Hakko Omnivise PCB Holder (C1390C)

Pricey, but treat yourself! This has come in handy on a regular basis for me, and I have prevented countless accidents. Grips well and height is adjustable. You can also adjust the grip. Doesnt get very dirty, easy to clean if it does. Very sturdy! No threat of tipping over unless actual effort is put forth. Ive gotten it wet numerous times, and no rusting for me either. I wish every person could have one in their handy dandy arsenal! Definitely a worthwhile purchase.

These things are wonderful for working on electronics. It hurts to spend $250 for 4 of them though, considering they are made in china and not very expensive to manufacture. They do work remarkably well. Even at the price, I highly recommend these. Depending on size PCBs you are working on, you will probably need between two to 4 of them. They hold the board stable enough above my convection preheater to do QFN and BGA rework just as well as a board holder that costs $1k. Height is adjustable too which is nice. This is one of those items you never realized how much you needed it until you own one (just like a video magnifier for working on small electronics). My ONLY complaint about these are the price. The product is top notch.

Works well to hold small light parts securely while working on them. Well built but overpriced in my opinion for what it is.

Amazing tool

Liked it so much I ordered a second one.

The biggest benefit of the Hakko Omnivise PCB Holder is the quick and ease of using it. Other similar devices work well but may take a few minutes longer to set up. The other positive attribute is that it keeps the PCB board its holding very stable. The only negative I can think of is that it can only hold a PCB board in the flat position. You obviously cant tilt the board youre working on to any other direction. The Hakko Omnivise PCB Holder is a great addition to tools for people who solder on PCB boards frequently. The ease of use likely means this is a tool youre reach out to more often, as its human nature to more likely do things that require minimal effort.

Very versatile and capable holder. Might buy another for larger boards.

works perfect, very sturdy

I have used this vise at work for over 12 years. I decided to get one for home recently. Unfortunately, they cheapened the design such that it is no longer a vise, but pliers. For me the critical thing was that both clamping plates are parallel to each other no matter the the thickness of the material being clamped. The old design had a nut on the main bolt which held the top plate with the rubbery material in place. Even though it was loose, but not too much. The new design removed the nut and replaced it with just a small E-clip retaining washer. There is about 5 mm play in between the washer and the top plate. The top plate is so loose, that you get a wide swinging of the top plate. If you want to clamp material even as 10 mm think this really become pliers, one edge of the top round plate sitting on the edge of the bottom cylinder while the other edge of the top plate is clamping your material at an angle, like pliers. Since I liked the style, I decided to modify it to actually create a vise. Here are the steps: 1. I replaced the top washer in between the top plate and knob with one with much bigger diameter. I used SAE washers and enlarged the center holes to make them snug 8 mm in diameter. 2. Placed two washers at the bottom of the top plate. Second one is not visible in the picture since it fills the hole in the rubberized material. The other one is there to fill the space to reach the M8 x 1.25 thread since the thread ends early to accommodate the E-clip. The second washer must be made less than 15 mm in outer diameter to drop into the hole in the bottom cylinder. 3. That was not enough to reach the bottom nut, but instead of adding another washer I backed drilled the M8 nylon locking M8 nut for about 0.8 mm to make it all work. The M8 x 1.25 nylon locking nut replaced the E-clip and I was able to fine tune the play of the top plate. After lubricating the whole thing with PTFE there is no side wobble play in the upper plate while it still freely rotates and I have an actual vise. It took about 1.5 hours to modify two of them. Not worth the price without modification.

If you do not repair small PCBs for a living than you do not need this. If like me you need to hold at least one motherboard per day for soldering work than you should stop debating and just spend the $80. I dont know anyone who owns a Hakko Omnivise who regrets the purchase. More likely after several months you will be debating buying a second because your coworkers keep stealing it.