station, the Hakko FX-888 is a good choice, in US you can buy it from around $80.
Fry's in US has it often on sale, Amazon has it, on eBay there's an authorized distributor neiosales : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hakko-FX888D...item58abe82d60

On eBay you may still be able to find old used Hakko 936 or Pace Heatwise stations, for which there are still tips available (the 936 and fx-888 can share tips, they're pretty much compatible). I've recently bought from eBay a used Pace HW50 for around $100 to compliment my Hakko 936. $100 is good price here in Europe, in US you can often buy them for $50.

On eBay you can find loads of Atten and Yihua soldering station and lots of companies rebrand them. You can find tips on eBay and other replacement parts like heater elements.
Newark (element14) rebrands some of those under their own brand Tenma and sells them in their store, for example here's a rebranded Atten station for $65: http://www.newark.com/tenma/21-10115...60w/dp/56T2208

It's not as good as the Hakko fx-888 (it heats up a bit slower and has a bit less thermal mass) but it's still way better than soldering irons.

There are cheaper stations on newark but don't cheap out - those cheaper don't have temperature sensor or don't actually adjust temperature (they just vary the power sent into the heating element)

A soldering station that has temperature sensor and allows you to adjust the temperature is way better than Radioshack irons

[pbones]

Re: whats the best soldering iron

I prefer a Weller WD1 soldering station' 85 watts single channel digital readout. The stations reaches set temps up to 850 F. The pen like iron is easy to maneuver and there are loads of tips available. Its pricey but well worth it if you use it often.

[tibimakai]

Re: whats the best soldering iron

I have the Hakko FX-888D, it's great and small, and a Weller WESD51.
I prefer the Weller though. There is a WES51 too, which does not have a digital readout and it's around $100.
My advice is, buy a good brand only.
I have tried Blackjack, which looked and sounded good on paper, but it's way worse then let's say a Weller.
I have also purchased, one of those Chinese stations-899, with hot air and solder iron. The heat gun works great, but the iron is very bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgAYjiyKfMc