I've had a Hakko 936 soldering station for years and it's been perfect in every way. Everyone kept telling me to get the 808, but my cheap blue manual desoldering pump worked fine (I thought) and I didn't want to spend the extra money.

I finally pulled the trigger and purchased one from bdtom on Pinside. I realize I'm preaching to the choir if you already own one, but if you don't do yourself a favor and get one now.

Here's an example of why it's amazing. Tonight I had a bad 20 pin chip at U40 on a system 11 game. I had a socket, but it's an uncommon chip (at least I didn't have one) so I knew it'd be a few days before I could get one. Then I remembered I had a parts board that I could get the chip from. Before I had the Hakko 808, there was basically no way I could desolder a chip like this without breaking off half the legs (using the cheap blue desoldering pump).

Long story short, a few minutes later I had the chip desoldered with no damage whatsoever - pop it in the new socket on the other board and problem solved!

I'd also like to add it's extremely easy to use and clean, and the kit comes with extra common parts so you're set for a while. I'm sure there are plenty of other desoldering guns and stations that perform equally well, but I only have experience with the Hakko 808 so far.

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You're going to love it - wise purchase!

So true! Even after you told me about yours I was hesitant. I won't even say how many years because it's too embarassing. I basically wasted a good portion of my life!