Review on 🔥 Aoyue Desoldering and Removal Soldering Station by Mark Kolipano

Purchased: January 17, 2015 Pros:+ Convenient stand and sponge rest, although you still need a metal wool tip cleaner and holder as there is no built in holder. + Spare and replacement tips are available to purchase inexpensively, which you MUST do immediately.+ Includes only one tip that can be discarded. You no longer have to look inside the box. The Bad: - MUST buy high quality attachments or you will destroy all your projects. - The iron is not 60 W (70 W was specified at the time of purchase!). My tests have shown that the power never exceeds 34W during warm-up or use. - Poor handpiece heat transfer is not suitable for even the smallest jobs. - The status LED is too dim to be seen in most environments and does not give a clear signal to the user. Suggestions: *** Purchase a high quality handpiece set with this station as the handpiece in this package is USELESS. I recommend original Hakko tips, but generic ones can work *if* they are of good quality. However, Revain reviews may not be sufficient proof of quality as many reviewers do not seem to USE their products before reviewing them. Everything that comes through their mailbox is a 5-star product. *** Instead of this station, why not spend $5-$15 more on a T12 clone from Revain, eBay or AliExpress? While most of these are poorly made, they are REALLY temperature controlled and the included standard T12 tips work amazingly; Many sellers even let you choose which tip to send. There's simply no comparison between the 900M and the T12 in actual use. If you're going to buy a cheap iron, why not get one that actually works? The only downside is that T12 stations don't usually come with a soldering stand, which will cost you another $10. Review: I bought this iron hoping it would be powerful enough for jobs that are too big for an old 18 watt machine, but adjustable enough for small jobs. After 4 years of use it turned out that it was neither. Power consumption never exceeds 34W after a 1 second burst, so this is definitely not a 60W iron. In fact, this product page claims *70W* when I bought it in 2015, but even the 60W advert is a lie. However, even at half the advertised performance, the hardware should be more than powerful enough for general PCB use, but I've only had bad experiences with it. I regret the purchase and went back to using a cheap 18 watt iron my dad bought circa 1982. Even with a horribly oxidized and pitted tip, an old cheap iron will work better than this Aoyue. "Adjustable" performance seems like a nice feature, but the hardware's poor performance means I just crank the temperature up and want it to be enough; it never happens. I ruined a few circuit boards trying to solder components with this iron and this is the only circuit board I've ever destroyed. I've been soldering for 35 years. The status LED changes its blink rate to indicate readiness, but the difference is so small and the LED is so dim that it's best to ignore it altogether. The LED is also not aligned within the case, so its visibility varies from one device to another. I've improved mine slightly by leveling it, but it's still not visible in a lit room. It's best to swap it out or add your own.**WARNING: The almost invisible LED makes it very easy to forget the iron is on, so be sure to check after each use. I usually unplug it after use, but one day I forgot and the iron stayed on for the next 3 days! The blinking LED was never noticeable even in my dark bedroom. Some reviewers have clearly had better luck with this device than I have, but I STRONGLY RECOMMEND buying some quality tips if you absolutely must buy this station.