27 Sep
2014
27 Sep
'14
1:44 a.m.
On Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 10:12 PM, Tothwolf <tothwolf at concentric.net> wrote:
I have a Hakko 808, which until they recently
discontinued it, was about
$200 new (it has since jumped to about $250 when you can still find them).
The "replacement" handheld desoldering tool Hakko came out with is $300+ and
I'm not convinced it will hold up as well as the 808.
I use a Hakko 472D-01, which I like much better than the 808, because it has a
separate base and pencil-style tool, rather than being all-in-one. When I'm
desoldering more than a few joints, the light weight of the
pencil-style tool makes
a big difference. However, it costs around $500. I think it's been
obsoleted by
the FM-204 or 474 or some such, but for now it seems like the 472D-01 is
still available, and I'm not sure that there's any pencil-style
handpiece available
for those newer models.
If you want a vacuum desoldering station, get it soon. They're not used for SMD,
so they're quickly going the way of the dodo.
I still like my Hakko 936 soldering station. They claim the FX888 is
technically
better, but it's ugly as sin (even after they started offering a less visually
offensive color scheme than the original blue/yellow), so I'm in no
hurry to retire
the 936. If I could afford it, I'd replace it with a Metcal.