4 ms·

Hakko is also resting on their laurels. Hakko is what everyone recommends but I have no idea why. It's awful stuff with a design from the 80s. The UI is awful

Hakko is also resting on their laurels. Hakko is what everyone recommends but I have no idea why. It's awful stuff with a design from the 80s. The UI is awful and inscrutable without the manual, the tech is long obsolete. Get a TS80 or something else that's actually modern -- it has excellent temperature control with a tightly integrated thermocouple like one of the expensive Hakkos (FX951), but costs less and actually displays stuff in readable English. It also has nice features like using an accelerometer to sense its own orientation and turn itself off if you leave it lying around, instead of burning a hole through your desk.

Kirby64 4y ago
Every company besides the chinese companies like Pine, Miniware have the same stratification of soldering equipment. Hakko 888 is cheap, and has old style carts. Weller has a similar offering. For the $300-range you get the 'proper' thermocouple-integrated tips like the FX951, and Weller likewise has a similar offering. JBC is a premium brand so they don't have low-end stuff, but their pricing isn't too far out of that range ($500ish?). I agree the Hakko 888 is an outdated recommendation, but it's not really like their company strategy is just outdated. They're business-first, which desires having a full soldering station... not a portable thing like the Miniware/Pine stuff.
- dale_glass 4y ago
  What I mean is that the FX951 is a bad offering in modern times. I mean, a 7 segment display and looking up codes in a manual in 2023? Come on! A proper display is a tiny fraction of the cost of any Hakko product, and would be far more pleasant to use. They're just resting on their laurels. There's cheaper and less known brands that make far better products because they take advantage of things like decent micro-controllers, displays and accelerometers that have existed for decades now.
gaze 4y ago
yeah my god. These Chinese soldering stations that can accept JBC cartridges are _absolutely_ the way to go these days. The TS80 is not particularly ergonomic, but the thermal regulation and variety of tips just absolutely eclipse the 888 at a fraction of the cost. I see these units from SUGON and JABE which have the separate base station and JBC-like handpiece. Those seem like the ticket.

Kirby64 4y ago

Every company besides the chinese companies like Pine, Miniware have the same stratification of soldering equipment. Hakko 888 is cheap, and has old style carts. Weller has a similar offering. For the $300-range you get the 'proper' thermocouple-integrated tips like the FX951, and Weller likewise has a similar offering. JBC is a premium brand so they don't have low-end stuff, but their pricing isn't too far out of that range ($500ish?). I agree the Hakko 888 is an outdated recommendation, but it's not really like their company strategy is just outdated. They're business-first, which desires having a full soldering station... not a portable thing like the Miniware/Pine stuff.

dale_glass 4y ago
What I mean is that the FX951 is a bad offering in modern times. I mean, a 7 segment display and looking up codes in a manual in 2023? Come on! A proper display is a tiny fraction of the cost of any Hakko product, and would be far more pleasant to use. They're just resting on their laurels. There's cheaper and less known brands that make far better products because they take advantage of things like decent micro-controllers, displays and accelerometers that have existed for decades now.

gaze 4y ago

yeah my god. These Chinese soldering stations that can accept JBC cartridges are _absolutely_ the way to go these days. The TS80 is not particularly ergonomic, but the thermal regulation and variety of tips just absolutely eclipse the 888 at a fraction of the cost. I see these units from SUGON and JABE which have the separate base station and JBC-like handpiece. Those seem like the ticket.