Hakko FX-901/P Cordless Soldering Iron

So my cheap, Yahuan brand soldering station died on me one night and I had to run to WalMart for a $10 P.O.S. to finish a Bluetooth speaker build for my grandson. Well you get what you pay for and it was a matter of time. I replaced my station with two of these and a small air gun and am glad I did. This little guy heats quickly, stays HOT for far longer than I need at any given time and is easy on the batteries. It also is designed so you can just lay it down anywhere and it won't burn up the surface. So I can solder, set it down, solder, set it down and so on... It runs on AA batteries. I long ago converted to rechargeable only so I didn't even have to buy any, but I'd strongly urge you to spend $20 on batteries and charger; you'll be glad you did. Anyway, it runs for what seems like hours on 4 batteries. In reality, it's probably a full hour or more of continuous use but I don't use it that way. It heats up so quickly that I work in batches and turn it off in between burn times of about 10 minutes. It has a cover that comes with it and you can put it on even when the iron is hot (but I don't). I bought two of them so if one goes out I'll have a spare. I do wish there was a finer tip than the one provided and I've looked a bit but not enough to say with certainty that they don't make them. Having said that, the one that is provided is fine overall for most work. All in all, this is a thoughtfully designed, well-built piece of kit that has liberated me from a wall outlet. Love it.

The Overall: I purchased this soldering iron so that I could use it at my home workbench, then toss it in a bag and bring it to work or shops that I'm building in. So far, I've been really impressed by the convenience and functionality of this iron. I'm using it for hobbyist electronics and it works well for that purpose. I highly, highly recommend using rechargeable batteries with it (I use Enerloop Pros) so that you're not burning through disposables since it does use a lot of juice. The Good: This is a dead simple soldering iron. It's made of plastic but feels really solid, has a secure plastic cover for the iron that prevents accidental power-on in transport, and operates off of 4 AA batteries. The tip is a fine point, so it's ready out of the box for use with basic electronics. It heats up quickly, and as long as you don't keep it running constantly it lasts a few days of regular use before recharging the batteries. The Bad: The two weak points of this soldering iron are the battery life and ability to sustain tip temperature. With heavy use, I definitely notice the tip getting cooler than my traditional iron, and I need to wait between soldering joints to let it heat back up sometimes. This isn't really a problem for smaller hobby electronics jobs, but for any larger projects you'll want something with more power. Another issue is that it goes through disposable batteries pretty quickly, so I highly, highly recommend using rechargeable batteries with this. Investing in rechargeable batteries for this will save you dozens, if not hundreds of dollars in the long-term. The Neutral: The handle is a bit chunkier and has a different shape than most soldering irons due to the battery arrangement. I actually like this since it shifts the weight away from the soldering iron tip and feels very stable when I'm holding it without a cable out the back, but it's definitely going to be a personal preference thing.

Great iron if you have new batteries in it. I was getting frustrated by it not getting hot enough, but then I went out and bought an 8 pack of the nicest batteries I could find, and now it works amazingly. If you use old batteries in this, you will be disappointed, but if you spend the money to get this, do yourself a favor and pickup some nice batteries. Also I used this to work on a keyboard PCB and it worked great. The tip is tiny and perfect for PCB work. I wouldn't recommend it for long projects, unless you need wireless and don't mind going through tons of batteries though.

If you have tried a battery powered soldering iron, you probably use the Cold Heat iron and know that it just doesn't work well. This iron works differently, the GOOD kind of different. I have worked with electronics as a hobby for more than 20 years, and I am also an amateur radio operator. We should discuss what this iron does well, how to use it well, and what it will not do. This iron works very well for small wires, up to 16 gauge or maybe a bit thicker. It also works well for components on PCB for projects or repair. It heats quickly and has a cone tip that gets in where it is needed; just what you would expect from a Hakko or other quality soldering iron. The behavior of the iron varies greatly between Alkaline and Ni-MH batteries. If you use Alkaline, it will get a bit too hot when the batteries are new, work perfect through the middle, then does not get hot enough at the end of the life, resulting in cold solder joints. The life with Alkaline batteries was about 75 minutes. Replace the batteries with rechargeable Ni-MH and like magic, the iron is a dream. It heats evenly across two hours of use (120 minutes!), and when the batteries get low, it stops working. No cold solder joints. With decent Ni-MH batteries, they will hold a charge in your bag for a year, and with a 2 hour cycle time you can charge the first set while you use the second set. I use 63/37 eutectic solder, so I have less motion induced cold solder joints. This also means I have not tested this iron with Silver Solder which typically must get hotter to get a good bond. My 11 year old daughter has soldered a number of projects with this iron as well. And I haven't even mentioned that it will stand and be stable with the flat back end on the table, standing up right. You will never be surprised again when you bump the power cord right before the iron rolls of the table! The only limitation I have found? You will not be soldering thick power carrying cables or large RF lines. It just doesn't deliver enough heat to the location to solder 12 gauge wire.

First off I’ve been doing field type solder work on automotive as well as many other areas for over 25 years (since I was a kid) and also ANSI and IPC cert, worked under microscopes for a living, etc etc. Hakko is industry standard and I had high hopes for this product. The over and hour run time off 4 double A batteries seemed too good to be true. I’ve been using radio shack style butane solder irons for my automotive/marine field work (or just in garage where it’s easier than getting a real iron out). They work fine but this Hakko electric one seems safer and I was excited to try it. It does not work. The power isn’t there. You could possibly solder 18-24+ gauge wire with it. But even 18 gauge would take awhile. I could see it being used for surface mount work, but anyone doing that kind of work is generally not doing it in the field. Maybe I’ll keep it for some emergancy type SMT (surface mount) situation. I recommend getting two butane torches like pictured. I have close to a dozen of these when radioshack went out of business I bought many and many tips, they’ve been holding up for a decade with lots of use. You went two so that one can be used for a torch tip which is perfect for heat shrink and the other for solder. You can also put the cap on and use it for a lighter (not for long though) or just keep the torch tip for lighting cigars. Anyway I wasted my money on this so you don’t have too. Other than the power, the test of the unit is built well, not sure what tips it uses but I could see that being an issue. God bless Update: after reading other reviews, it appears mine may be broken or batteries not doing it. Stand by for updates (I still stand by the RadioShack style butane torch though, they are great. Burnzomatic butane I’ve had no luck with)

This thing is just fantastic and it's hard to believe it runs off AA batteries! I'd consider myself a hobbyist when it comes to electronics. I've owned plenty of those cheap irons and one very good soldering station. This thing is unbeatable when it comes to ease of use. It warms up quickly has a very handy cover for safety and has a fine enough point for all the little soldering I do. The best thing is, because it uses standard batteries - I don't have to worry about charging it if it's been sitting. I just pulled mine out for a project after at least 6 months of it sitting - put fresh batteries in and it worked like a charm. If you're considering it, I'd say just go for it - you won't regret it!

Really enjoy this little soldering device, familiar with the brand from work but sort of took a risk with this being limited tips and battery powered. Have to say I'm quite impressed, got the job done and easier than expected. It melted the solder very well and had a little bit of a warm up but much faster than expected. The tip it comes with is generic but still much smaller than my other soldering iron and the lack of cord made it very easy and quite versatile wherever soldering needs to be done. Only downside is the unit is alittle odd in the hands when soldering, easy to work around but with the batteries attached to the iron, it adds a little off balance that I'll have to get use to but not so bad to where it makes it hard to use.

This is way better than cheaper Chinese no-name cordless irons which have tips that are either unplated or poorly plated and won't accept solder or otherwise fail after a few uses. Hakko makes professional soldering equipment and this has a decent tip and at least works. But it's slow to heat up and hard on batteries. This is a perfect application for high discharge Li-Ion technology as used in power tools, drones, etc. The iron could heat much quicker, be rechargeable, have interchangeable batteries, and solder more connections. This iron ( Weller BL60MP Cordless Soldering Iron with Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery ) looks better in theory but it's twice the price and has less than great reviews. It also doesn't have a replaceable battery which, for the price, is hard to excuse. What we really need is something like this but a soldering iron that comes with 2 batteries like many cordless tools and can be used as a soldering gun or a pen: Hitachi DB3DL2 3.6 Volt Lithium Ion Dual-Position Cordless Screwdriver Kit (Lifetime Tool Warranty) Hakko are you listening? Or perhaps one of the cordless tool companies needs to beat them to it?