4th April 2011
Had this for a couple of years and it has seen some heavy removal work (big solder joints of pots soldered to boards). Blocks up after a few days of work but the great thing about it is that it is very easy to dismantle and clean out. You do need the available spares so I recommend buying a spare tip when you get the iron, I havent yet replaced the heating element but I think it has gotten a little weak in the 2 years of using it so I will be replacing that soon.
28th January 2010
Great product, very quick and leaves a clean pad and hole, I would advise any body new to the product to learn how to dismantle and clean the unit when new and cold! I have lost the cleaning wire and now have to use a piece of wire which is not as good.
1st December 2008
Uses 30w. It does run hot, but I find that is a real bonus when de-soldering multilayer PCBs with thick ground planes. It might be rather hot for single layer PCBs, where a soldering iron and a hand desoldering tool suffice anyway. For single layer work, or multilayer with thin copper, get a plug-in power controller. I expect 23-4874 to be suitable. Excellent tool. Pays for itself in an hour. The heat is a bonus. I wouldnt want it colder for my purposes.
12th June 2008
These are rather good actually. They run VERY hot, much more so than a controlled iron, at a guess I'd say about 400oC, maybe more. Likely a 50W+ iron too. You have to be careful with it as it will gladly take up tracks and scorch PCBs. But saying that, it does its job VERY well. I have a hot air station too, and each serves its specific purpose. This is much better than hot air for through hole boards.