Trying to solder something and it’s an exercise in frustration, as my iron appears to be dogshit. Maybe at 50 it’s time to treat myself to a decent one.

Recommendations welcome. I don’t do much soldering, but when I do I’d like something that *works*

@intrbiz a basic antex 18w mains iron, so tbh it should be fine, could just be it needs a new tip.

@Floppy ah, that'll likely struggle with anything with a large ground plane.

I'm still using my 21 year old xytronics solder station, being a 100W makes a huge difference on some boards. The Hako solder stations seem a reasonable price and get rave reviews all the time.

For portability I got a TS101 USB PD iron, that is surprisingly capable, easily matches a 50W+ traditional iron, thanks to the heating cartridge being right on the tip. Being able to power it from a power bank is very handy.

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