Hakko FX888D-23BY Digital Soldering Station FX-888D FX-888 (blue & yellow)

Sturdy well made unit and easy to use.

It’s nice but overkill for hobby work. It heats in seconds and once hot it idles along at reasonable power levels. I cannot seem to get to the presets, the up arrow button does nothing unless you you hold it down to get to the adj settings. However, for this price it should come with a few more tips. The provided one is only good for heavier stuff, you wouldn’t use it to put pigtails on the leads of to92 parts. I’ve had a lot of soldering equipment in 40 years but always pretty much took them for granted, a good station was just not that important. I also bought a $24 kit that honestly is as good as my ancient weller and would serve my purposes now but the quality and solidity of this Hakko is something I appreciate.

To change the temp using the presets is ridiculous and you have to get the directions out every time. Temp goes up with ease but no way to turn it down. As far as I can tell there is no auto shut off since mine never shuts down. I guess the highest you can go in presets is 801 f since I tried to set it higher and it just sets it back to 801. I would return this but since I have a lot of Hakko tips I was using on my Radio Shack solder station, which I like much better and much easier to use, I am going to keep this dud. (UPDATE I returned this since it is not all that it is advertised to be. I bought the same radio shack 70 watt soldering station I had with 8 foot cords, easy to adjust temp, and takes the Hakko tips). The cords, AC and solder iron, are both too short as well. I do not like this unit and would have went with the other similar unit that does not look like a toy if I did not have all these Hakko tips. Not worth the money.

Great products !!!

Ive had the same old Ungar iron for over 20 years, but Id been wanting a multi-temp unit for a while. I waffled between the Hakko and analog Weller and eventually settled on the Hakko. Once you get past the Fisher Price colors, youll find that the unit is pretty nice. Like everyones said, it gets to temp insanely fast, and I really like the integrated sponge/wire cleaner. The footprint is pretty small, and the iron cable is flexible. Ive had the chance to use the iron in a few different scenarios like normal soldering for components on my 3D printer to some thicker R/C motor wires that my previous iron couldnt get through. The menu process can be a little counter-intuitive. Out of the box my unit had no presets configured. And it took a while to figure out oh, I need to enable presets and then go in and put temps in. Once the presets are in then its simple to quickly go between them. But then I wanted to change a preset temp and had to go back and look up how to do it. Im sure its a matter of just getting used to the unit, but this was a good example where I wished Id got the analog Weller so Id just have to turn a knob.

Great iron…it gets to temp quickly and accurately. Quality product

This should be everyones 1st iron. Well built, aesthetically pleasing, ergonomic, powerful and accurate. This would have made my journey into to soldering a lot smoother and more enjoyable had it been around when I started. Night and day from the cheap irons. Maybe the programming needs an instructional video watched, but Youtube has plenty of how to videos out there. This setup will handle any casual or hobbyists tasks with ease. It really is a quality soldering station. Tips are cheap enough, but the included 1.6 x 10mm chisel will handle 90% of jobs, and last a long time if taken care of. Watch a few tip care and maintenance videos and this will be the only station most will ever need. Parts are easy to acquire and cheap to replace if necessary. This also performed better than the Weller WE1010 head to head. Warmed up quicker, held temp better, and has less recovery headroom than the Weller. Cheaper too.....!

This solder station is a great upgrade to a plug in hand held Weller type from your big box type DIY stores. What this solder station is not is something along the lines of an all day every day use station. This is a solder station for light to medium use at home or a small shop type setting. When I purchased this I researched a lot about fakes and was skeptical about this purchase before it arrived. I checked online with the video from 2016 about the differences and I am comfortable to say this in my opinion is a genuine Hakko solder station. What I found in my research while confirming its authenticity is that a very large brick and mortar, as well as online now, retailer is selling a very obvious knock off of this very same model with just the Hakko name removed from the front. The model is even named FX-888D and it costs $79.99 currently at that place that rhymes with ALLMART! Really shocked places that well known and established are allowed to sell obvious counterfiet items. Anyhow, I feel this is real. The solder station itself is really great once you are comfortable using its less than welcoming controls. Why Hakko decided to put just 2 buttons on this I have no idea other than for cost savings and to annoy people learning to use it for the first time. With that said, I did have to watch their low budget video tutorials to learn how to use the 2 button commands. I highly suggest you do as well as you can set the station to a setup mode that effectively will lock you out until you command it out of that mode as another purchaser stated in another review. The iron heats up and cools down extremely quickly with a digital display rapidly counting up or down a single digit at a time so you can see the precise temperature it says it is. I have no reason to believe the temperature is off at all yet as it seems correct when melting certain materials with it. The iron stand is great for the price total but it is a little light and could be tipped over if bumped hard enough. The base unit for the power supply and temp control is heavy and solid and sits firmly on a table or desk. The materials on all parts except the power cord to the wall is top notch materials wise, but the power cord is off the wall generic hard plastic cord, no big deal though. The iron cord and rubber base at the bottom of the iron where it meets the cord is soft and allows for easy manuevering of the iron in one hand. The iron cord does not roll on itself like cheap cord does which is great. One thing to add is that I forgot to grab some extra tips and assorted tips. This only comes with a small chissle tip which is great but not for every project!

Ive used the cheap wands for 30 years with their cheap tips, overly stiff cords, slow heating times, etc. Balancing them on desks, printers. dashes, floors counters, stove tops - inevitably their tips coming into contact with something that smells when it melts or the stiff cord slowly pulling the iron off the surface and on to your lap, leg, carpet. I FINALLY pulled the trigger on this unit. I was reluctant because it is TWO pieces instead of one and my Go-Bag is designed for maximal efficiency. This thing is AMAZING. It heats very quickly, has a very flexible cord, a GREAT stand for the iron and I love the built-in cleaning sponge and wire. It has a very comfortable grip as well for those long circuit building projects. I will never go back to the crappy wands. Technically, this would have to last 10 times longer to pay for itself - but thats not the point - this is a PLEASURE to use vs. the cheap irons. Plus, the stand and the built in cleaning features will keep the tip in better shape, longer - so it is certain to last at least several times longer than the cheap wands.

In the middle of a project my old (very old) Radio Shack soldering station ceased functioning. For several hours I looked at replacements, Read all the reviews good and bad. Watched some Youtube videos and finally decided on the the Hakko FX-888D. I never pay for overnight or 2nd day delivery but I really needed a soldering station to continue my project and was glad I did to get back to work. The Hakko heats up fast, very fast. Especially compared to the old Radio Shack. I bought some extra different shaped tips. This is my first experience with a tip that isnt a larger/medium cone shaped tip. So far so good. I have had the unit for a week now and have used it every day and I have been very happy with the purchase. Why only 4 Stars - The enclosed documentation is missing 5 pages. The document enclosed talks about the presets but doesnt show you how to. The documentation does have a reference to a web site where you can get the full set of instructions. The 5 missing pages include 3 pages for doing the presets. The other 2 pages are details on the parts and the internal construction of the unit. Its a little point but the cost of a couple mores pages of paper cant be a profit breaker. So for now only 4 stars - but very happy with my purchase so far.