Digital Soldering Station with Chisel Tip Pack T18-D08/D12/D24/D32/S3

Ive been working with electronics for over 30 years and Ive used a number of professional soldering stations (as well as the cheap soldering pencils that fit in a field kit). If you are looking for a solid unit for home/hobby or even professional use you wont go wrong with this one. This is well built and should last many years. The programming is a bit cryptic (you have to read the manual closely) but you can just leave it in the direct-temperature-setting mode and its easy to work with. If you really _must_ change tips all the time, you might consider buying a unit like the Hakko FX-951, but you can buy two of these at the same cost. This unit comes with the North American cordset (NEMA 5-15P plug) and is for 120 VAC. The kit has a good assortment of tips which is a big plus. Heres a link to the manual: https://doc.hakko.com/download.php?_gs=on&l=en&kp=FX-888D&d=3316

I bought this a few months back, for Christmas. My boyfriend has been using it since and its been doing great.

I thought I was the worlds worst solderer until I got this bad boy. Its amazing what a nice iron can do. It heats of quickly, stays hot, and has a solid tip. Worth every cent.

Phenomenal Soldering Iron!

Had I known just how good this iron was going to be I wouldn’t have wasted my time with so many cheaper substitutes. Best advice I can give to my ‘past self’ in the future? “Don’t waste you money on the $25–$45 units. Save a little more money and splurge here. You’re welcome, self.” As a model aviation and audio electronics professional who solders multiple projects per week, this iron has already saved me cumulative days of ‘waiting for the iron to get to temp,’ as well as dozens (if not hundreds) cold solder joints averted. High-end unit at an affordable cost. Do it. Buy it. Three, two, one, buy it.

Does great.Enjoy using.Plugged it up and did temperature test first thing.47 degrees Fahrenheit off.Done factory reset procedure .Checked and doubled check .Now it right on the dot.Feels very comfortable using.So many irons have to large in diameter to hold onto while soldering. Not this one.Just an all around pleasure to use.

Its a little difficult to program, and at one point the programming got so messed up that the tip wouldnt heat up and I had to reset the device.

I am a novice to soldering but this one seems very well made and I had no problems.

I was going back and forth between Hakko, Weller, and a couple of Chinese made ones. The unit arrived quickly, packed well from B+D Enterprises. The first time I used it it worked great, heated in a minute or so. The second time not so much. I called B+D and told them my issue, they offered to ship me a new unit immediately. I wanted to work through the set up just to be sure it wasnt me (in the end it was) they gave me the reset instructions. I worked through those the next day. It was better but not prefect, so I called Hakko. The customer support rep told me the same reset instructions, and that the oxidation on the tip would cause issues the tip needed to be perfectly clean (same on all manufactures units). They also took my number, then next day the Ops manager for north America called me and gave me his cell number, email, and walked me through getting a good temp reading on the tip. The issue was the oxidation and the fact I was measuring temperature with a thermocouple touching the tip and not in a small pool of solder. (search solder tip temperature tester on amazon) Bottom line the unit works great, I have no worries that I will not get support if there is an issue (apparently there is only one repair guy on the east cost as the units dont go down), and I would do business with B+D anytime. I have use this unit to de-solderer heavy components from a board, and re-solder connectors on Iphone cables. Heavy to light this station works great.

I am an Electric Engineer of 45 years with much soldering experience. I have to say, the Hakko FX888D-23Y soldering station that I purchased from B+D Enterprises through Amazon is priced and built well and performs as well or better than the Weller (or many other similar) soldering stations in the same or even higher price range. The product I purchased from Amazon is the genuine Hakko product (not a counterfeit one!) which I bought for my home work bench because my old Weller soldering station heating element died. I was thinking about getting another Weller, but was disenchanted with the quality, price and many reviews from buyers who were not happy with the quality or reliability of the more recent Weller products (It seems Weller quality and reliability has suffered in the past decade). My Hakko FX888D has a very wide, controlled temperature range and reaches the desired temperature very quickly (<30 seconds) and holds it well even when soldering something that has a lot of thermal mass. I really like the compact size and the separate soldering stand for the soldering pencil. Having the solder cleaning sponge and cleaning wire in the stand is really nice too! The soldering pencil is also compact, lightweight and very comfortable to hold. The users manual was awkward but, with some effort, I was able to figure everything out. I strongly recommend downloading the latest online version of the users manual because it is much more complete than the instructions that shipped with the product. Yes, the temperature can be manually adjusted, but I like having the five temperature presets, which are custom programable and it is a breeze to quickly choose one of the desired temperatures. Once its set up, its very easy to use. I also do RC airplane modeling, so I set one of my presets to 500 deg. F, which is a good temperature for well controlled cutting and melting of holes in plastic without burning it. If you buy the Hakko FX888D soldering station, I dont think you would be disappointed. (No one compensated, paid or asked me to write this review)