beerguy0
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2004
- Posts
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The Hakko irons are more than adequate for home use. I solder daily as part of my job, and up until we switched to Metcal irons a couple years, I used a Hakko 928 every day for 10 years. (This is a dual head version of the 926). It's now my home iron.
(The main reason we switched to Metcal is ISO 9000 requirements for soldering iron calibration. Metcal irons don't require calibration, so cost of the iron is more than offset by the cost of calibrating, every six months, literally thousands of soldering irons.)
However, the Metcal is a far superior tool to the Hakko. Temperature control aside, the feedback system allows you to get far more heat into whatever you're soldering. I finally ran up against things the Hakko just could not do, like large ground planes and heavy copper, and got a Metcal. I can't even imagine working without it now. That and my microscope.
(The main reason we switched to Metcal is ISO 9000 requirements for soldering iron calibration. Metcal irons don't require calibration, so cost of the iron is more than offset by the cost of calibrating, every six months, literally thousands of soldering irons.)
However, the Metcal is a far superior tool to the Hakko. Temperature control aside, the feedback system allows you to get far more heat into whatever you're soldering. I finally ran up against things the Hakko just could not do, like large ground planes and heavy copper, and got a Metcal. I can't even imagine working without it now. That and my microscope.
