SainSmart Magnetic Helping Hands, Third Hand Tool with 5X LED Magnifying Lamp, 4 PCB Circuit Board Holder & 4 Flexible Arms, 11.1 x 7.1 Inch Extra Larger Base, Soldering Station for Electronic Repair

The base is surprisingly stable. The magnetic bases of the arms and the light are very strong! The finish of the base is great. The 4 little magnetic stands - don’t know what they are called - are very handy to place and support a PCB at its mounting holes Cons are that the light on the magnifier isn’t bright enough for me and it gets hot. The crocodile clips are average but get the job done It’s a bit pricey but saves a lot of time and trouble with cheap alternatives

Great idea. Magnets are strong but spring arms are weak. It would be nice to have an optional bigger glass with stronger magnification.

This 3rd hand device does the job, but has a few quirks. As others stated, the retaining screws used to secure the alligator clips to the flexible support arms do not provide a positive lock. In other words, the retaining screws require frequent tightening. Unlike other reviewers, after approximately a dozen uses, I have not experienced problems with the LED. The base of the unit has sufficient mass and provides a stable platform, especially with the rubber foot pads installed. The magnetic base of each support arm clings to the base with enough force to support workpieces weighing several ounces; and the rigidity of the arms supports this functionality. Used in combination, the arms can support substantial workpieces. The pillar supports perform flawlessly.

So I had been using a piece of wood with solid copper single conductor wire holding alligator clips to hold my wires for soldering. It worked.... This is more refined and elegant, additionally it provides better stability and has a higher quality of material. When time is considered this is a great value for the money.

My only wish was to have a second, higher magnification spyglass, but at this price its great.

My husband is constantly making things and this has made things better for me. He no longer feels the need to call me in from the other room to help him. Win, win for me and him. I’m free to do as I please and he doesn’t have to wait on me to get to the next step of his project.

Not a bad product if you have good lighting but this thing isn’t bright at all.

I dont hate it. I dont love it either. Regardless these are a must if your soldering and for the price its decent and works... These are the only flaws I could find after using a solid 2 months: - The clips cannot just be hand tightened and you must use a pliers to fully tighten them they will loosen every time you touch it. Most are like this except for the top brands so you get what you pay for I guessssss....... Using pliers keeps the clamps in place for awhile but they will loosen eventually, so just keep an eye on them. This is a hazard in my opinion, you can burn yourself or the circuit, or drop the circuit if your not constantly checking this.... Still doable for the price though, depending on what you need.... - Also with the clips, unlike the name brand companies, they appear to just have some heat sink shrunk to the teeth, which will need to be replaced fairly often and are just not as durable as the silicon type on name brands. - The magnets on the long hands could have been a little stronger, but they work just be sure to test out what your holding to make sure its strong enough. - Last is the magnifying glass. Its may 2 or 3X magnification, which is what I think it says, like everything else, its just good enough to get the job done. This might be a factor with most or all magnify glasses of this size but I have to get pretty close to use it. Im going to see if I can find one with maybe 5X magnification where I dont have to be 6ins away from the circuit. The light also gets pretty hot, although thats on high or close to high setting, it only seems useful on high so I dont know how long that will last. Overall, if I had to do it again, I would but the name brand and get either a 2 or 4 hand and buy a separate magnification light, or buy the clamp hand version instead of each hands. Its great for beginners, which I am a beginner, but if you plan to put some good use into it then spend the extra cash on something better. If they would just make these minor upgrades, even if it is just with the tips to gator clips and also the fasteners then that alone could make this a solid 4 to 5 star product. Still good to go out of the box though so Im not extremely disappointed. I just wont be buying another one.

Very helpful

Im only giving this a 4 star review b/c of what I consider to be a manufacturer oversight. Why in the world would you put the power switch close to the plug? It really should be next to the light or on the light itself for ease of use. Also, the magnifying glass arms length is too long compared to the square base.