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For what it's worth, I somewhat hesitantly bought one of these soldering irons a few months ago off Ali Express. After having used it a lot since then I can now

For what it's worth, I somewhat hesitantly bought one of these soldering irons a few months ago off Ali Express. After having used it a lot since then I can now highly recommend it as a fantastic bit of kit - I've almost become emotionally attached to the thing! It heats up quickly, holds a consistent temperature, solders very well, plus has lots of features and configuration options. For example it can be set to cool down to different temperatures depending on how long it had been stationary (thanks to its build in accelerometer). The open source firmware is the icing on the cake.

fest 9y ago
+1 from me too- it's really nice soldering iron for the price.
dbrgn 9y ago
Just ordered one last week - looking forward to it. By now I know that even if it would suck at soldering I could still play Tetris on it, so it's a win in any situation!
cjsuk 9y ago
I really don't understand how that can actually be a good iron in any way, shape or form. I've been doing hobby and production soldering for about 25 years. What you need is an iron that will stay at 700oF whatever you throw at it tip or workpiece related. That means power, lots of it. That doesn't come from USB. Considering my current iron is a 50W Weller TCP, that can switch between soldering 0805 packages immediately followed by large tag terminal capacitors and ground planes without have to do anything, change any settings etc. You don't even have to change tip with the chisel. Soldering irons also take a heavy battering when you use them as well. The above Weller is 20 years old and looks and works good as new. I really can't see that working for very long. I just don't understand why the product exists really. If I was in the market you can pick up a whole Weller TCP station for less cash second hand. This is just a flashy toy.
- oliwarner 9y ago
  > That doesn't come from USB. No, it comes from the 12-24V power supply you plug into the back of it. It's a ~65W iron. No apologies for sounding snotty here. You don't know what it is, haven't seen one, haven't used one but you're already ready to crap all over it. Try one. It's full of silly novelties that I'm sure you'll hate but it doesn't take much to improve the usability of a dumb thermocontrolled soldering station and I —along with much of the internet— believe the TS100 does enough to be better. It's also dirt cheap to buy and run.
  - cjsuk 9y ago
    Fair point about the power. Retracted. Reading reviews, the handle is slippery, a lot of them arrive with defective temperature control, the tip isn't grounded with Y2 leakage from mains on it. Its still junk.
    - oliwarner 9y ago
      I've had no issue with temperature or the handling. It's near-impossible for either of us to quantitatively assess how frequent these issues are so I won't dispute whether or not you've seen a "lot" of complaints. The power supply is junk. A nasty, unearthed, noisy switch-mode PSU, like every other low-output, low-cost PSU out there. There is a grounding pin on the iron itself but it's not ideal to rely on. But many remedies do exist. I suspect you have a grounded, linear bench power supply right next to your existing soldering station. That'll do. Even a cheap earthed PSU would do better. And many people use battery packs to great effect.
      - alexktz 9y ago
        i use mine the field to perform repairs on my racing drone. it is 100x's better than any normal soldering iron in this situation because i can 1) fit it in my bag at about the size of a pencil 2) power it off an existing lipo i already have with me. the best camera is the one that you have with you. same goes for irons. how this dweeb can rate something as junk without having ever used it is beyond me. i've been pleasantly surprised at how capable it is ever since purchase.
kawsper 9y ago
I use it for a field soldering iron when I am out flying my quadcopters, I have build an XT60 connector for it, so that I can attach my XT60 Lipo batteries to it and do emergency soldering. It is actually my favorite soldering iron, and I do most of my soldering with it now because it is so small and convenient.

fest 9y ago

+1 from me too- it's really nice soldering iron for the price.

dbrgn 9y ago

Just ordered one last week - looking forward to it. By now I know that even if it would suck at soldering I could still play Tetris on it, so it's a win in any situation!

cjsuk 9y ago

I really don't understand how that can actually be a good iron in any way, shape or form. I've been doing hobby and production soldering for about 25 years. What you need is an iron that will stay at 700oF whatever you throw at it tip or workpiece related. That means power, lots of it. That doesn't come from USB. Considering my current iron is a 50W Weller TCP, that can switch between soldering 0805 packages immediately followed by large tag terminal capacitors and ground planes without have to do anything, change any settings etc. You don't even have to change tip with the chisel. Soldering irons also take a heavy battering when you use them as well. The above Weller is 20 years old and looks and works good as new. I really can't see that working for very long. I just don't understand why the product exists really. If I was in the market you can pick up a whole Weller TCP station for less cash second hand. This is just a flashy toy.

oliwarner 9y ago
> That doesn't come from USB. No, it comes from the 12-24V power supply you plug into the back of it. It's a ~65W iron. No apologies for sounding snotty here. You don't know what it is, haven't seen one, haven't used one but you're already ready to crap all over it. Try one. It's full of silly novelties that I'm sure you'll hate but it doesn't take much to improve the usability of a dumb thermocontrolled soldering station and I —along with much of the internet— believe the TS100 does enough to be better. It's also dirt cheap to buy and run.
- cjsuk 9y ago
  Fair point about the power. Retracted. Reading reviews, the handle is slippery, a lot of them arrive with defective temperature control, the tip isn't grounded with Y2 leakage from mains on it. Its still junk.
  - oliwarner 9y ago
    I've had no issue with temperature or the handling. It's near-impossible for either of us to quantitatively assess how frequent these issues are so I won't dispute whether or not you've seen a "lot" of complaints. The power supply is junk. A nasty, unearthed, noisy switch-mode PSU, like every other low-output, low-cost PSU out there. There is a grounding pin on the iron itself but it's not ideal to rely on. But many remedies do exist. I suspect you have a grounded, linear bench power supply right next to your existing soldering station. That'll do. Even a cheap earthed PSU would do better. And many people use battery packs to great effect.
    - alexktz 9y ago
      i use mine the field to perform repairs on my racing drone. it is 100x's better than any normal soldering iron in this situation because i can 1) fit it in my bag at about the size of a pencil 2) power it off an existing lipo i already have with me. the best camera is the one that you have with you. same goes for irons. how this dweeb can rate something as junk without having ever used it is beyond me. i've been pleasantly surprised at how capable it is ever since purchase.

kawsper 9y ago

I use it for a field soldering iron when I am out flying my quadcopters, I have build an XT60 connector for it, so that I can attach my XT60 Lipo batteries to it and do emergency soldering. It is actually my favorite soldering iron, and I do most of my soldering with it now because it is so small and convenient.