Aven 17542 Desoldering Wick, 2.5mm Width, 5' Length

Pros: Works, easy to use, fits on my solder spoolCons: NoneI ordered this desoldering wick as an alternative to the desoldering pump I was used to using. I figured this would probably be better for desoldering SMT components. It works really well, just place it against the solder, heat it up with the soldering iron (I use mine at about 370 Fahrenheit), and the solder flows right into the wick. It leaves a nice, clean, solder-free surface and makes removing chips and wires from PCBs a breeze. Sometimes a pump is still more useful, such as instances where there's a lot of solder to remove at once, but I find that I use this wick much more often.I've placed mine on the solder spool attached to my soldering stand. It works pretty well like that; I can just pull the wick out, desolder something, and roll it back into the container when I'm done. I usually clip the wick whenever I've got a couple inches of it saturated with solder and it starts to get in the way. I've also found it useful for removing broken metal tabs soldered to the ends of wires since the wick tends to pull the metal tab off the wire along with the solder. As of this review, I've had this wick for almost a year now and have used it countless times so it definitely lasts a long time.Overall, I'd say this desoldering wick is worth 5 stars. It does what it's supposed to and is convenient to use.

This product is sometimes called "solder wick," "desoldering wick," or "desoldering braid," -- if you've never used it look up a how-to video online. Like any soldering project it will require some manual dexterity and finesse, but compared to the alternative (solder-sucking pumps) this is very easy to use. It worked great. I'm no electronics expert but I have done some soldering before, and this product worked great on my first try. I used it to remove/replace bad capacitors from a broken LCD monitor.Here's what I did:Hold the solder wick container in your left hand (or off-hand). Keep the wick inside the container and only pull out a little bit at a time as you need it. Place the wick end on top of the solder point, then holding the soldering iron in your right hand, press the tip of the iron down on top of the wick heating the wick and solder simultaneously. When you see the silvery solder flow into the wick, you're done, lift off the iron and the wick. Use wire cutters to clip off the end of the wick, now full of solder, and repeat.A note: Your soldering iron should be HOT for desoldering-- factory-installed solder typically has a higher melting point than the hobbyist stuff you may have used before. A 40w iron will do but 60w is recommended. I used a  Weller 60w Iron  with a  800 deg. F tip . The idea is to go in hot and fast and remove the solder quickly without damaging any components. It should only take a few seconds per solder joint.

Works well and a good deal for the $1.82 I paid when bought less than 6 months ago. Now they want $5.41 for the exact same product. I won't buy again.

I can't tell you how many times thing thing has bailed me out when I was starting out. I initially used GOBS of solder on contact points before learning that you really don't need to use that much. I made a lot of mistakes and also times where stranded wire have broken from a contact point. This makes the cleanup and re-do much easier. Flux certainly doesn't hurt either.

Until recently, my soldering experience was limited to connecting wires. Last week I attempted to tackle the removal of some relays on a PCB from our washing machine, and I tried both this desoldering wick and one of the tubular vacuum pumps you can get from Amazon for ten dollars or less. Even though the vacuum pumps were generally highly rated, the nozzle on the one I purchased was way too big and did not work at all to remove molten solder from the tiny PCB soldered joint.On the other hand, this desoldering wick worked really well! What I found worked the best was to position the tip of the soldering iron so that it heated both the solder you want to remove and some strands of the wick at the same time, with the wick in contact with the solder you are melting. You have to be careful not to heat the PCB too much or you can damage it, but after I desoldered a few connections with the wick I found I could heat both the wick and the solder at the same time without too much difficulty. I used about an inch of this to remove two relays that had five pins each (ten total connections to the PCB). So with five feet of this wick, you should be able to desolder quite a few connections!

I just started working with electronics components recently and had no idea what I was getting myself into. I did a ton of research before I began purchasing anything. Watching videos, reading etc.... One thing I did know, I was going to make mistakes, and I was going to need to correct those mistakes.I also learned that to practice, working with old boards, and removing/installing components was a good way to improve your soldering technique, and to do that, having a good way to handle excess solder was a necessity. However EVERYONE seemed to have an opinion on how best to handle this.I gave a solder 'removal tool' a whirl at the same time as I tried the Aven Desoldering Wick. The wick is my favorite way to go. its gentile, easily pulls up the solder from the component or board, and does not require a triggered suction/plunger tool that startles me while holding s super hot poker in one hand.

Solder wick ..? "warmth," really? Well, when you desolder with it, it's not just warm, it's hot. But it's very nice wick.

Worst quality