Review on 🔌 Insulation Station 15 9 with Enhanced Soldering Resistance for Electronics by Shawn Tolbert

Excellent mats - nice and thick, well made. I like the "bigger" size of this unit because it has a more usable workspace for small jobs where I don't want to clean up my desk and get out my big rug or even bigger anti-static mat. The parts compartments are slightly larger than some other blankets, more useful in my opinion. As long as you understand that 100% silicone mats will NEVER be ESD safe, you should be very happy with them. There are actually some silicone formulations that can be nearly static free, but for some reason they haven't made it to the consumer market yet. You can sometimes build up a heavier charge, but usually it's pretty minimal - still enough that if you're working with particularly sensitive components you should skip this and buy a legitimate ESD surface and wire it up properly instead of using that. In general, the typical mitigation methods are enough to make this safe for most things if you're smart. Flux and solder spatter won't stick to it, so it's easy to keep clean, and you'll have to leave a very, very hot iron on it for a while to damage the finish, but even then it's minimal enough that it's not an issue at all . Acetone and alcohol aren't bad either. They're easy to clean if they get fuzzy or gritty from house dust - just rinse with hot water and let them air dry, or you can spray generously and wipe lightly with a decent microfiber cloth. It's a little odd that they're packaged in a zip-top Mylar bag over the factory plastic packaging - simple marketing maybe, but it certainly adds value. Good buy, great all round rug. If you want silicone and an even bigger size check out some kitchen products - there are a few that are thicker (around 2mm) and don't have built in compartments and they work well without having to upgrade to a more expensive one and a lot. Mat for larger electronics.