PINECIL – Smart Mini Portable Soldering Iron, Small

I've never owned a soldering iron before this, but the ease of use, build quality, and form-factor are stellar to me. It works flawlessly for my purposes, and the temperature readout seems accurate. There's not really much else to say, it's just a good soldering iron.

This thing heats up almost instantly. If you don't want to wait around, this will make sure you don't have to. The tip is a pretty reasonable size, although you'll probably want a more fine-tipped one too for more precise work.It's not super heavy, but that's fine, it doesn't have to be. I'd prefer a light plastic shell to a heavy metal one if you get the same performance either way.The rubber grip is pretty good as well, nothing special but it does what it's made to do: keep your grip steady.Other than that, yeah, it's a soldering iron, works just like you'd expect from any soldering iron out there.

I've seen the Pinecil around for a while and decided to upgrade to upgrade from my Weller WLC100. Holy smokes is this thing amazing! I always thought that my Weller was a great iron because of all the rave reviews and I was just inept at soldering. The very first time I used the Pinecil I was blown away and how nice and easy soldering went. I can never go back.PROS:* Heats up in seconds* Very comfortable to use* The small size makes soldering in small spaces a breeze* You can power it with a all kinds of different power supplies* Works with TS-100 tipsCONS:* The included tip isn't the best for general soldering. I ended up getting a TS-D24 tip and now it's about perfect.* The tension screw that keeps in the tip requires a tiny screwdriver that's not included and is annoying to deal with. I just replaced it with a M2x4mm thumb screw and it works great.It's completely bare bones and requires you to have your own power supply, but I absolutely love it. I've told all my friends that they need to get one.

People have probably raved about this iron enough, but I'll add my opinion. I'm just a hobbyist, but I've been soldering for many years now. I have a Weller station that's been very faithful to me, but I've really been enjoying working with the Pinecil.It heats up as quickly or even more quickly than the Weller. It actually seems to be able to deliver more heat to solder joints, leading to less time spent per joint. I really like how light and maneuverable it is; it's easier to navigate crowded circuit boards. I just bought a third-party bevel tip for it - (tip replacement is fairly straightforward, but don't lose those tiny, tiny screws!) and it's made soldering so much faster and easier.I do wish it came with a stand. The one that Pinecil sells separately looks a little flimsy, but it doesn't really fit in a standard stand.The interface is a little tricky, with only two buttons to do all the functions. You definitely need to read the manual (and maybe print out a cheatsheet), but once you've got your settings dialed in, you just need to press 2 buttons (press '+' to turn on heat, hold '-' to stop). It really would have been nice to have, say, a rotary encoder, or even just a third button for 'select', but I suppose there are tradeoffs for its price and size.You do need to provide your own USB power supply. I've just been using the power brick from a laptop, (though it didn't work with my Macbook Air power supply; I don't think it has enough wattage. It works with a regular Macbook power supply)Anyway, it's a good iron, a really cheap way to get into soldering, and so far seems to outperform my ~$250 Weller.

I got this to replace a cheap 6W USB Soldering iron I had bought years ago. This will not work if you don't have a decent power source connected to it (think old cell phone charger/power bank) as it will quickly try to pull more power than the old USB chargers can provide. I connected it to a QC3 charger and it works perfectly, same with a QC2 charger, this iron heats up super quick, I haven't set to heat up to 666° F and it reaches that in about 45 seconds, it can go higher however I do not need it to go higher for what I do as that could burn a PCB especially if your not great at soldering. When I'm done soldering I'll unplug the iron then plug it back in so I can monitor the temperature as it cools down, and it cools down from my temps in about 2 minutes. I would recommend this iron if you want something that is portable and can be used with a decent battery bank that can provide QC2 voltages. It is not going to make.you the world's best soldering tech overnight, but this is a great iron to help you get there, or help you get those soldering tasks done as I have not had any issues, the only thing I have that will heat a wire up faster is my soldering gun but that will burn a PCB if I try to use it.