Black TS101 B2 Kit

The TS100 is an excellent little soldering iron and performs very well. This iron heats up lightning fast, works extremely well, and has a nice suite of features available through the onboard software and OLED display. User interface consists of two buttons, A and B, and the operation and menu system is relatively intuitive. The instructions provided were not 100% accurate, but the instruction version shows 1.1 and the out-of-the-box software version installed on the TS100 was version 2.18. The instructions provided a good foundation and I was able to easily figure out the rest with a little trial and error. Although I have not tried it out myself yet, I understand there is also third-party software available for the TS100 which provides some additional features. The provided Allen key for the 1.5mm hex head screws on the body of the TS100 was rather tight and did not work all that well, but I recommend picking up a MIP 1.5mm hex driver to solve this issue (for clarity, the included hex key does work, just not as well as a nice 1.5mm hex driver). UY CHAN did a nice job with this bundle. Reading some other reviews, it appears some people received a 19V 3A power supply, and others a 24V 3A power supply; I received the 24V 3A power supply. Perhaps UY CHAN has recently updated the included power supply to the 24V model. Some people were complaining that the power cord for the power supply is too short. It is, in fact, only about 2-2.5 feet (~0.7m) in length, but you can pick up a 6 or 10 foot (2-3m) laptop power cord for cheap if you need the extra length. That having been said, the overall length of the power supply and power cord is probably close to 6 feet (2m); I found this to be sufficient for my needs. The stand works well, although some may want to put some sort of rubber base or feet on it to keep it from sliding around on a hard surface. The sponge provided with the stand is about 1mm thick and I doubt would work all that well, but I believe most of us are using a dry tip cleaner these days; those who aren't probably already have a much better sponge tip cleaner. I haven't yet used the LiPo power cable with the XT60 connector or the grounding cable, but both are of decent quality and I have no doubts they would do the job. Overall I am very satisfied with this TS100 bundle from UY CHAN and would highly recommend it for your soldering needs.

I have a high end Weller soldering station on my workbench but I was looking for a quality portable soldering iron to carry with me in my RV. After reading many reviews Ian’s going through several cheap $10-$15 irons I thought I’d give the TS-101 a try and boy I’m glad I did! First off, this thing is small, about the size of a thick pencil. Plus the tip easily pulls out of the handle, effectively reducing the size (for storage) to about 3-1/2” long. Second, you can power it up with the included power cube off 110v OR by USB-C! (9-24v) I just use my charger from my Mack book- you need 90w for full output of the iron. Third, the iron heats up very fast. In about 9 seconds, goes into standby/cooldown when no movement is detected and reheats as soon as you pick it up again. Tips are replaceable Software/firmware is upgradable through the same USB-C port. (My iron came shipped with the latest available version) In closing, this is not an inexpensive soldering iron but it is not cheap in quality at all. I highly recommend it and would buy it again.

For what is ostensibly a piece of Chinesium novelty, this is a remarkably good soldering iron. Is it as good as a bench-top temperature controlled soldering iron that costs $75 ($10 more than this)? No. But having a pen-sized, temperature controlled soldering iron, that works with a wide range of DC input and is programmable is amazing. This is not the best soldering iron I've used, but it is the best that I've owned. First thing I did after getting it was replace the firmware with the open source one from github.com/Ralim/ts100 This makes all the difference in the word as far as I'm concerned. The process was easy and low risk, just copy the hex file over and the firmware is automatically updated. I haven't soldered much more than some prototyping boards--a couple hours work of soldering--but it works well. The display is bright and clearly gives you the temperature. If you've seen the take-a-part that AvE did on youtube, you can see that the board is a clean, nice design--no terrible sins are hidden by the case. It has a good feel in the hand and while the packaging warns pro-longed use can cause the case itself to exceed 50C, I find that if you're using it for an extended amount of time, you tend to put it down and the Ralim firmware has a sleep-mode that activates when no movement is detected for a while that drops the temperature to ~150C--this greatly decreases the thermal creep into the case / part you hold. I have excitedly recommended this to friends. If you're looking for an entry soldering iron or a portable backup, go with the ts100--just skip the crappy $10 and $15 soldering irons (the ones I've put up with for the last 20 years) and jump straight to the ts100.

I go to a tech school for half the day (high school senior) for mechatronics engineering. My teacher had one of these. He let me use it because I'm good with soldering and wouldn't break it. I loved it. And so, I bought one. I use it almost daily, defaulting to 420°C. The only gripe I really have is that the barrel plug connector is not the most common one, the most common one doesn't fit. So I found a barrel plug that fits, soldered wires to it, then soldered a female connector for the more common barrel plug to the wires. Now it is basically universal and I can attach it to most power supplies. I highly recommend the custom firmware upgrade from github. Unlike the standard soldering irons that you just plug into the wall, this one has intelligent temperature control. Whenever heat is sucked from the tip by a large piece or a lot of solder, it adjusts its power to return to the set temperature as quickly as possible. Most regular AC soldering irons will not stop heating up and can be damaged if you leave them on for too long. Not this one. Whenever it reaches your set temperature, it throttles power so it neither drops below or exceeds that temperature. What really speaks durability to me though is that the heating element is not in the iron itself but in the tip. With a regular iron if the heating element goes bad no amount of tips will fix it. But with this one, if the heating element goes bad just get a new tip. You get a new heating element and a shiny new tip in one purchase. The tips are well priced, high quality, and the iron itself is high quality and has modifiable performance via firmware. It's awesome. The only soldering iron you'll ever need for electronics.

I'm ambidextrous - I can solder from left or right, and I'll switch back and forth depending on how the pcb is orientated. This seems to have detection for that sort of thing, and will shut off mid soldering job... Saving the settings in the config file to its usb partition is sketchy at best - it works about 10-20% of the time (I kinda gave up trying to set the idle temp to 100 deg). Also the stand it comes with is almost useless (bumping the cable will knock it off its stand easily). Otherwise its a good iron - probably the best budget model if you are not willing to shell out for a hakko. I'd probably get the one that comes with a chisel tip if I re-purchased this.

I recently got into FPV drones and was looking for a high quality soldering iron to replace the super cheap one I had that just wasn't cutting it. This one is frequently recommended among that community, largely for it's ability to be run off a Lipo battery for easy field repairs.I've only used it a handful of times thus far but I believe it's going to suit my needs perfectly. The product arrived in simple but quality packaging. The build quality is excellent, including the power supply I received with it. Oh, and it reaches temperature fast. Like... FAST. I haven't timed it but it's less than 15 seconds to hit 350. So yeah, I like it. It's simple, quite small, especially if you remove the tip so it should be easy to pack around anywhere, can run off a battery, and because it's open source there's even some non official firmware out there that widens it's features. The only complaint I've seen others make is that because of it's size it can be kind of hard to hold. I can see that being an issue for some, I think it could benefit from a rubberized grip near the tip, but it hasn't given me any problems personally. Overall, I'm happy with this, and feel it's worth the price.

I have a full Weller station on my bench but wanted something I could take with me and this thing genuinely impressed me. It heats up in like 10 seconds, goes into sleep mode when you set it down, and wakes right back up when you pick it up again. Being able to power it off a USB C charger is incredibly convenient when you are away from the shop. The OLED display and programmable settings make it feel way more capable than the size suggests.

I wanted a replacement iron to repair games with on location, the one I have while nice itself had it's drawback's since it was a butane iron. I grew tired of getting burned and burning stuff accidently with the little exhaust hole it has. Decided to try to find something else, really happy I checked around and found this one. It's like having my table based iron with me anywhere I go. It's been a while since I've had a portable/pluggable soldering plug in iron, but these things are tens times better then they ever were. No more having wait 2-3 minutes while it heats up. Literally like 10 or 15 seconds and your good to go. Exactly like my Hakko and pace station iron. The tips are easily replaceable. The tip is extremely fine that it comes with, I believe there is an assortment of tips you can get as well from here. The display is easy to read and easy to change the temperature settings. I was really surprised on how well it handles to. Even saw that they have a battery adapter for this unit so it can be even more portable then finding a plug or extension cord. Was going to get it, but I haven't run into enough situations where that would be beneficial to me. It might be a bit more expensive then some of the other portable irons, but as someone who has used a range of cheap and expensive that you won't be sorry you made the purchase. Not a big deal, but does anyone else know if you can change the display to Fahrenheit? The only other con is the cord, but until they figure out wireless power or come up with a super battery that last forever, your stuck with a cord that can get in your way or a hot exhaust hole that burns stuff.