R
7

Lost $60 on a cheap soldering iron before learning my lesson

Bought a no-name 30 watt iron from an online sale for $12 thinking I was saving money. It couldn't even melt the lead-free solder on my laptop motherboard repair. After spending 3 hours fighting with bad joints, I grabbed a Hakko FX888D for $99 and finished the job in 20 minutes. Has anyone else wasted money on cheap tools before getting the real thing?
2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In
2 Comments
the_beth
the_beth4d ago
Maybe your expectations were too high for a $12 tool" - yeah you're probably right, but that's the thing. I once bought a $5 screwdriver set from a dollar store and one of the handles literally snapped off in my hand the first time I used it. Sometimes you just gotta learn the hard way that cheap tools are cheap for a reason.
9
lily_schmidt53
Is it really that serious though? Plenty of people use cheap irons for basic work without any issues. Maybe your expectations were too high for a $12 tool.
0