my budget is up to $100

but if I spend 100 I'd like to get the best for 100 and for it to last over 6 months with xontinued use.

I've been mainly looking at $50 solder irons. however every review I read on solder irons, says the tips break, the handle melted, the tips got ruined... I don't even know what to do anymore. I was looking at the xtronic pro 3060 model as it was reviewed tk be good, but then someone said it broke in less than a day.


please help recommend a solder iron.

all the best!

 

Weller.

 

I've been using the X-tronic 3020 (without all the helping hands junk) for years. Yes, you need good quality tips. Any iron will burn up tips if you crank the heat up on them, set it @ 350°C and leave it there. You don't need all the extra junk they put on the 3060. Just my opinion but soldering using their helping hands right above your control unit is a very bad idea. For the price of the 3020 you can buy a nice helping hands and some good tips and still have money left over. I never did like those "octopus" hands. YMMV

 

Weller

 

I'm somewhat shocked and surprised to say this....

My 30 year old Weller temperature-controlled soldering station bit the dust recently and I was looking at options. This soldering station from....um....well.... Harbor Freight caught my eye. If you haven't been to Harbor Freight recently, you'll be surprised to see that they are carrying a higher quality line of products. This temperature-controlled soldering station has very good reviews. So I took a look at one and took it home.

Nice solid control unit, comfortable soldering iron with a 6' very flexible heat resistant cord, uses statand tips (which is good since Harbor Freight doesn't carry any replacements or different style tips than the supplied conical tips). Reasonably easy to understand controls.

The woman who sold it to me recommended the one year service plan (station has a 3 month guarantee). Oh oh. "Have you had many returns?" I asked. "Not a one. But if you buy the service plan, you can bring it back in 15 months and get a new one, no questions asked." That just about canceled out the 25% off coupon I had, but for an unknown brand, seemed to make sense.q

I don't recommend the less expensive 50w version because of certain features, but the 80w version is sweet.

 

I use an Hakko.

 

I saw a T12 station.
however people are saying to look into a soldering iron with hot air.
As this is already in the $80 range, i am thinking to go for that.

any input/thoughts, or recommendations?

 

im looking at a US Solid rework station
https://www.walmart.com/ip/U-S-Soli...unctions-UL-Listed-Power-Supply-Cor/738994280

anyone know if this us solid is any good?

Also found a hakko on their website. If i could find a nice hakko iron/hot air combo, i may get that, as hakko has a payment plan.

 

I took a chance on a Hakko T12 clone in kit form, for about $20 including one tip, and mounted it in a recycled case and use it with an external power brick or battery. I figured that if the tip was junk, I'd buy a real Hakko tip, but so far no complaints. I haven't put it through daily use, though. Note that these will automatically lower the temperature if not used for a while, so that helps extend tip life.
I later picked up another iron with the controller in the handle, ready to use, even cheaper; the UI is awkward, but usable. Good for working on vehicles or other jobs away from the work bench.
I got them from Banggood.com, since at the time it seemed like the next best thing to the old Dealextreme (plenty of reviews and feedback), but they don't list those any more. There's identical things on ebay and Aliexpress etc. This is very much like the kit I got:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000577553855.html
This resembles the self-contained version I got, but improved with OLED and a better UI. Beware of analog versions that have no display and no smart features like sleep mode:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003373147424.html
I power them from a 19V Dell laptop supply, but 12V to 15V is fine except for heavy duty soldering.

No hot air, though.

 

Thank you all for posting various thoughts and your many recommendations.
I went with the US Solid works rework machine above, because it had many great reviews.

People talked a lot about other solders not working after various uses. I went with this one because it has a 4y warranty. and includes 10 tips. it arrives tomorrow, and i hope i bought something that i can use for a long time, over a year hopefully.

 

It might be a tad over your budget, but I've been very happy with my Hakko (Weller is also a good brand):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWUFVY8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Definitely get something with a temperature control, not just a knob.
For hot air, there are two different kinds. One has a diaphragm pump, the other a fan. I personally find the fan type much easier to use, especially on smaller parts. The pulses from the diaphragm pump can make working with and around small parts frustrating. It doesn't take much of a puff to blow and 0402 or 0201 across the board. This one is not perfect but works well enough and is inexpensive:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MR2IWBN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Whatever you get, make sure it has digital temperature controls and the wires to the hand piece are long enough, the longer the better. For the iron make sure different tips are readily available, ideally name brand or clones of a name brand, as you'll be changing tips relatively often if you work on different things.

 

Thank you all for posting various thoughts and your many recommendations.
I went with the US Solid works rework machine above, because it had many great reviews.

People talked a lot about other solders not working after various uses. I went with this one because it has a 4y warranty. and includes 10 tips. it arrives tomorrow, and i hope i bought something that i can use for a long time, over a year hopefully.

Looks nice, let us know how you like it.

 

Make sure what ever you buy that you can find replacement tips for them.
I use Weller.

 

Hakko tips should be widely available, and the fake tips don't seem bad at all. There are a bunch of different controller boards for Hakko-type stations, from dumb analog through LED to OLED. Somewhere I bookmarked an open-source universal soldering station controller that could be configured for every conceivable type of heater and temp sensor, but, the LED controller works fine for my purposes, even if the displayed temperature may not be calibrated correctly. I just set it to a number that works.