My workshop soldering iron recently died, and it was time for a replacement. Nowadays, it gets used only a few times a month, so I was not willing to spend a huge amount on a replacement. There seem to be several sub $100 units available from the usual cheap Chinese sources like eBay, Aliexpress, Banggood and even Amazon. What kept coming up under several brand names was a unit known as a 8582D 2 in 1 soldering station, which is what I ended up buying for around $80 from Banggood.
I purchased this from Banggood as it was available in their Australian warehouse, so I received it within 3 days which is pretty good considering Australia Post are going slow at the moment because of the Covid 19 lockdown.
This version of the soldering station itself is clearly designed for the Chinese market and was supplied with Chinese branding, a Chinese language user guide and a Chinese market power cord. While the Chinese use the same layout of pins on their power cords as Australia, they lack the insulation on the active and neutral pins which has been mandatory in Australia since 2005. If this bothers you, it is easy to swap the cord to a local type, thanks to an IEC C14 type socket on the back of the unit.
When I started shopping for a soldering station I only intended to replace my single iron, but then I discovered these units with the hot air function. I have never had a hot air station before, so I thought it was worth the bit extra for this unit even if I don’t use it for surface mount components I will come in handy for heat shrinking things.
Pros
Cheap, you essentially get the hotair wand for free compared to the price of some other soldering stations.
Fast warm up time.
The iron seems to be a knockoff of a Hakko 907, so spares and tips should be plentiful.
Standard IEC C14 (PC Type) power connector. It’s pretty easy to swap out the supplied Chinese cord if you want to.
Sleep mode. No leaving a hot iron unattended by mistake thanks to magnets in the stand that power down the hot air blower’s heater and lower the iron temp after 10 mins when “SLP” is shown on the screen. You can wake the iron by lifting the iron again or adjusting temp.
Cons
Very cheap plasticy unit, yep you do get what you pay for.
No mains power switch, yes you can turn off each iron, but power still runs through the transformer and PCB. The flashing display is annoying at best or a fire hazard at worst if the triacs fails and turn on the heating unit during the night. I suggest turning off at the wall when not in use.
The iron stand has a large exposed area on the sides. As the iron stand is simply a cheap folded piece of metal the hot iron is exposed on the sides if some item on your desk were to make contact you could have a fire risk on hand. It’s not as bad as some other stands on the market, but I still plan to modify mine with a part of the stand from my old iron just in case.
Mine was supplied with no English user guide. I also could not find one on the Net, so I created my own translated version, you can download it here.
Gallery
Wrap up
Despite the cons listed above, I am happy with my purchase as I believe the soldering station is still good value for money. If I had to rate it, I would give it 8 out of 10, with my only concerns being the lack of a mains cutoff switch and the exposed nature of the iron stand.
Resources
Purchase Link https://au.banggood.com/custlink/DKGYLsI32g