3 ms·

There are pretty good cheap soldering irons these days too. My $35 Pinecil is pretty fun to use.

• squarefoot 4y ago
  Seconded. I have two Weller TCPs and a while ago decided to buy the Pinecil just as a way to support the folks at Pine64. Well, it turned out it's a really good iron, and I use it along the Wellers without noticing any difference.
• usrusr 4y ago
  Similar story: went from a series of bad cheap irons to a good cheap iron and it was like night and day. I still struggle occasionally, but that's when connecting enameled copper to 1.27 mm crenellated edge connectors, and in my book that's a task where "struggling" isn't actually that bad.
• diablerouge 4y ago
  I've had a $100 Weller and a $25 Yihua soldering station and found them pretty comparable to each-other. What's most important is that you get an electronics soldering _station_ of some type and not a basic plumbing/electricians iron that is just a pen on a cord. Those are extremely frustrating for working on a PCB.
  • hakfoo 4y ago
    Yeah. I went from various cheap irons to an equally cheap Yihua station, and it's such a quality of life improvement. You don't have to try to fight a too-short cord that's about to pop out of the socket, and the station is a good place to stick a durable rest for the iron that's much heavier than the stupid little stands they sell with pencil irons.
• stavros 4y ago
  Agreed, the Pinecil is amazing. Get it as your first (and probably only) soldering iron.