Weller WES51 Analog Soldering Station
by Cooper Hand Tools
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List Price: Our Price: $85.11 You Save: $39.89 (32%) Availability: Usually ships in 4-5 business days Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Weller WES51 Analog Soldering Station
Customer Review: Great home or light work bench use iron
Summary: 5 Stars
If you do any DIY stuff at home, you will eventually need a soldering iron. Do not go out and buy the $20 big cork handle iron from your local store. Go ahead and buy a regulated iron. One that heats up quickly and is temperature adjustable. This one comes with all that you need (exept solder). The tip is changeable (but only 1 tip provided). It has a base stand, and it all boxes back up easily for putting back in your work cabinet. It would also be a good light use iron for a tech workbench.
Positives: Light weight unit. Heats up to temperature quickly. Maintains temp well while working. Good dial in to temperature. It does have a temp lockout if you need it, but don't loose the "key". Comfortable grip.
Neutral: Would love to see three tip sizes provided in unit. But, 1 pencil tip is good to get started.
Negatives: None
Customer Review: Professional tool
Summary: 5 Stars
Everything about this soldering station says "quality" so you can't go wrong here whether it's for hobby or pro use. Very fast tip temperature recovery, wide selection of great quality tips, and it's nice having a cord that won't melt through if it happens to drape over the iron for an instant (silicon sheath). The cord is also very flexible so it doesn't kink or bind during use.
Came with a 1/16" conical tip which is too big for anything SMD, so I ordered some 1/32" tips to go with it.
The station has a lock-out feature to fix the temperature such that the adjustment knob will not change it. This requires a magnetic lockout pencil to fix the temperature, but it isn't included in the box. You can use any rare-earth magnet instead however, so it's no big deal.
Customer Review: Best of the Best!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Weller soldering station is simply wonderful. The adjustability of the temperature enables me to safely solder a wide range of wire and component sizes. The iron reaches the proper temperature in short order and holds it quite nicely.
For perspective, I am not an electronics professional, just an intermittent electronics hobbyist. Over the years, however, I gained considerable experience soldering - having built ham radio gear, repairing televisions and radios, and most recently building a tube-based guitar amplifier. I should have plunked down the money for one these soldering stations years ago because it eliminates the need for multiple irons and it made me better at soldering due to the good ergonomics of this iron.
Customer Review: WES-51 Soldering station is a toy.
Summary: 1 Stars
This unit was replacing my 20 year old Weller TC 201 which operated flawlessly for hundreds of hours of use. After a couple hours of use the WES-51 stop heating. I sent it to Weller for warranty repair and they returned it with a new soldering pencil. A month or so later the whole unit just died including the digital display a totally differen't problem. In addition to the breakdown it also has some design flaws being ,the metal barrel which is push fitted into the plastic pencil holder keeps coming loose when any lateral pressure is applied (ie) desoldering.
Its really is a terrible iron , Find a used TC 201 on E-Bay and stay away from this one.
Customer Review: Great Iron
Summary: 4 Stars
This iron was an upgrade for me from a cheap (~$15) budget soldering iron. The difference is incredible, the warm up time is very quick and it holds a steady temperature. I found the controls easy to use and the on-off switch is a huge plus over having to remember to unplug the cord on the budget iron. So far I've used it mainly for placing components in pcb's and its worked well. Another attraction for me is the wide range of tips available from Weller and their great reputation. I see this iron as an investment and a product I'll be using for a long time, highly recommend.