Hakko Omnivise PCB Holder (C1390C)

Where have you been all my life, this has been a great addition to my work bench. It is almost a third hand, but really it is so much more. I use it to hold circuit boards I am working on, and the only requirement is that you have a flat edge to put into it to hold onto.

It was the other users reviews on this product that finally made me swallow my financial pride and pull the trigger on this thing. But I swore to myself that if this thing wasnt absolutely, jaw-droppingly amazing, it was going straight back into the box for return and I was getting my $80 back. Amazon has free returns and Im not afraid to use it! The package arrived this AM and the box is already in the trash. The vice is on my bench and I spent the morning reworking boards... and kids... let me say this: Youll pry this out of my cold, dead hands. All of the hype in the reviews is true. This product has honestly turned my frustration at holding PCBs still for rework into an absolute joy. Its a fist-sized, heavy, stable chunk of metal that is so simple in design youll smack yourself in the head and go why didnt *I* think of this???. Its just a heavy metal base, a couple of glorified washers with neoprene disks attached, and a big knurled metal screw that holds it all together and makes it clamp-down on the edge of a PCB. Thats it. Nothing more. Dirt simple. A grade-schooler could have engineered this. AND IT JUST WORKS. You want one of these. Yes you do. If you do board (re)work, just get your wallet out, close your eyes, swallow your pride, and click buy it now. There. All better. Yes, it is durned-Skippy expensive for what it IS, but its dirt cheap for what it DOES. I gave it 5 stars for its performance (should really get 6 stars), and 4 stars for value (because honestly, this thing is massively overpriced as there isnt maybe $10 in parts, labor and engineering and overhead in this whole thing). But I guarantee youll love it once it hits your bench. Its something that you can pass-down to (or perhaps throw at? lol) your grandkids. There is nothing to wear-out or maintain. It just sits there, solid as a rock, being a dirt-simple and amazingly effective PCB vise.

These things are wonderful for working on electronics. It hurts to spend $250 for 4 of them though, considering they are made in china and not very expensive to manufacture. They do work remarkably well. Even at the price, I highly recommend these. Depending on size PCBs you are working on, you will probably need between two to 4 of them. They hold the board stable enough above my convection preheater to do QFN and BGA rework just as well as a board holder that costs $1k. Height is adjustable too which is nice. This is one of those items you never realized how much you needed it until you own one (just like a video magnifier for working on small electronics). My ONLY complaint about these are the price. The product is top notch.

This is a hefty little tool that was very well designed. The product picture made me think I was going to get a pretty big unwieldy tool to hold PCBs to solder. But, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasnt at all as big as I thought it was going to be. Although this is small, it packs just the right amount of weight to it to hold most anything needed. Upon receiving and just looking at it, I was trying to figure out how it actually worked. Once I unscrewed the top and saw how it held the boards, the only word that came to mind was genius. I have used all sorts of holding tools, from those that are spring loaded and clamp the ends of a PCB, to simple helping hands type tools. This picks up all of the short comings and packs it into a simple, but powerful tool. Now it is much easier to hold those odd shaped boards that were just impractical in most other holders. You can even pair this up with another Omnivise if you need to get that extra support for the much larger boards. So far, this holds up well to a reflow heat gun and a decently high wattage soldering iron. It has settings to elevate the board, but I rarely have a need for that. It also holds the board low enough that I can still get it under a microscope for inspection. Overall, I wouldnt hesitate to buy another one of these shall the need arise. Would highly recommend!

A bit tall, but works good. They need to make one half the height.

Very good product. Recommended

I dont know what took me so long to get one of these mounts. I have some of the other styles, but I kept seeing this thing being used in YouTube videos that I subscribe to. Now that I finally have one for myself, its amazing. If you do any kind of soldering, its a must have.

Great little vise. Built like a tank; definitely worth the price.

Good product

Amazing tool