Hakko FX888D-23BY Digital Soldering Station FX-888D FX-888 (blue & yellow)

I've used Pace, Weller, and various junk amazingly referred to as soldering irons over the years. I think Weller is overrated, Pace is great but not viable unless as a business ($$$). For occasional / hobbyist work (and perhaps a good pro candidate), this Hakko 888D is FANTASTIC. Heats quickly, sturdy heavy base and a holder that stays put, sponge AND wire pad to clean.I've had this nearly a year now, and it is SO nice to use.My ONLY complaint is the sponge. It has these weird cuts in it (not the slots). The slots in the sponge are OK, but the near ends are where that will wear out. The weird cutting of the sponge (half circles off the slots), I don't get. The dampened sponge is a little softer than I'd like, but this is a very minor issue. To be clear, I haven't bothered to find a better sponge yet, but when it wears out, I'll find something more suitable.Tip for sponges - you want it wet all the way through (at the least, to expand and stay put in the holder), but wring / squeeze out excess until JUST damp. Too much water will shock the tip and draw out heat, too little will allow the iron to burn the sponge. Re-dampen as needed.That said, nothing else comes close for the money. Tip holds heat well, power is more than adequate, got an assorted set of Hakko tips, good quality.A tip for your tips: always wipe and add fresh solder BEFORE returning to the holder, then wipe and add fresh when removing to use. I still have a 30 year old 25W Radio Shack iron I was using until this (it actually worked better than others I tried over the years), original tip, and while certainly not used for production, hundreds of times over many hours would not be an overstatement. The #1 mistake I have seen of ppl soldering is wiping a tip clean and putting in holder. This isn't like "clean before you put it away" things - oxidation attacks metal, heat accelerates oxidation, a wiped-clean tip has no buffer of sacrificial solder to protect it as it bakes in the holder.Another tip tip, use the biggest wedge you can manage versus super fine tips, finer tips go through more thermal shock when soldering, and erode faster than fatter tips - and finer tips don't transfer heat as well. I recall fighting Weller fine tips in my earlier days that just seemed to like to burn. On the Hakko, I'm using a small wedge I turn on edge when I need to work in a tight area, still like new.

With a few different tips, I've been able to use this with surface-mount parts (I even did some 0402 parts with this thing. It's a pain, but doable!), through-hole parts, and even some big ol' transformer anchor lugs.First off, I'm spoiled by the equipment I have access to at work, but that's a full-blown professional setup that costs three orders of magnitude more. (Yes, seriously.) With that in mind, here are my thoughts on this little soldering station:- Thermal control. THERMAL CONTROL. Every soldering device should have thermal control. It just makes life easier. This thing has it, and mine was calibrated well right out of the box.- It takes a 15 seconds or so to warm up. (again, spoiled rotten. By force of habit, I expect the tip to be at operating temperature within 2-3 seconds.)- It takes long enough to unscrew the tip that you really should wait for it to cool before swapping tips. It's possible, but I'm clumsy enough that I almost burn myself way too often.- The handpiece is a bit bulky for surface-mount work. I'd love to see a handpiece about half this thing's size for SMD work.- The main power cable isn't detachable. I initially placed the control unit up near head level, with the cable draped down to the stand on the bench. I like having detachable power cables; it makes rearranging cables or moving equipment a little easier to deal with.- And, while you can get tweezers for this station, it only has the one tool plug, so you won't be doing a multi-tool setup.Now. All of that being said, this thing is pretty awesome. For what I paid for it, I am quite happy with it; it's been reliable and has done its job well. Its construction is quite robust, its temperature control, while not perfect, is acceptable, and it's just flat out easy enough to use.My baseline for an excellent tool is one that becomes transparent to me -- I don't think them about while I'm using them; they just work, easily and reliably. This soldering station really does meet that criteria. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but it gets the job done, time and again.

I picked up one of these and the hand-held Hakko desoldering gun. I struggled to justify the expense over the cheaper import products out there. In the end, it was one of the things I'm really glad I splurged on, both items are just a delight to use. Yes, the Hakko soldering station looks like a Fischer Price kids toy, but in the end I got over that annoyance and ordered the thing. The criticism on the interface and challenges of shifting temperature setting are not that big a deal, because I'm not changing temperature all the time. Just keep read the instructions. Why do I love this thing? It heats up super fast, and then locks on to temperature. I have not verified the accuracy of the temperature, but I'm assuming there is a circuit that monitors it. It takes just a few seconds, perhaps 15 to go from stone cold to 700 degrees and ready to go. The stand works well, the cord is soft so it's easy to work with, and the tip that came with it is just about right for most things I need to do, though it would be a bit wide for micro sized things. This is one of those things that seems expensive until you use it. It's a power tool, and good power tools are really nice to have! Overlook the kiddie industrial design and you will appreciate this thing for how well it works.