Review on Hakko 503F V12ED 503F Soldering Screwdriver by Byron Forman

I was so tired of looking at soldering irons when I found this one. I almost bought the ubiquitous FX-888D, but didn't want to spend that much until I got some experience. The 503 Red is the best soldering iron a beginner can get for the price. It's as simple as it gets, no temperature control, no on/off switch. No bag with all the accessories you need to get started. So you know every cent goes where it matters most. Only 2 tips, a chisel and a cone were made for this iron. The only place I could find additional tips was to order online from Home Depot, so I stocked up on a few of each. I started with no experience whatsoever and in the first month I soldered everything from 12AWG to through-hole PCBs. . The only thing I was afraid of was forgetting to turn it off, ruining the iron, or starting a fire. I got distracted doing something else in the same room and left it on twice for maybe an hour. Thought it would kill him, but it still seemed to work fine. Basically it looks like the metal is discolored but I'm pretty sure it took some of the life of the heating element. Because it's so cheap I'll buy another one and maybe use it in my smoke test car.