Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I used to work at a company that has a couple of Hakko soldering stations. They worked well. But because of the price, I never considered buying one for my own use at home. Every soldering iron I've ever had cost less than ten bucks. And after a couple of years, it was no surprise that they were ready for the trash can. I looked at several nice irons in the $40.00 to $60.00 range. But I figured if I was willing to spend that much, I would spend a little more to get something really nice. PROS: 1. It heats up really fast. In about forty-five (45) seconds, it's up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit and ready to use. 2. Stable temps. And it has a fast recovery. 3. Digital readout of the temp (selectable for Celsius or Fahrenheit). 4. Has up to five pre-programmed temp settings (600F, 700F, 750F, 800F, and 850F) that can be quickly accessed (you can change the preset temps to your own temps if desired). 5. Has a wide operation range of 120F to 899F. 6. Accuracy of the tip temperature can be calibrated (if you have the right thermometer). 7. The iron holder is separate, and not part of the power base. This provides more versatility as to how/where you set up your workstation. 8. The iron holder is heavy and not tipped over easily. Plus, it holds both a sponge and a wire-type cleaner. 9. Many different tip styles are available from Hakko. And the tips are easy to change. 10. The iron is comfortable to hold. And it doesn't get hot during use. 11. Although not important to me, the settings can be protected with a password. This would come in handy if other people use the iron, and you don't want unwanted changes. 12. The iron plugs into the power base. If the iron burns out or gets damaged, you can replace it without having to replace the entire soldering iron. 13. When you turn the power on, it defaults to your last temperature setting. CONS: 1. Because there are only two buttons on the front of the power base, programming or making adjustments are not intuitive. Some changes/adjustments require you to press and hold certain buttons before turning the unit on. Other changes require you to hold a button down for two seconds, then do something else, etc. Once you understand how, the programming isn't difficult. The difficult part is remembering how to do it. Unless you use this device every day and make frequent adjustments, you're probably not going to remember how to make changes the next time you need to solder something. And if you should make a mistake by pressing the wrong button, you may have to do a factory reset (I did). Let's see. Where did I leave the instruction manual for this thing? Hakko has several on-line videos that explain how to make changes and adjustments. They're very helpful. But what would have been even more helpful, is if Hakko had decided on a simple and intuitive design. Guess what? Such a design already exists. It's called a rotary knob. Remember knobs? You know. They're those round things that are intuitive in operation. A couple of rotary knobs on this unit would have made adjustments self-explanatory. But I guess Hakko considers knobs to be too old fashioned and quaint. COMMENTS: That's it. I have no other cons. However, I would like to point out that this unit was not made in Japan. Although Hakko is a Japanese company, some parts/accessories are marked "Made in China". And on the bottom of the power base, it says, "Made in Malaysia". Oh well. It's all about global manufacturing now. Regardless of where the parts were made (or where it was assembled), the quality of this unit seems very good so far. Despite the non-intuitive adjustment/programming process, the unit works well. I haven't had this soldering iron very long. I've only used it for a couple of projects so far. Time will tell if it lasts. I'll do an update in a year or so.