VAMPIRE TOOLS VT-001-SST Spare Silicone Tubes for VAMPIRE TOOLS Solder Sucker

Of course being Vampire it works perfectly. I've found these to be not as heat resistant (at around 400+F) than other brands. Not sure if it's the material, or I'm just used to using higher temps with my solder iron. They are cheap enough to not be a major issue.

holds op to the heat of the soilder tools of vering temp.

Good

Having used solder removal devices like this for years, and being frustrated by them to varying degrees, I was skeptical about this one. I figured it wouldn't have enough vacuum, or the silicone tip would melt and deform after just a few joints, or it would get clogged and useless in minutes. I was wrong on all counts.1. The silicone rubber tip can be pushed right into a joint, right up against you soldering iron tip, and itdoes NOT melt - at all. It forms a tight vacuum seal around the joint2. It has tons of vacuum. I desoldered about 50 through-hole PCB joints with it, and almost every one was cleared clean on the first activation of the tool, allowing the component to just drop out of the holes cleanly. This is especially important for larger devices like a TO-220 transistor or relay, but it also works great on IC sockets with many pins.3. You do have to sometimes pull a slug of solder out of the tip with some tweezers after desoldering an especially large joint with a lot of solder, but it takes a second and you are on your way again.The only slight negative is that it does have quite a recoil when you fire it, so you need to hold it firmly and support your board flat on the workbench (or in a PCB vise or some other such thing). Otherwise, it will bounce away from the board, or the board will get shoved away from it several inches when you fire it, and it won't clean out the joint as well. But after all, that strong kick is why this thing works so well.It is truly the first hand-operated vacuum solder remover I have ever used that really, truly works, and I have been an electronics hobbyist for (egads!) 45 years. It cleans out the PCB holes around any component pin, and you can really remove the components unharmed and without struggling, heating, prying, etc. BUY IT.

The price point is quite high considering what you're getting, especially when it's advertised as 3 tubes and I only GOT 2 IN THE PACK... ouch. A very bitter pill to swallow.But all in all, the tubes themselves seem to be very high quality. But again, the price is high. I'm sure you could find an alternative for cheaper? Maybe not.