Silverline Battery-Powered Soldering Iron 8W (220772)

At first I thought rubbish. It wouldn't melt the solder. However upon swapping the batteries for Duracell ones it worked well. Budget item, good for small repairs only.

Works okay if you use decent batteries, but don't expect them to last very long. Its a fine work tip as well, I wouldn't use it for anything bigger than hookup wire.I liked the size and convenience of this but not the battery performance so I ended up using a lithium battery and usb charger and now it works like an absolute dream for about an extra £4. Took a bit of hacking the casing about but definitely worth it - Ive even made a few by request for hobbyist friends! :) Charging Module - SODIAL(R) MICRO USB 5V 1A Lithium Battery Charging Module Lipo Charge Board + Protection New 2X 3.7V 18500 Li-ion LED Flashlight Torch Battery Pack Rechargeable

Just started doing some PCB work,saw this and thought ideal so purchased. Product arrived well packed in celluloid and looked good unpacked and removed safety cover ( excellent idea ) and saw soldering tip which has a fine point and ideal for getting at small contacts. Inserted batteries and found problems. so my comments re advert information as followsHeats up in 15 seconds and cools down in 30 seconds - mine took 2 minutes to melt solder Soldered lead to board fine but tip seemed to loose heat and had to wait approx 15 seconds to solder next joint. Needed to splice some leads and iron failed miserably. Just could not get enough heat to melt solder with flux so no chance for joins which were tinned and twisted. Also had problems soldering leads to a potentiometer again seem lack of heat was cause. Went back to mains version ( same manufacturer ) and had no problems but also had 40 watts instead of 8. So will have to get Dremmel out and create my own tip.3 x AA batteries provide 1 hour of continuous use - mine lasted just over half an hour with new batteriesFor intricate electronic work and on-the-go repairs - YES I agreeSlider safety switch and on/off button - YES but ( and I know not everyone will agree ) a button lock would have been nice as finger aches and cramps after long use.So all in all a nice looking Soldering iron but sadly let down by performance. My recommendations, lock on button, change to a 9 volt system instead of 4 1/2 volts ,increase power and add a facility to operate from either USB or mains via an adapter.

Good little tool did what I needed it too

I write this review knowing that it will not be relevant to most people. I wanted something to 'cut' woven weed control membrane/landscape fabric as using a knife or scissors leads to a frayed edge which then continues to fray even more. I have used a needlepoint blowtorch in the past but I find the fine point on this to be excellent for cutting across the roll and sealing the edge as it goes along.I haven't used it as a soldering iron so cannot recommend one way or the other but if you want a simple efficient portable woven weed control membrane cutter then this worked well for me.

I purchased this to help with a small soldering project, where I didn't want to use a larger/hotter iron for fear of damaging components.This actually made it worse.I hate the 'safety swtich' which forces you to hold down the button for it to work. This is incredibly annoying as it takes a while to heat up, so everytime you put it down, you are waiting for it to heat up again. An elastic band solves this problem.It doesn't really seem to get hot enough. Even when it has been on for ages and tinned, it struggles to melt even soft leaded solder. It is pretty useless for reflowing joints, as the heat just disspiates through the component and never gets hot enough to melt the solder. It felt like I was going to do more damage holding it for ages to melt the solder than I would have done with my larger iron.You might have better luck with your projects, but I have up, used the bigger iron and actually had no issues with that.

Ideal for small repairs surprized how well it worked with being battery operated a must for any tool box

Since this is nothing more than a 3 battery-holder and a small heating element it's rather sad that they got neither half right.The spring at the -ve end of the battery holder is too short to make the first 2 batteries make a good contact with the battery cover, and the third battery doesn't fit into the other half of the iron without scraping the coating off it. Which doesn't get my vote when the rechargeable batteries I'm using are almost as expensive as the iron itself.Regarding heat: It's enough to melt the solder supplied, but isn't enough to also melt the solder pad on the PCB I'm trying to modify.I agree with the other reviewer who said that he was putting more heat into components by using a cool iron for many seconds than he would have done with a hotter iron. I would suggest that a 12W version of this tool would be more suitable, even for light work with small components.