Self-Igniting Soldering Iron & Heat Gun Kit - Professional DIY Tool for Electronics Repair, Jewelry Making, and Crafting

Very nice product:Easy to refill, just push the nozzle of a butane canister against the filling port. Fills in about 30 seconds. Can be emptied by using a pin to push against the filling port, so you can carry it on board planes(that's what a ground crew told me, never tried that though)It is also easy to light up, by just turning on the gas switch and clicking the piezo once. For the tips with in-built catalyst (all tips except the open flame tip), it is even possible to relight it without clicking the piezo, after the gas is switched for a short while and turned back on.It comes with a hot air blower+deflector tip inside the box. Not sure why I had an extra hot air blower tip though, but it's good to have a spare.The deflector, once attached to the hot air blower, is quite hard to remove and requires a lot of force to pull off. So when using it I never slide it down to the bottom of the hot air blower nozzle.The blower is good for heat shrink tubes. I have also used it to remove a BGA chip on the lowest temperature setting. But the airflow isn't that constant, as it sometimes audibly spews out a gust of hot air. I guess it might be because of the clogs from using cheap butane gas. Also, I can still start the fire properly on the lowest setting, unlike experiences of some other customers.The soldering tips come pre-tinned, but for me it wears out pretty fast. The 1mm double flat tip that came with the kit wore out pretty fast even with infrequent usage. It wore out after about a year of usage. Not sure if it is a problem with the rosin in the solder I'm using or problem with the tip. It just became impossible to tin and various parts of the tip became black. When that happens I just used a fine grit sandpaper to sand a bit of it down and it becomes usable for a while. But after a few cycles the tip developed a well/a dip at the center and becomes very thick.Thereafter I bought a 1mm single flat tip from amazon, this time using a goot brand tip tinner (well it might be acidic). However after half a year of infrequent usage the tip become like the abovementioned one, developed a dip in the tip of the tip. The thicker tips are pretty useless for me, to be honest. They also became very hard to tin after a short period of usage.Can someone tell me why is it happening? One guess is that the high heat is decomposing the rosin and causing it to stick on the tip?The blowtorch/open flame tip is also a nice addition. I often use it to light barbecue fires.I haven't found much of a use for the hot knife tip. Only used it once to cut out a circle from an all-in-one's scanner cover(for a science project). I have to set it on the highest temperature settings in order to cut through the plastic.The cap is good to prevent the iron from melting objects around it after use. It is cool enough (though still quite hot) to hold by hand even if you directly cap it after use. The iron comes with a built-in kickstand, but sometimes it is an annoyance as there seems to be no clip that hold it in place. When the iron is held with the wire kickstand down, it will just dangle. Also seems like the kickstand is anchored near the center of gravity of the iron, so it acts like a seesaw sometimes: both the tip side and the nozzle side can be made to touch the tabletop easily, which defeats the purpose of preventing it from burning the table. So I just use the cap instead.The sponge is very small so it isn't very useful. I just bought a brass/copper wool tip cleaner from ifixit. It is something similar to the hakko clamshell one. That cleans up the tip much better than the sponge. I remember seeing someone who said that only a piece of yellow paper came in the tray, but if you add water to the "yellow paper" it will magically turn into a sponge :P.Overall a good product to have, but may be a bit overpriced if you don't use it so often. (but the build quality justifies the price :P) Already owned it for over 4 years.Just realized the order for this was placed on this account in 2012 XD. I'll get the verified purchase tag on this one.I am a 35 year master automotive tech. Most of what I do in the shop is electrical repairs. I use a soldering iron a lot. I previously used the Snap-on version of this iron. It lasted me over 2 years with hard use. When it started acting up, I replaced some of the critical parts in it (from the tool truck) spending almost $100 to repair a $250 iron. It still didn't work like it was supposed to. At this point I'm $350 into the Snap-on version of this tool.So fast forward... I noticed that this tool looks exactly like the Snap-on tool that I currently own. So for less than $100 I decided to give it a shot. It's the exact same tool. All the markings are the same, and the "made in" on the bottom is even the same. It works perfectly every single time. I'm a few months into using this one, and it's a high quality soldering iron that gets hot fast, and has far exceeded my expectations.If you need an outstanding iron that provides good hot solder joints, don't hesitate to try this one out...LONG TERM UPDATE: I have used this soldering iron A LOT! It works perfectly every time. With the amount of use that I've gotten out of this tool (In a shop environment) if it quit tomorrow, I'd buy another one just like it. I've run probably 10 tanks of butane through it. Soldered dozens of wire connections with it. A word of advice, don't cheap out with bargain butane fuel. I exclusively use "Ultratane" that is triple filtered. Keep the tip tinned, and don't leave it burning for hours on end, and this soldering iron will serve you well...—- UPDATE 12/07/17—-Replacement received and worked perfectly, one or two clicks and flame is on. Tested with all the connectors and all were good, happy costumer! Changing 3S to 5stars!— Original Comment —-I ordered this for my backup light project for my car. I actually have an electric Harbor Freight soldering iron but it failed me when i did the wire extension for our surround sound system.So for my new car project, I decided to get the high end, top quality, good results. I did some research, read a lot of reviews and watched several youtube videos. I found out that this product is also the same with SNAP ON brand but of course way more cheaper! Check Youtube vid by: Flat Rate Master.Inspection:The case is strong/good quality, the holder of each tip is pretty tight, even when you drop the box/case, tips will not come lose (of course didn’t try it). The iron has no gas in it so you better bundle it with a butane cigarette lighter fuel when you buy it. It recommends these brands of butane (Braun, Colibri, Ronson and Rowenta).Usage:Re-fill took me 8-12sec and it is a big + that it has a Gas Inspection Window to check if it still has gas in it. Easily gets hot when at full power so you can use the tool immediately (it has a regulator for you to adjust the temperature). Before I actually used it, I primed the tip with solder first to prolong the life of the tip and to get good output (advice from some electricians). I did my project with ease, using the soldering iron for wire connection and the hot air tip for shrinking.Now the reason why I only gave it 3 stars because it always took me many clicks before I can put the flame on, even if I put the temp to full and testing indoor. I don’t know if I have a faulty ignition or really that’s the way it works but I will try to ask the seller about this.I hope this helps and good luck!I'm a hobby solderer that likes to tinker with electronics. I've got a honking plug-in solder station that is just a pain in the rear to make portable. I kept seeing videos of the portable ones and decided to do some research. It turns out that there are tons of great reviews for this style of soldering iron.After watching tons of videos on it, I decided on the Portasol brand. It seems that Snap-On makes this and it's just re branded to Portasol. Either way, it looks identical to the Snap On tool.I was pretty excited to get this tool because I'd never used a butane torch like this before. I was pleased to see all the items that it came with. The only thing I find missing is a finer solder tip. That would make this kit complete in my opinion. The soldering tip they give you is decent, however, a nice fine one would round this kit out.I filled it with butane according to instructions. That part was probably the trickiest of all but mainly because I've only ever filled a lighter before. I did make a bit of a mess so I'm not sure if it's user error or if it's tough to fill. I'll know next time. I did read that once in a while you need to drain it completely as it builds up with a non-flammable by product of gas. If you don't, then each time you fill it you get less and less good fuel to burn.Once it was filled, it was time to test it out. Lighting it is pretty straight forward but a few times it was hard to tell it was even on. Only a few of the tips have a clear indicator that there is a glowing flame. (see pics) Others, you simply can't tell. Don't expect the tips to stay nice and shiny. As you can see from the pics, they tarnish up pretty quickly. My image was from only about 30 seconds of use. I'm guessing these will burn off pretty fast. As long as they remain functional, it won't matter.Using it is pretty straight forward. Tip changes are easy too. The biggest thing is letting it cool down between tip changes. You certainly can change out a hot tip, you just need to be way more careful. This thing gets very hot! From the second you light it, it's heated in probably 30 seconds. That's one of my favorite features. The fact that it's incredibly portable and there are no wires to worry about is the next best feature.I haven't gotten chance to use it all that much yet, however, they do say that you should expect about 45 minutes to an hour of usage from one tank of fuel. For me, this is plenty as my solder jobs are rarely longer than that. Either way, butane is pretty cheap and one can should give you many many refills.Overall, I really like this tool. My only real complaint has to be in the case itself. For the price of this unit, I would have expected at least a true hinged case. Instead you get this flimsy plastic hinge that is sure to break after a little bit of use. I'm also hoping I can find some replacement tips as it's lacking a fine solder tip for more detailed jobs.Pros:Good tool build qualityHeats up super fastVery portableNo wiresBuilt in support standLost of extra tips for many applicationsCons:Case hinge is junkTips burn up fastHard to tell if it's ignited with some tipsBeruflich setze ich den den SuperPro 125 seit über 20 Jahren ein. Über 10 Jahre fast täglich, in der letzten Zeit benötige ich Ihn etwas seltener. Er funktioniert wie am ersten Tag, der Tank ist immer noch dicht. Nur die Lötspitzen habe ich schon erneuert, normaler Verschleiß.Für den privaten Einsatz habe ich mir jetzt das aktuelle Modell gegönnt. Er ist dem alten Modell gegenüber ein wenig verändert worden, die Wertigkeit ist jedoch nach wie vor gegeben.Geliefert wurde vom Händler SKS24 nicht die abgebildete amerikanische Version, sondern die europäische. In diesem Set sind weniger Lötspitzen enthalten, der Tank des Lötkolbens ist jedoch aus Metall. Für 73€ ein guter Kauf. Die für mich wichtige 1mm Lötspitze habe ich mir noch nachbestellt.Auf dem Foto ist oben das alte Schätzchen zu sehen.Ich hatte zuvor einen Gaslötkolben von Dremel mit dem ich sehr zufrieden war.Leider hat der Katalysator schon nach kurzer Zeit seinen Dienst quittiert.Also griff ich etwas tiefer in die Tasche. Doch leider wurde ich direkt beim Auspacken aufs neue enttäuscht.1. Das gelieferte Zubehör entspricht nicht dem Artikelbild #2. Das hatte ich Amazon bereits vor ein paar Tagen gemeldet, entfernt wurde es jedoch noch nicht.2. Der Brenner hat kaum Leistung. Ich verwende ihn nur mit der Heißluftdüse und was dort vorne selbst bei voll aufgedrehtem Gashahn rauskommt ist erschreckend wenig.Aus Verzweiflung hatte ich mir den günstigeren Brenner von Ferm bestellt. Ferm produziert unter anderem auch für Dremel. Der Katalysator soll allerdings besser sein. Was ich nach dem Auspacken sagen kann ist, dass der Heißluftaufsatz richtig Dampf hat. Der Katalysator scheint innen etwas anderes als beim Dremel aufgebaut zu sein. Mal schauen wie lange dieser hält.Dies ist mein zweiter Portasol, der erste ist immer noch in Gebrauch, ich benötige aber einen weiteren für "unterwegs".Über die Qualität muss man nicht sagen, mein erster Portasol ist bereits über 10Jahre alt und funktioniert noch bestens.Einzig die Ersatzlötspitzen sind recht teuer, dazu kommt, dass im der Artikelbeschreibung ein Bild einer amerikanischen Version mit deutlich mehr Zubehör zu sehen ist, welches aber in DE so nicht stimmt - man bekommt ein abgespecktes Set.In Anbetracht der teuren Lötspitzen schon recht unschön.Der Lötkolben selbst ist aber auf alle Fälle sein Geld wert !Nachtrag 2022:der neue Portasol, welchen ich als Zweitgerät nutze, zündet mittlerweile sehr sehr schlecht, man muss teilweise bis zu 20mal !! klicken, bevor er zündet.was etwas besser klappt, wenn man den Knopf nach dem zünden noch kurz hält und dann "schnippsen" lässt.Alles in allem funktioniert der neue Typ aber deutlich schlechter als der alte.Ich bin mehr als enttäuscht von der aktuellen Qualität:-(120W Version: Mein erster Gas Lötkolben. Bin eigentlich Lötstationen gewohnt als Elektroniker. Überraschend handlich und gut verwendbar, um ohne Steckdose und Kabel am Auto zu löten. Zwar gibt es auch 12V Lötkolben aber spätestens beim Schlauch Schrumpfen wird es dann kabelgebunden doch eng. Das hier ist die Universallösung.Glaube nicht für Elektronik Arbeiten verwenden zu wollen, da die Temperatur nicht sauber und genau eingestellt werden kann, was kein Mangel ist sondern konzeptbedingt natürlich nicht möglich ist. Aber gut um Stecker und Kabel zu verlöten. Das grosse Plus ist die Heissluft Düse mit der spielend einfach und punktgenau Schrumpfschläuche schrumpfen lassen. Löten und Schrumpfen ohne Steckdose ohne Stromwandler ohne Batterie, einfach super mobil. Ich hätte früher schon daraufkommen sollen!Bis Vollgas ist die Flamme zur Zeit nicht konstant, das Geräusch ist laut und leise, das Ding atmet... soll später beaser qerden heisst es. Ist mir aber egal, stört nicht und ich brauche auch bei dicken Kabeln kein Vollgas. Gute Entscheidung eine teuerere Marke zu kaufen, Ersatz- und Zubehörteile überall erhältlich. Mein Rat wenn Gaslötkolben wegen Mobilität dann unbedingt auch mit Heissluft Düse zum Schrumpfen. Am Besten im Set.