Originally Posted by
Delawareguy
This may have been asked already in this thread and if so I apologize but why is a soldering station better than a soldering iron? Is the performance that much better to justify the price difference?
Thanks.
A simple soldering iron, is just an on/off affair with a coil wire heating element.
A soldering station (a good quality one) has a ceramic heating element that lets you select a specific temperature.
In a word... Yes they do justify the price. Someone posted one that is cheaper at around $50 if the others are a bit too much.
The full first post gives a good set of reasons as to why they are better, but if you have any specific questions let me know.
Creating a good solder joint with a cheap iron is difficult. Even with all my experience, I find it a pain to use one. In the hands of less experienced persons, it can cause issues, and you wouldn't even realize it. Bad solder work can cause failures in ways you would never think.