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For tools that you use regularly, it is sometimes worth it to take a step back, put the cost into an absolute perspective and then just get the thing if you kno

For tools that you use regularly, it is sometimes worth it to take a step back, put the cost into an absolute perspective and then just get the thing if you know that it's well-made and you use it regularly, instead of getting a cheapish, price-optimized knockoff instead (my experience). I spent over 200$ on a glorified PCB holder and some probes (PCBite), which is in hindsight one of the most useful tools I own and still makes me happy every time I use it (even that alone is kinda worth it over time!). I don't know your financial situation, but just consider: How much do you spend each month on meals/entertainment? Is $300 actually an inappropriate cost for a quality thing that you often need? Note: Iron + station shows up as $250 to me, $350 is the set with some additional bits and bobs.

420official 2y ago
Why buy this for $250 when you get the same thing from a pinecil v2 and use it with any 20v 100w PD USB-c power pack? I'm not seeing any differentiating features.
- myrmidon 2y ago
  Because I have more trust in ifixit then in pine64 to sell robust, quality tools. And most of what you are going to overpay (?) for this is going to ifixit, which is also a plus. It's like buying merch from a band you like.
  - brailsafe 2y ago
    I love iFixit, but their tools, parts, and kits have been a bit mixed (bit of poor, bit of good) in terms of quality.
    - KingOfCoders 2y ago
      I think their tools are overhyped - not worth the price, you pay for the brand they have built by basically PR (repair scores for iPhones).
      - brailsafe 2y ago
        For me it's hard to reconcile what is a good initiative to ostensibly reduce waste, with the reality of ordering at least one of their products. For example I couldn't get a screen replacement at one point unless I ordered a kit, but I needed 2 screens, so I ordered 2 kits and now have redundant, specific, toxic, tools, only some of which actually helped perform the repair. I'm thinking of the heating liquid pad, which gave me a bit of a laugh and didn't work, the plastic spudgers that were too soft to be durable, the precut adhesive strips that almost seemed insultingly ineffective. The actual handles and screwdriver bits were great though, so mixed feelings, I just hate waste.
  - bmurphy1976 2y ago
    I can see why somebody might think that of general pine64 offerings, but the Pinecil is anything but that. It's a significant improvement over my bucket of old soldering irons I inherited and purchased over the years. Unless you are doing some serious heavy duty work, I'm hard pressed to think of a better alternative.
- spookie 2y ago
  Honestly a pinecil is more than enought to deal with small electronics
KeplerBoy 2y ago
But it's just a soldering iron and a weird usb c power bank. Of course one can spend 300$ on it and justify it, but is this actually better than the alternatives? The ts100 and variants of it have been around for a long time, can be adjusted on device and powered by regular usb pd power banks.
brailsafe 2y ago
I agree, in general, and also agree with iFixit charging whatever they can for it, but $350 is pretty much what I spend on core food for the month, or 3 pairs of shoes, or 2 pairs of climbing shoes, or a plane ticket to visit my hometown periodically. It is to your point also less than the tax on a new computer, and less than each ram upgrade on a MacBook Pro, or a week-long road trip, or a mountain lift ticket. There are different ways to convince yourself it's worth it, and it may be, but it's kind of a huge jump up if you're not already soldering nearly every day. Like $350 on meals and entertainment or $350 on a soldering iron is quite clear, I need to not buy the iron and reduce my spending a bit.
disiplus 2y ago
Is this for professionals?. I need the soldering iron maybe 3 times a year. I'm ok throwing 100eur for something ok/good. But not 300.
- myrmidon 2y ago
  I think you could justify the soldering iron itself then for like 80€, maybe not the basestation/powerbank. IMO 340€ for the whole set with the wirecutters and tweezers and such is still an ok deal, even though it is slightly expensive, because the accessories are probably good quality also, and there are few things as frustrating as bad wirecutters ;).
- alias_neo 2y ago
  It's hard to place exactly at its price point. At the full kit price it's approaching the cost of a mid-range Hakko soldering station which you can use all day every day. I see this is a potential "better quality" portable option for a professional (than something like a Pinecil and a TS100), that might want to carry it around or use it when not at a desk, but the quality and performance remains to be seen (though I do trust iFixit). At £240 in the UK, it's about 2.5x the cost of the Pinecil + Powerbank (which I already had). If I didn't have a Hakko soldering station and wanted something portable but capable to use fairly regularly, this seems like a good option. For everyone else, if you already own a PD powerbank, the ~£25-30 (~£50 with a bunch of tips) for a Pinecil is _much_ more palatable.
alias_neo 2y ago
While I agree with all of your points on determining value, it's never that simple, and is often determined, in someone's mind, by the comparison made. The comparison here is a Pinecil. I've been using a Pinecil for a couple of years now, I power it from a USB-PD power bank that's already in my backpack, and charges everything else I carry, and has more capacity and a lower price than this one, and the Pinecil without the power bank is much cheaper and more functional with its buttons and display than this iron alone; I don't need a PC (and I don't use Chrome anyway, though I do really like the WebSerial configuration). I already own a Hakko soldering station, but I find I reach for the Pinecil 99% of the time due to convenience; only when I know I'll be doing a _lot_ of soldering in one go, and I'm going to do it at my desk, do I get the Hakko out. This looks like a nice iron, and I'm all for supporting repairability (and iFixit in general), if someone will use it as their main station, and assuming this can perform, it seems like an excellent option. For everyone else, a Pinecil and that powerbank you already have is an excellent option at a trivially low price. EDIT: Fixed some typos
foldr 2y ago
The TS80P is very nicely made and can be obtained for around $70. It's only 30W, but this newer generation of irons has a much more efficient tip design, so it works much better than the wattage would suggest (if you're comparing to a Hakko or something).

420official 2y ago

Why buy this for $250 when you get the same thing from a pinecil v2 and use it with any 20v 100w PD USB-c power pack? I'm not seeing any differentiating features.

myrmidon 2y ago
Because I have more trust in ifixit then in pine64 to sell robust, quality tools. And most of what you are going to overpay (?) for this is going to ifixit, which is also a plus. It's like buying merch from a band you like.
- brailsafe 2y ago
  I love iFixit, but their tools, parts, and kits have been a bit mixed (bit of poor, bit of good) in terms of quality.
  - KingOfCoders 2y ago
    I think their tools are overhyped - not worth the price, you pay for the brand they have built by basically PR (repair scores for iPhones).
    - brailsafe 2y ago
      For me it's hard to reconcile what is a good initiative to ostensibly reduce waste, with the reality of ordering at least one of their products. For example I couldn't get a screen replacement at one point unless I ordered a kit, but I needed 2 screens, so I ordered 2 kits and now have redundant, specific, toxic, tools, only some of which actually helped perform the repair. I'm thinking of the heating liquid pad, which gave me a bit of a laugh and didn't work, the plastic spudgers that were too soft to be durable, the precut adhesive strips that almost seemed insultingly ineffective. The actual handles and screwdriver bits were great though, so mixed feelings, I just hate waste.
- bmurphy1976 2y ago
  I can see why somebody might think that of general pine64 offerings, but the Pinecil is anything but that. It's a significant improvement over my bucket of old soldering irons I inherited and purchased over the years. Unless you are doing some serious heavy duty work, I'm hard pressed to think of a better alternative.
spookie 2y ago
Honestly a pinecil is more than enought to deal with small electronics

KeplerBoy 2y ago

But it's just a soldering iron and a weird usb c power bank. Of course one can spend 300$ on it and justify it, but is this actually better than the alternatives? The ts100 and variants of it have been around for a long time, can be adjusted on device and powered by regular usb pd power banks.

brailsafe 2y ago

I agree, in general, and also agree with iFixit charging whatever they can for it, but $350 is pretty much what I spend on core food for the month, or 3 pairs of shoes, or 2 pairs of climbing shoes, or a plane ticket to visit my hometown periodically. It is to your point also less than the tax on a new computer, and less than each ram upgrade on a MacBook Pro, or a week-long road trip, or a mountain lift ticket. There are different ways to convince yourself it's worth it, and it may be, but it's kind of a huge jump up if you're not already soldering nearly every day. Like $350 on meals and entertainment or $350 on a soldering iron is quite clear, I need to not buy the iron and reduce my spending a bit.

disiplus 2y ago

Is this for professionals?. I need the soldering iron maybe 3 times a year. I'm ok throwing 100eur for something ok/good. But not 300.

myrmidon 2y ago
I think you could justify the soldering iron itself then for like 80€, maybe not the basestation/powerbank. IMO 340€ for the whole set with the wirecutters and tweezers and such is still an ok deal, even though it is slightly expensive, because the accessories are probably good quality also, and there are few things as frustrating as bad wirecutters ;).
alias_neo 2y ago
It's hard to place exactly at its price point. At the full kit price it's approaching the cost of a mid-range Hakko soldering station which you can use all day every day. I see this is a potential "better quality" portable option for a professional (than something like a Pinecil and a TS100), that might want to carry it around or use it when not at a desk, but the quality and performance remains to be seen (though I do trust iFixit). At £240 in the UK, it's about 2.5x the cost of the Pinecil + Powerbank (which I already had). If I didn't have a Hakko soldering station and wanted something portable but capable to use fairly regularly, this seems like a good option. For everyone else, if you already own a PD powerbank, the ~£25-30 (~£50 with a bunch of tips) for a Pinecil is _much_ more palatable.

alias_neo 2y ago

While I agree with all of your points on determining value, it's never that simple, and is often determined, in someone's mind, by the comparison made. The comparison here is a Pinecil. I've been using a Pinecil for a couple of years now, I power it from a USB-PD power bank that's already in my backpack, and charges everything else I carry, and has more capacity and a lower price than this one, and the Pinecil without the power bank is much cheaper and more functional with its buttons and display than this iron alone; I don't need a PC (and I don't use Chrome anyway, though I do really like the WebSerial configuration). I already own a Hakko soldering station, but I find I reach for the Pinecil 99% of the time due to convenience; only when I know I'll be doing a _lot_ of soldering in one go, and I'm going to do it at my desk, do I get the Hakko out. This looks like a nice iron, and I'm all for supporting repairability (and iFixit in general), if someone will use it as their main station, and assuming this can perform, it seems like an excellent option. For everyone else, a Pinecil and that powerbank you already have is an excellent option at a trivially low price. EDIT: Fixed some typos

foldr 2y ago

The TS80P is very nicely made and can be obtained for around $70. It's only 30W, but this newer generation of irons has a much more efficient tip design, so it works much better than the wattage would suggest (if you're comparing to a Hakko or something).