Hakko FX601-02 - Soldering Iron with High Heat Capacity

This is a terrific soldering iron. Probably the best quality iron available. I love the temperature control.

I've gone through three different soldering irons before I got this one - and now I will never need another. Most hobbyist soldering irons are really small, probably better suited to electronics or other small applications, and these do not work well for stained glass. I had been using a soldering iron for stained glass that was originally my grandfathers, and that was the best compared to tiny hobby soldering irons, but it was so old and the handle broke so I had to upgrade. I am so glad I found the Hakko soldering iron, it works so well when you need a bigger tip. This is a little expensive but worth the price and simply just works so well! Absolutely no complaints.

Bought this because I was doing two panels with an old Weller on a temperature controller that was very fussy about keeping a consistent temperature. With stained glass it is plug in, wait to heat up, solder, wipe, wait, repeat. Except waiting for it to get back up to temperature took longer and longer, even when wiping it clean with a dry bronze wool pad rather than a moist sponge. Sometimes it would just take a break and not really announce itself, so I'd have to set it aside and admire my unfinished work for a bit before it decided it was ready to work again. Sure, it's probably 20-30 years old, but I was only asking for some consistency.Bought this at the tail end of the project and this is a dream soldering iron. Light, with a temperature controller on the handle, the Hakko fires up quickly and maintains it's temperature so that you can get work done faster and bead the solder better and easier. The ceramic core keeps the heat steady and even when wiping down with the moist sponge, this comes back to temperature so quickly you don't miss a step.I've known lots of people doing stained glass who bought iron after iron looking for the one that made their soldering look good. The problem was always trying to find an iron with a consistent temperature and ability to recover from the cleaning process. Some people never really got the knack of listening to the rhythms of the iron. And as their irons got older, itheygot a bit more touchy about heating up and staying heated up. This might just be the solution they were looking for. Certainly, the old Weller is going into my drawer in favor of this little beauty. Treat her gently, use the old temperature controller for a dimmer switch on some lamp and have at it with this one. This is an iron that is well worth the money and probably the only iron you'll need. Starting out, get one iron and make it this one.

Easily the best iron I have used for stained glass projects. The cord is very heavy duty, so any accidental burns won’t immediately slice through the cord. The cord is also a decent length to make plugging in easier. The temperature dial on the iron it’s self is great - you don’t need to buy a separate item to plug into to keep the temperature stable. It is also very handy if you work with different blends of solder so you can easily adjust up or down. There is a light on the handle that indicates when the iron is heated up and ready to use, and typically takes less than a minute to heat up.This was my first iron from when I started 6 years ago and it is still going strong. I purchased these for all of my classroom kits and expect them to last for years to come.

I ordered this for stained glass and my partner wanted to use it for his guitar soldering too. Ordered another one for him! Powerful, heats up fast, sturdy piece of equipment.

The adjustable temperature control allows for precise soldering, making my projects much easier. It heats up quickly and maintains temperature well, which is essential for delicate work.

I have used this in the past and they work great.

I am an electrical engineer and I bought this iron for the occasional job of soldering larger thermal mass items. The first thing I've noticed when I unpacked the item was that there is no English language user manual. Hakko apparently expects you to be happy with Japanese instructions that are printed on the hard-paper insert inside the blister pack. This product has a couple of features that require at least cursory explanation to any user who isn't familiar with this exact model (myself including), such as the three different modes of the built-in LED light and the calibration trimmer, to name just two. I had to search the web to find the description of these. Moreover, the US web site of Hakko doesn't contain any information regarding these two features, you have to search their Japanese web site. Next, I removed the disposable wire that holds the power cord bundled together, and I had another unpleasant surprise on my hand - the cord is way too stiff and heavy for an iron as light as this one, and it exerts quite a bit of twisting force on the user's wrist to the point that it is unpleasant. This is a major disappointment to me, and for $ 90 MSRP, I expected Hakko to use thin, very flexible power cord with silicone rubber isolation. Every iron for ironing clothes I have seen, even the cheapest one, has a silicone rubber cord, so why not a $ 90 soldering iron? However, the biggest disappointment was yet to come. I then plugged the iron into the wall outlet and watched the blue LED light. The iron was set to its lowest setting, 240 degrees Celsius. The light is on and steady when the iron warms up. When it reaches the desired temperature, the light starts flashing. It surprised me that the light was on for only about 10 seconds before it started flashing. I had hard time believing the tip of the iron has reached 240 degrees in such a short time, so I touched the tip with my finger. It was too hot to the touch, but nowhere near the 240 degrees it should have been at. So, I pulled out an electronic thermometer (Fluke 52-II) and a K-type thermocouple, tube with thermal compound, and proceeded to measure the tip temperature at the moment when the light begins flashing. In the 10 seconds it took the iron to switch the blue LED from steady to flashing mode, the tip reached only 55 degrees Celsius, but the flashing light informs the user that the tip reached its pre-set temperature, in this case, 240 degrees Celsius. Hakko really screwed up big time with this feature, as there is day and night difference between 55 and 240 degrees. So, it turns out the blue LED light is nothing more than a decoration of the handle. I also wanted to see how accurate the temperature adjustment is once the tip reaches its terminal temperature, so I kept the setting at 240 degrees and waited for the temperature to stabilize. After about 3 minutes, the thermometer settled at 197 degrees. Another disappointment, the 240-degree setting will actually yield tip temperature of only 197 degrees. True, Hakko designed in the calibration trimmer, which may be able to take care of this discrepancy, but the iron's specifications guarantee out-of-box accuracy of the temperature setting to be within +/- 10 degrees. In this case, the deviation was -43 degrees, which is definitely out of the manufacturer's guaranteed value. Tomorrow, I will attempt to correct the setting by the use of the calibration trimmer. If I can't bring it to within the specification, the iron goes back to Hakko. If the calibration trimmer can bring the tip temperature into compliance with the setting scale, I will reluctantly keep the iron, but I am determined to replace the awful power cord. As for the dysfunctional indicator light - I guess I'll just have to live with it.