Good deal, my wsd51 just will never die or I would buy this as a backup.
(Topic ID: 291628)
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Quoted from ForceFlow:No idea. I don't think I'm seeing any familiar brand names. Most of it is probably knock-off equipment. I saw one comment where someone said they couldn't find replacement tips.
Two reasons why I stick with a more well known brand is because they are tried & tested, and replacement parts are available and likely to continue to be available.
Heck, with my hakko desoldering iron, the heating element and plastic shell are new (it has met the floor in a rapid and unexpected fashion a couple times...oops). If it was a cheap knock-off, I probably would not have been able to repair it.
My cheap knock off desoldering station ran for 5 years, till I knocked the gun off my workbench.
Took some looking around, found out that you could still get the heating element made under a different brand. It runs just fine.
Buddy had a hakko he bought at the same time. A year or two later it was discontinued. It broke, he had to upgrade to the current model because you couldn't buy parts.
So no, brand names do not always mean you can get parts to repair. Knockoffs are not instantly trash if they break.
Quoted from ForceFlow:Which Model? I've had the FR-300 for many years, and even though it was discontinued 3 years ago, parts are still readily available--I just checked. With the older 808, it looks like hakko itself doesn't list the parts on their website any more, but distributors still seem to carry them.
I didn't say that. I just said it was more likely that parts wouldn't be available. That's usually because it's not worth the time & effort to stock and sell parts for a cheaply made item. Plus, the knock-off brands don't really care about reputation too much. The main reason customers are attracted to the product is the low price. Then if they happen to start getting a poor reputation due to quality issues and sales start decreasing, they just rebrand and start again.
Alot of the knockoffs are older versions of mainstream brands. Often times they are sold under multiple names but from the same factory.
To each their own but i like my knock off station. Ive used the hakko gun. It works but is a pain.
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