Weller WESD51 Digital Soldering Station
I was able to use this iron at my workplace before deciding to purchase one for myself. I am an electronics technician by trade and also do repairs and fabrication stuff in my spare time at home. For years I used a weller 25 watt pencil iron that was probably 20 years old and I was quite happy with it however I felt I was ready for something a little better. I really wasnt sure if this iron would be able to do some of my larger tasks like splicing 12-14 gauge wires due to the amount of heat required but once you set the iron to the desired temperature it will remain there no matter what you are soldering. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of heat transfer I could get with the small tips. The pencil itself is small and lightweight and very easy to manuever. The cord also wont melt with intermittent contact with the tip. Comes up to temperature very quickly and reponds quickly when you adjust the temp with the control unit. I have found a temperature around 550 works good for typical 60/40 solder on average jobs as i typically like a hotter iron. I cant imagine what I would need to solder up in the 7-800 degree range. This setup has an adjustable temp from 350-850 degrees F. This iron wont replace a 130 watt gun for the large jobs but overall definetly 5 stars. A pleasure to work with and seems to be made well with a quality feel. I'm glad I invested in getting this vs another standard pencil iron. If your spending this much on a solderin iron you probably know how to take care of the tip but its very important otherwise it will oxidize and you wont be able to solder anything no matter how high the temperature is set. The manual doesnt go into too much detail about this but basically you want to keep the tip cleaned and tinned before and after each joint.
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