Hakko FX888D-23BY Digital Soldering Station FX-888D FX-888 (blue & yellow)

I purchase my Hakko 888D August 3, 2013. It is simply the best soldering tool I have ever used. Heats quickly, and maintains its temperature very well it makes assembling stuff like PL-259s a snap. The adjustable temperatures are are real nice you can dial it in from, 120 to 899 degrees F. So what ever soldering situation, and alloy of solder you have it covered. There is a large variety of tips and others have told me they last for years of much heavier use then I will ever give mine. A very important thing in how the manufacturer supports their products. My 888D took a plucked goose dive off of the bench, it shattered the plug, and cracked the front panel skin. I thought I was going to have to purchase a new one but a check at the Hakko USA website revealed they have all of the necessary parts to repair it. I called their customer support line and the phone was quickly answered and Mary took my ordered for the replacement parts. The front panel skin was temporally out of stock. I was told they would be restocked around the 2nd week of March. I received the parts I ordered that where in stock in just a couple of days. I waited until the start of he 2nd week and used Hakko-USAs live chat line and asked and was told the parts where indeed in stock and was told to call. I did so and the phone was quickly answered and I was able to order the front panel skin which arrived well packaged in just a couple of days. When I took the control unit apart the quality of its design and construction was notable. A high quality control board, with quality parts, large and heavy transformer not at all a cheapy. A real nice touch is the length of the point to point wiring to the plug is much longer then is necessary which makes installing its replacement very easy. The repair was straight forward and the Hakko is once again in service. The worst part of the repair was being forced to use a crummy old Weller pencil.

I Like the digital temperature display and it does warm up fast. I changed out the tip that came with it for a larger one for the type of projects I am doing. The small tip does work well for finer detailed projects.

I thought that I was bad at soldering. Turns out I just needed to spend more than $15 on a soldering iron. My only complaint with this unit is that it is a bit harder to change temp than in units with both plus and minus buttons. Not a huge issue as I tend to use one of 2 solders so mostly it is set it and forget it, but it might be nice to have a little more fine control based on what type of job Im doing as well as solder type. I also would have liked to go for one of the newer types that have the heater in the replaceable cartridge tips, but I couldnt justify the cost as a hobbyist.

In the middle of a project my old (very old) Radio Shack soldering station ceased functioning. For several hours I looked at replacements, Read all the reviews good and bad. Watched some Youtube videos and finally decided on the the Hakko FX-888D. I never pay for overnight or 2nd day delivery but I really needed a soldering station to continue my project and was glad I did to get back to work. The Hakko heats up fast, very fast. Especially compared to the old Radio Shack. I bought some extra different shaped tips. This is my first experience with a tip that isnt a larger/medium cone shaped tip. So far so good. I have had the unit for a week now and have used it every day and I have been very happy with the purchase. Why only 4 Stars - The enclosed documentation is missing 5 pages. The document enclosed talks about the presets but doesnt show you how to. The documentation does have a reference to a web site where you can get the full set of instructions. The 5 missing pages include 3 pages for doing the presets. The other 2 pages are details on the parts and the internal construction of the unit. Its a little point but the cost of a couple mores pages of paper cant be a profit breaker. So for now only 4 stars - but very happy with my purchase so far.

To change the temp using the presets is ridiculous and you have to get the directions out every time. Temp goes up with ease but no way to turn it down. As far as I can tell there is no auto shut off since mine never shuts down. I guess the highest you can go in presets is 801 f since I tried to set it higher and it just sets it back to 801. I would return this but since I have a lot of Hakko tips I was using on my Radio Shack solder station, which I like much better and much easier to use, I am going to keep this dud. (UPDATE I returned this since it is not all that it is advertised to be. I bought the same radio shack 70 watt soldering station I had with 8 foot cords, easy to adjust temp, and takes the Hakko tips). The cords, AC and solder iron, are both too short as well. I do not like this unit and would have went with the other similar unit that does not look like a toy if I did not have all these Hakko tips. Not worth the money.

I bought one of these to use at home -- at my workplace we have JBC soldering irons and I can say without a doubt that this Hakko doesnt compare. The interface is annoying, but you really only need to input your desired settings once and then you can forget about it. It takes a little while to heat up but nothing too unreasonable. My main complaint is that it feels very cheap. The iron itself feels light and hollow and the iron only came with one tip, which is a little to large for most of the small soldering work I do. Ive noticed that it also has a hard time heating up joints that are grounded -- or really anything with a lot of heat capacity. Overall it works fine but its nothing super impressive. Id recommend that you order a few extra tips because it only comes with one.

Update to original review: Ive pulled my old Weller back out of storage. The specific issue is that this Hakko isnt nearly as good for soldering quad copter power leads. The leads tend to be 12 or 14 gauge (I match the leads on the battery I intend to use). It is the ground wires that are most difficult because the circuit boards tend to have heavy ground planes. Sure, I can do the job with the Hakko, but it got annoying after the Nth time. That old Weller makes it fast and easy. Sadly, I hear that the new Wellers dont match up to the old ones. Other than those power leads, almost everything else I do is a lighter job for which the Hakko works fine. ------- Its amazing how the price of these things has changed over the years. This Hakko is replacing my 30 year old Weller. That old Weller doesnt have temperature adjustment and its one temperature was dropping. It was time for a replacement. This Hakko station does everything I want and that brass wool thing is great for tip cleaning. Still getting used to the adjustable temp though. Basically though. its a soldering iron. No surprises there. Flip the switch, it gets hot, melts solder, etc. No drama. The soldering iron is more like a pencil. No problem because it gets hot fast and gets the job done. If I were doing a lot of soldering - as in it were my job, Id have probably gotten another Weller but with adjustable temp. They are more industrial and my old one lasted me 30 years. Thats a strong recommendation. For now, though, I may solder for a few hours on the occasional weekend when Im assembling a quadcopter or arduino gadget. No need for the expensive industrial tooling.

Great iron. Durable and dependable.

one of the best

It looks like a toy but is built like a tank. It heats up really fast and maintains the exact temperature while you work. Sure, I wish it had more than two buttons so if you dial in too high a temp you can go one down instead of cycling back around, but I wouldn’t give up any of the FX-888D’s excellent qualities for that one button. There is a Weller that is pretty similar for around $100-110, but this Hakko has a larger heating element and so it will maintain its temperature better (in theory), but that Weller would be the only other unit I would consider.