I have been working with a large noisy heat gun but for my application the small thermal print of this unit works great. It lights up and is instantly ready. Take about 5-10 minutes to cool down. Once it's hot you can turn off the gas and when you're ready you just have to let it flow again and it will start to glow without lighting it. This is a great kit!
I use it for soldering jewelry and it seems to work well. It's not as good as the radio store, but it does the job. I would recommend it to anyone looking for something compact with a focal heat source. I think Flintstone sucks. I didn't like the one on the radio shop model either. It's quicker and easier to just use a lighter. I had it not long ago but it seems solid and doesn't seem to have any memories.
This was a real find (or so I thought). I love the wireless portability and everything came in a nice case. But after not much use (maybe 3-4 hours over a couple of weeks and various electronics projects?) I rubbed the spike with a damp paper towel and a groove formed around the spike. No, I'm not a pro, and yes, I must have had a cold (i.e., hard) piece of ash in the towel beforehand while drying off, which clogged the tip. After a few more uses, the tip bent right at that cut line and snapped