Hakko FX601-02 Adjustable Temperature Controlled Soldering Iron, 67 Watts

A great product at a great price

I had high hopes for this soldering iron. For the first half of my project, I liked it. Although I never liked the temperature control which is a minuscule dial on the handle and almost impossible to turn. But after using it for a while, it felt like rather than maintaining an even temperature, it would cool and heat, cool and heat. At this point it was no different than the soldering iron Ive been using for 25 years. And they need a better design for the temperature dial.

Lightweight and easy to handle. I love the long cord.

Is this used? Why is there already solder on the tip? Is this normal?

My soldering as become very good due to temp control. Great quality.

This is the best pencil iron I have ever used and Ive used just about all of them.

I am an electrical engineer and I bought this iron for the occasional job of soldering larger thermal mass items. The first thing Ive noticed when I unpacked the item was that there is no English language user manual. Hakko apparently expects you to be happy with Japanese instructions that are printed on the hard-paper insert inside the blister pack. This product has a couple of features that require at least cursory explanation to any user who isnt familiar with this exact model (myself including), such as the three different modes of the built-in LED light and the calibration trimmer, to name just two. I had to search the web to find the description of these. Moreover, the US web site of Hakko doesnt contain any information regarding these two features, you have to search their Japanese web site. Next, I removed the disposable wire that holds the power cord bundled together, and I had another unpleasant surprise on my hand - the cord is way too stiff and heavy for an iron as light as this one, and it exerts quite a bit of twisting force on the users wrist to the point that it is unpleasant. This is a major disappointment to me, and for $ 90 MSRP, I expected Hakko to use thin, very flexible power cord with silicone rubber isolation. Every iron for ironing clothes I have seen, even the cheapest one, has a silicone rubber cord, so why not a $ 90 soldering iron? However, the biggest disappointment was yet to come. I then plugged the iron into the wall outlet and watched the blue LED light. The iron was set to its lowest setting, 240 degrees Celsius. The light is on and steady when the iron warms up. When it reaches the desired temperature, the light starts flashing. It surprised me that the light was on for only about 10 seconds before it started flashing. I had hard time believing the tip of the iron has reached 240 degrees in such a short time, so I touched the tip with my finger. It was too hot to the touch, but nowhere near the 240 degrees it should have been at. So, I pulled out an electronic thermometer (Fluke 52-II) and a K-type thermocouple, tube with thermal compound, and proceeded to measure the tip temperature at the moment when the light begins flashing. In the 10 seconds it took the iron to switch the blue LED from steady to flashing mode, the tip reached only 55 degrees Celsius, but the flashing light informs the user that the tip reached its pre-set temperature, in this case, 240 degrees Celsius. Hakko really screwed up big time with this feature, as there is day and night difference between 55 and 240 degrees. So, it turns out the blue LED light is nothing more than a decoration of the handle. I also wanted to see how accurate the temperature adjustment is once the tip reaches its terminal temperature, so I kept the setting at 240 degrees and waited for the temperature to stabilize. After about 3 minutes, the thermometer settled at 197 degrees. Another disappointment, the 240-degree setting will actually yield tip temperature of only 197 degrees. True, Hakko designed in the calibration trimmer, which may be able to take care of this discrepancy, but the irons specifications guarantee out-of-box accuracy of the temperature setting to be within +/- 10 degrees. In this case, the deviation was -43 degrees, which is definitely out of the manufacturers guaranteed value. Tomorrow, I will attempt to correct the setting by the use of the calibration trimmer. If I cant bring it to within the specification, the iron goes back to Hakko. If the calibration trimmer can bring the tip temperature into compliance with the setting scale, I will reluctantly keep the iron, but I am determined to replace the awful power cord. As for the dysfunctional indicator light - I guess Ill just have to live with it.

I love this product use it all the time with my stain glass projects Thanks Joyce

Five Stars in every way!!!

I return one already, but I wanted to give it another shot so I ordered a replacement. No luck.I thought I was the unlucky one, but I read all the reviews and 90% of the complaints are the same as mine. Out of nowhere it stops heating. The blue light is just a decoration, it is very inaccurate and a power cord stiffness is a pain in the ass. Im getting a simple 100 W gun with a separate temperature control.