2 in 1 SMD Soldering Hot Air Rework Station + Stand 3 Nozzle 5 Tips 852d+ Iron Mark Ethan

I haven't had much time to work with it yet but since I received an email asking for a review I will submit my initial impression.Pros:- Packaging was adequate, not overkill but adequate protection for the contents of the box. Everything was organized and had a place within the packaging to keep it from denting/scratching other parts.-Very simple to set up, remove two shipping screws from the bottom, attach the mount for the hot air handle, attach the connection for the soldering iron, one screw to assemble lifting tool, ready to work.- User interface is intuitive and simple to understand.- Soldering iron and the rework nozzle both heat up very fast, which is great! Turn the iron on from cold and melting solder within a minute.- The iron tips are all tinned nicely, sometimes you get tips that were tinned when they had some contaminant on them and the tinning is not consistent, not the case with these.- I also received an email prior to arrival of my package that included a *.pdf copy of the manual as well as links to YouTube videos of assembly and others using this unit. They were not all for this exact model but were a good intro.Cons:- There is no assembly or "quick start" guide (that I found in my package), some inexperienced users may not know how things should work.- The manual jumps around a bit (i.e. - diaphragm pump setup which instructs you to remove the shipping screws comes after the section that tells you to turn the hot air rework on and start using it) and could lead some to damage their unit. The manual may have been written by someone whose second language is English. Invest a little money and have someone write a high-quality manual for you. Contact me and I would be willing to do this over the Christmas holiday.- The nozzle material for the rework station seam to be a little flimsy, this is common but always seems to feel like there must be a better solution.I have not taken the time to solder/desolder anything using the hot air rework but did turn it on to make sure that it was heating correctly and that I had adjustable airflow. I will be using this heavily for prototyping with QFN modules very small SMD components over the next few weeks. I am happy with the cost of the unit and at this point I feel like this was a great investment for my workbench.

I ordered this unit after I had tried a different manufacturers hot air rework station which almost burned down my house. After reading mixed reviews about all of these Chinese-made units I was hesitant to purchase this one but I cannot afford the expensive models so I gave it a chance. I have only had this unit less than a week but so far it works perfectly. It was packaged very well and seems very well made. I did not want the soldering iron as I already have a very expensive name brand unit that I have used for years so I didn't even plan to connect it but I'm glad I did as I actually like it much better than the unit I already have. What I like about it is that it heats up much faster, shows the actual temperature of the tip as it heats up so you don't have to guess when it is ready and I really like the shorter distance from handle to tip which actually gives me much greater accuracy than my previous model. I actually boxed up my old soldering iron as I prefer this one more. The only negative is as others have stated, the tips are cheap and they do bend if you apply too much pressure. I plan to get some Hakko tips to try and see if this fixes the issue. Its not a huge deal though as you really should not be applying a lot of pressure with a pencil iron. One thing of note for the hot air is that the air pressure will blow your SMD components off the board on the lowest air setting with the smallest tip. The solution is to use the next smaller size up which worked out fine. I did a really good test of the hot air by removing some surface mounts items from a dead video card and I had a blast as it works just like magic. When the air hits the component it begins to float on the shiny solder and you just pick it off which tweezers! Really please so far but another item of note is that the seller sends some useful emails but then begins to bug you by saying your item was delivered but they have not heard back from you and to please let them know you have the item.

This station is a solid device for it's price. It was shipped quickly and arrived with everything in order. I'm currently using it for soldering SMD components onto custom circuit boards, and it works very nicely in that regard. There are only a couple of minor things which keep this product from being a 5-star:It is a little bit noisy (compared to a similar model of rework station that I used previously)The air gun doesn't automatically turn off when holstered - this was/is a feature on some other brands and it is very nice to not have to flip a switch in order to turn off the fan.The air tube is fairly thick and takes up a lot of room on the desk since it can't be wound as tight as a thinner tube, though it is reassuring that I won't burn my arm accidentally.The soldering iron tip has a +- 2mm give when I press it against a board. Nothing crazy but it is a little annoying when I press down and feel like I'm bending the iron back.Other than that the rest of the set is great. The tips come in handy but right now I'm just using the screwdriver tip, which works well for fixing up bridged pins. The temperature control is nice as well. It is a great station especially for a small shop or home that wants to miniaturize their products to circuit boards.

It burned out and then failed to generate any heat after 45 minutes of use at around 415C. Seller and MFG failed to provide any support.Switched to an Aoyue 968A+ and it's been working great for about 24 hours of use so far - and the Aoyue came with a fantastic amount of extras - extra heating coil, metal stand for the soldering pen (though I don't use it), various extra tips, the hot air nozzle fastens securely instead of falling off... I ran the numbers and to get the same amount of stuff with an 852 it would be around $300 - and you'd still be stuck with worse design, loud noise, etc.So, save yourself some money and go with the Aoyue. So, so worth it!