MeFix 858D SMD Hot Air Rework Soldering Station with Auto Sleep Function

Product is great priced and works well for small hobby SMD soldering projects> Has very nice compliment of accessories for tips to control directed heat. Probably good for budget minded student and home hobbyist.

I do lots of projects with micro controllers and build wiring harnesses and the like for lots of things. I figured this would be a good station to try out, and use as a backup for small tasks. I figured it would have no problems quickly removing surface mount chips and ESP32 modules on larger project boards, and doing light shrink tube duty. I was half right.First, the controller is VERY light, lighter than the wand. And with a short stiff cord, even with it's rubber feet on, the box easily goes sliding around the table. I wound up abandoning the feel and putting some small right-angle brackets on each of the four case screws at the bottom to secure it to the bench. This is less than ideal because the cord is really not that long, nor that flexible.The fan in this thing is not the loudest fan I've heard. But to call it quiet is a misnomer. You might barely hear it, if you're standing behind a server rack. But if you're in a normal room, you will clearly hear this fan running, even at lower speeds. Also, being in the wand itself, it winds up giving the whole wand a bit of a gyroscopic effect at higher flow rates.As for actual work: Removing components is reasonable to do with the smallest nozzle (it comes with several sizes). I worried a bit about putting new modules into place without fine tuning the temperature though. While it does heat up quickly, it also overshoots quite a bit, and cycles more than I'd like. I don't quite believe it limits as well as it really should. When attempting heating shrink tubing with it, I wound up melting a few tube casings. I had to turn the temperature well below the tube shrink rating to get shrink vs melt. Also, the on/off tilt sensor makes it harder to use for tubing unless you can rotate the bundle, since pointing the wand in any direction upward of flat shuts it off. A momentary button would have been much nicer, and a retrofit may be in it's near future.For the price, this is a reasonably good stand-in for a heat gun. If this is a tool you'll use a few times a month for side projects, and you're willing to figure out and remember the offsets for your station between what it's set to and how hot it actually gets? Not a bad buy. If you're doing this often (a few times a week or more), or need a precise temperature air stream? Invest in a more accurate device. This would be great for trial and error college classwork, but it's not up to the task for even a semi-serious work environment. But at this price? I wouldn't really expect it to be.

After using this rework station for the first time earlier today, I can say it seems to function well. I'm not sure how accurate the temperature readings are, but it had plenty of heat and blowing power to desolder some smd components I needed to replace. With all that said, upon first set up - the entire thing would not turn on whatsoever... actually I was about to ship it back when I decided to open it up entirely - and very quickly found a severed connection between the plug and the power connector on the pcb. It was a quick fix, clicked right in and thankfully worked after that... however I would definitely question the validity of the QC Pass sticker that was on the unit, considering how easy it would have been to spot this kind of problem...

This hot air rework station is a great deal for the price I paid.

Funciona perfectamente muy práctico

I do some soldering/desoldering, but have always used an iron.I decided to try this to see if using air would be better for some cases. If you need to desolder a bunch of connections at once (like on an IC) this may be a better way.This is not an industrial level device. As you might notice from the price, it is entry level. I got it to satisfy my curiousity and find out if I can use it. If I do and it doesn't fit my needs I can upgrade later. If I don't, then I did not spend a lot of money on something I won't use.The base unit is VERY light - like it feels empty. I think it likely holds the controls and not much (or anything) else.The two white membrane buttons on the left and right of the knob are for setting the temperature of the heating element. The knob controls the air flow.The bracket for holding the wand can go on the left or the right side of the unit - at least I think it can. There are holes on both sides. It is important to note that the bracket is a very important part of this setup.The bracket holds the wand when it isn't being used. Crucially, it holds the wand with the heating end pointed up. There is a sensor in the wand that determines whether the wand is tilted up or down. If it is tilted up, the heating element turns off. If it is pointed down, the heating element turns on. The display on the base shows SLP (for sleep) when the heating element is off due to the angle sensor. Otherwise it shows the current temperature of the heating element (or the set temperature if you recently pushed one of the white buttons).I manged to fool the angle sensor once, but couldn't repeat it.I am not sure I understand why an angle sensor was used instead of just a momentary switch you push while holding the wand. The angle sensor will make the tool harder to use for heat shrink applications where you might actually want the heating element on while the wand is pointing up.There is sparse documentation. The video on the product page shows installation of the feet and wand bracket. Don't lose the rubber feet for the bottom. The unit needs those. Without them there are protruding screws and it will not sit level.The included tweezers are fine. The solder sucker is very cheap, and I am not sure what the tiny pitchfork is for - flipping up a desoldered component perhaps?My rating would not be so high is this was less affordable. Do not expect industrial quality and you will not be disappointed.

I love the value of this unit for the price!