Advice on choosing a new iron

[Crazzyleprechaun]

I was thinking of going between these two irons

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Weller-Analog-Soldering-Station-WES51/203525863

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Hakko-70...PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-203525863-_-204215981-_-N

If you have a better option then please reply with a link the max price I was looking to spend is 100 dollars and I mostly want an iron that is going to last a while and is idle for portables. I'm just looking for others opinions who are happy with their irons

 

[JacksonS]

I have owned the first one (Weller Analog Soldering Station) and it was great for about a year until the heating element died. It has a nice, very flexible cable attaching the iron to the station.

 

[cheese]

I haven't owned either, however I can say hakko is a reputable company. Both of these have the screw on bracket that holds the tip on the heating element, so you may need to put some thermal paste or something inside the tip to increase the thermal contact from the heating element to the tip itself. I did this on my iron (a radio shack one, same kind of tip) and it made it go from 450c barely melting solder to 230c being plenty for most jobs.

 

[Shank]

Cheese suggested the thermal paste thing to me a while back and I can confirm its awesome. I have used it on all of my soldering equipment since and the performance increase is very noticeable.

 

[Crazzyleprechaun]

Well thank you for the tips my radioshack irons heating element died which is why I am looking for a replacement I think I am going to go with the Hakko iron and if that starts to wear down I might try the thermal paste tip

 

[Shank]

I would say go with the Hakko and put thermal paste in it as soon as you get it. It'll make it noticeably more effective

 

[cheese]

It's also possible you burned out your heating element from running it really hot to make up for the lack of thermal contact, as most irons aren't really meant to run at max temperature for long.

 

[ShockSlayer]

Take the opportunity as well to build some good habits like wiping your iron and turning it off when you're not using it.