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*
@Floppy what are you currently using?
@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.
