Bought a "New" Soldering Station

[ruffrecords]

I have to say I have completely the opposite experience to you.  I have known several people buy ANTEX irons over the years & have found them pretty much unusable in that they heat up a blob of solder that rolls around the tip but the iron is unable to heat the surfaces being soldered.   

This is getting weird. That is almost exactly the experience I had with Weller. Maybe I got a duff one??

Cheers

Ian

 

[Gold]

This is getting weird. That is almost exactly the experience I had with Weller. Maybe I got a duff one??

I can imagine not being satisfied with a 35W Weller if that's what you used. That was the first iron I got and was underpowered for a lot of stuff. They are fairly indestructible though. I find the 60W to be as good as a TCP. The next iron I got after the WP35 was a TCP.  After I trashed a second wand I tired a WP60. It seemed just as good a a TCP to me. I used a WP60 until I got the WD1. I've been rocking that for a dozen years or so.

 

[kambo]

i have a spare cheapo radioshack 25w iron, once its hot (after 5 min heating time) it melts pretty much anything!

 

[gar381]

I used Wellers for many years both at home and at work and they were fine but in the last
few years I have been using Hakkos and I think they work even better than the Wellers.
Seems like heat recovery is faster with the HAKKO  when doing
lots of joints in a short period of time and the tips last a darn long time as well. 

GARY

 

[Timjag]

Always used Antex, but they seem to have dropped in quality lately. My SO bought me a tenma station - it's ok but it doesn't seem to get hot enough. So I'm using my very old Antex now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Andy Peters]

I used Wellers for many years both at home and at work and they were fine but in the last
few years I have been using Hakkos and I think they work even better than the Wellers.
Seems like heat recovery is faster with the HAKKO  when doing
lots of joints in a short period of time and the tips last a darn long time as well. 

I will just point out that this is the sort of post that isn't really helpful. Weller and Hakko are brands which both sell a wide range of products, from toys to professional units designed for heavy duty use.  It's like saying, "Fords are faster than Chevys" without specifying which Ford or which Chevy. Of course the Mustang GT is faster than the Cruze. The Camaro is faster than a Focus, too.

So it helps to say exactly which model you're using.