I'm in need of a new soldering iron. But I'm not really a soldering expert, so I don't quite know what I'm talking about. After a week or so of searching, I've come to some conclusions, but I'd like some feedback from someone who actually knows what they're talking about.

Here are the models that have reached my short list:

Hakko 936ESD
Hakko seems to be a reputable brand with a good reputation, so it should last a decent amount of time and might have parts available into the future. It's a 60W iron with a ceramic heater that has a 392°F - 896°F (200°C - 480°C) temperature range. I can get this iron for $95.

Hakko 937
This seems to be the same iron as the 936, but it has a digital readout. Neat, but as it goes for about $211, I don't think it's that neat.

Edsyn 951SX
Edsyn seems also to be a well-respected reputable brand. It's a 95W iron with a ceramic heater and a 400°F - 800°F (205°C - 427°C) temperature range. I can find this one for $115.

Xytronic 137ESD
This seems to be a Taiwanese knockoff of the Hakko 937, albeit a well-reviewed knockoff. It has the same ceramic heating element and can supposedly take the same tips. It's also 60W and has a temperature range of 392°F - 896°F (200°C - 480°C). I can find this for about $80. They also make a knockoff of the Hakko 936, but it seems to sell for more, so why not get the cool digital readout?

Xytronic 379
This has actually mostly fallen off of my radar, but it's what I started with before I bait-and-switch-ed myself. It's again got the same ceramic heating element as the other Xytronic and Hakko models, but it's only a 45W iron. Its got a 500°F - 850°F (250°C - 450°C) temperature range. The great thing about this one is that it's only $50. But I'm uncomfortable with the low power rating.

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I've mostly dismissed Weller, as the only units they have in my (largely undefined) price range seem to be worse than the competition; they have fewer features and worse nichrome heating elements. It seems that people who recommend them have two reasons: brand loyalty and ease of acquisition for spare parts (tips and such).

I would love to get a Metcal, which is what we have at work and is a joy to use, but even their cheapest model, the PS800 is $200 and the tips/cartridges they use aren't the same as for the MX500 we have at work, so I doubt that it would be even remotely as good. Pace seems to be out of my range, too.

One thing in particular I'm unsure about is lead-free soldering vs. normal. I understand that lead-free solder melts at a higher temperature, but irons that are marked as suitable for lead-free and ones that are not seem to have the same temperature ranges. Is the difference in the wattage? Suitability for running at a higher temperature for longer? I know that I'm probably unlikely to do any lead-free soldering, but I'd rather attempt to future-proof myself.

Right now I'm leaning toward the Edsyn because of the wattage, but I don't know if that's relevant at all. It also has a significantly lower max temperature than the others. I'm also open to other suggestions.

Help?

For what it's worth...

I use a Weller TCP1 I bought used probably 30 years ago, and it was probably 20 years old at the time. I think it's their first temp controlled iron, controlled by a magnet in the tip. To change the temp, you change the tip. 45 watt. No features at all, I even had to add an on/off switch. I've never wanted for another iron. I have always used a 700 degree (f) tip. It can solder fairly big things.

About five years ago I bought a small controls company and the TCP1 has been our production iron ever since.

Simple things are best...

Well, people say that the Weller irons since Cooper Tools bought them aren't up to par. 50 years ago was certainly before that, though.

And I'm probably mostly interested in soldering fairly small things. I'm not too worried about big stuff.

I haven't come across Hakko before, but I use XYtronic gear and have always found it very good indeed. I have an older model unit, the XYtronic 988 rework station, with all the accessories. It's discontinued now, replaced with this one, but spares are still readily available. The 60w pencil iron is the most comfortable one to use for extended periods of any I have ever tried, and it very reliable. 8 years old and still on the original element, with pretty much daily use. The tips last forever as well. I've soldered literally hundreds of thousands of joints with it (quite a few empeg prototypes were made using this tool), and it's very good.

A much simpler, cheaper one is the XYtronic LF-1000, which is basic but very effective. 100W iron with motion detector, so it switches to half power when not used for a while, then ramps up to temperature when picked up. Quite inexpensive, a company I work with bought two of them for about £50 each on my recommendation recently.

I believe the lead-free irons have a tip that handles long periods at a higher temperature (probably thicker plating) and obviously have no lead used in their construction.

Personally I hate lead-free solder with a passion, the stuff is horrible. It's a nuisance to solder with, an absolute pain to rework, and always gives a joint that looks awful even when it's fine. Add to that the fact that 99% tin solder has a number of known long-term failure modes, and it's just a nasty solution to the problem.

Tin isn't exactly non-toxic either, although it doesn't act as such a potent neurotoxin as lead does.

Weller, nowadays, are crap, at least the lower-end stuff. I know of several people who bought quite expensive weller irons, and all of them failed within a year or so, normally by the temperature regulation steadily drifting until the iron says its somewhere past the boiling point of tungsten on the display, but would actually have a hard time melting a reasonably determined piece of butter.

Pca

I have an old weller too. It has worked great for years.

A company has been advertising in Elektor electronics recently called pcb-soldering.co.uk. Some of their stuff has seems seriously cheap.

I've been using the same 25W Antex soldering iron for the last 6 or 7 years, I've got a couple of tips and have used it for everything, from empeg chip stack memory upgrades to soldering stonking great Lemo triax connectors.

I hadn't come across Antex before. Their cheapest temperature controlled model is well outside my price range, though.

I had come across the Aoyue brand that pcb-soldering.co.uk is selling. They're also Hakko knockoffs, Chinese this time. I can't find many reviews of their stuff, but what I have found is not very good. Unlike Xytronic, their "equivalent" models have far less power. I just don't have a good feeling about them. Plus, I'd rather avoid doing business with China if I can avoid it.

Auto power-off is standard on the Weller units, and is something I never thought would be useful. But having returned to my workstation after a couple days absence, and noticed the Weller power button still in the "ON" position (yet with a cold iron), I've come to appreciate such things.


The only real danger from lead while soldering, is getting it on your hands from handling the solder, and then neglecting to wash it off before touching your face. The toxic fumes from flux are a much more serious consideration.


Dunno. The standard WES50 station here has had zero issues, and both of the old "standalone" Weller irons from my youth still work exactly as they did when new.

Cheers

Mmm.. looks nice, and includes a "metal sponge" system, too. Those are reputed to be better than water sponges in every way, except perhaps longevity.

Cheers

According to the spec sheet, the iron on the 988 is the same as the iron on the 137ESD I spoke of above. I thought I had read something about the iron tending to get a little hot, but that may have been the Aoyue version. It's nice to hear some feedback about that.


If I could find it for the equivalent of £50 (about $100), I'd probably snap it up. I can't find it for less than $180 here, though, which is more than I'm willing to pay. Also, it's got a nichrome heating element, and everything I've read tells me that I want a ceramic element.

Exactly what we have discovered with lead free solder, it just doesn't work. Add together with what you've said and the fact that the tin can grow whiskers and short stuff out at a later point, it's an absolute disaster.

We still can't work out why it's the electronic industry that has borne the brunt of this? Take for example the considerably larger amount of lead that is used by the automotive industry.

We use JBC irons which we love, they're great to work with. Tips can be expensive but using the metal sponge we've now managed to work around the original oxidising that we were getting since the move to lead free.

We've got a pile of dead weller irons, infact their only use recently has been for "trade in" value when buying JBC irons, I think we got £50 off each iron by giving the dealer our scrap wellers!

The iron handle does get quite warm if it's left on continuously, but I've never found it to be a problem. It's probably because it's so small relative to the element size, which personally I find useful. Coupled with the extremely flexible cable, you end up with something very comfortable to use for extended soldering sessions. I hate irons with stiff, inflexible cables that make them dangerous to put down on the bench, because the springiness of the cable makes them jump off and land point down on your groin



I was under the impression it had a ceramic element like the 988 iron. The older iron my unit has certainly does. Hmm. This page claims it has a ceramic element. Odd.

Interestingly, I can't now find it for that price either, but I'm pretty sure the last time I looked into it the thing was around £50-£60. Perhaps it was a special offer and I didn't notice, or perhaps I'm just wrong

pca

It's all a conspiracy by the consumer electronics manufacturers to ensure hardware-based built-in obsolescence, which they can claim is forced upon them by legislation Note that really critical stuff, like server hardware, command and control gear, and medical equipment, is exempt, but dvd players and TVs aren't! Obviously, they want the gear to whisker up and die, thus forcing us to keep buying it again, and blaming the EU

pca

First, that's the LF8000, which is a $390 station, and, second, that page claims it is ceramic in one place and nichrome in another. Oddly, Xytronic's LF8000 page also claims it's ceramic, while their LF1000 page claims it has the same iron, but this time is nichrome. It's this sort of thing that makes me uncomfortable about Xytronic.

Also, here's the thread on the handles getting hot.

Whoops, sorry, you're right. I found the page by a search on the iron part number, and didn't check the base number. Silly me.

However, for what it's worth I have had a 210ESD iron, when I was checking to see if it would connect to the 988 base (it doesn't, different voltage and connector pinout), and certainly that one had a ceramic element.

pca

Weird.

I ended up finding the Hakko 936 on sale for $80, so I pulled the trigger on that. Thanks for your input, everyone.

Also, it turns out that Hakko has a pretty good web page up about lead-free soldering.

I'll bet it was the racing skins that tipped you over.

You know it. They add 10HP, you know.

The iron was waiting for me when I got home.

I don't really have anything to solder right now (I was able to soldier through my last job with my dying iron), but I plugged it in to make sure that it was working.

Damn that thing heats up fast. It gets to temperature in like ten seconds. Maybe 30 for max temp.

I'm pretty pleased with it, so far, having not actually done anything.

Wouldn't you mean 10C

Apparently they cut ~20 seconds of the 1/4 mile.