Bundle Includes Soldering Station and CHP170 Cutter

Firstly let me begin by saying Ive been surrounded by discreet electronic components all my life as my father was an engineer, later on I followed in his footsteps. Ive been exposed to all sorts of irons over the past 30 or so years and have come to depend on two irons for all my soldering needs and thats Hakko and Weller. Both iron manufacturers have consistently proven themselves on my bench. What I like about the Hakko is you get a pretty high end quality soldering iron for a very fair price. There are an excellent assortment of high quality tips (though I use the Hakko T18-S7 more than any other tip). While I agree with several other reviewers that the controls on the FX888D are, to say the least, a little ambiguous their use is explained well enough in the manual to get you sorted. I recommend a quick skim through the manual in proper button usage before fiddling with it. Having said that.. It heats up quickly and maintains its temperature well. The cord from the base to the iron is long enough (over 4 feet) and flexible enough that it doesnt interfere with fine work, in addition the iron itself is comfortable and well balanced making it east to work with. The base is fairly compact that there should be no troubles finding room for it on your bench, and the fact it has a soldering iron stand apart from the base is also a huge plus. Along with the iron you get a sponge and a metal tip cleaning tool. They both accomplish essentially the same job, but the metal cleaning bundle doesnt effect your tip temperatures much at all when compared to the sponge & water. However there is room and need for both cleaning methods and its a wonderful perk by Hakko to include both options. The iron comes well packed and worked without a hitch since plugging it in and turn it on. There are many advocates for Weller or Hakko. Its my belief that generally I find that the products are so close in quality and workmanship as to not make any difference which you go with. But having said that, I think you get more bang for your dollar with Hakko and you wont be disappointed with this iron.

This is the best soldering iron I have ever used. I highly recommend it. The only reason I give 4 stars instead of 5 is because the user interface can be a little confusing. They should have just used a button or two more so as not to rely on long presses, etc., so much. For example, there is an up button but not a down button for temperature. And it is confusing how to use presets. But if you want a seriously good soldering iron this one fits the bill.

The gold standard in soldering irons. You can be assured this sucker will be there working perfectly for years. I particularly love the wand holder and brass fluxd cleaning pad. I absolutely love this thing

Works great- professional use. Durable. I have 2 of these, one at home and one at work

Absolutely love this thing! Still just wish theyd supply you with 2 tips one pencil and the small chisel tip that comes with this kit... but hey.. the product is fantastic.

This is without a doubt the best soldering iron i have ever used for the $. heats up extremely fast and holds the set temperature very very well even with heavy use. Adjusting the temp takes a little practice but once you figure out the button press sequence it goes very fast. would be nice to have a manual dial on it like the old one.

Is there anything better?

Im rather new to soldering. This is my first temp control soldering iron. I use this primarily for soldering Arduino circuitry, model trains, and RC cars. Had it one month. Love it so far. Sturdy stand, easy to grip, heats quickly, looks cool, small footprint. As others have mentioned, the controls are a bit counter intuitive, but if you read the instructions (a few pages long) it is not difficult to program. I like that it has two cleaning options (sponge and other).

Simply a great bang for the buck with digital quality. This will do whatever you need at the right temperature. Easy to use menu, accurate, full featured and gets to temp fast The only thing you need to do is buy some additional different style tips that will add to the versatility of the kind of jobs you can do.

heats up fast and does the job for hi heat soldering onto guitar potentiometers. not sure if the digital temp display is accurate but it solders great.