YIHUA 948-I Soldering Desoldering Station 2-in-1 with Soldering Iron and Desoldering Gun (Vacuum Pump Built-in) with Sleep Mode, Digital Calibration(UK Plug)

As an electronics tech I use some very expensive equipment at work, Tektronix, Schneider, Weller etc., but needed something practical, durable, easy to use & maintain and of course within a set budget for the hobby side of things.The Yihua filled the gap nicely and I am well impressed with it's performance. I believe reviews need to be balanced so doing a like for like up against pro equipment serves no useful purpose.For the money spent, the Yihua 948 is a great station. I find it very ergonomic,It sits very comfortable in my hand without the dreaded hotspots experienced with some irons. The controls were a little finiky initially but once mastered it was a breeze thereafter. The instructions were about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike, bad translation but manageable.The desoldering pump needs a good three minute heat up time but once up to temperature it works flawlessly. It does need to be cleaned out more often than the Weller's etc but it does function very nicely. If you try to operate before it's heat up cycle the unit displays an alarm which I mistook for a fault. The desoldering pump comes with the opening sealed by solder and this needs to be cleared by heating up properly before first use.It is very controllable temperature wise and for electronic enthusiasts, hobbyist I am confident to recommend this unit.I have not evaluated the Static generation side of things but for me personally I always take all the necessary precautions when working with ESD sensitive components regardless of what equipment I am using. I personally like to use a tip thermometer on all my irons and not rely completely on the displayed temperature. In saying that, as of now I find the Yihua very accurate. This is of course a personal preference and not necessarily a requirement. As the old saying goes " Doctors differ, patients suffer". Anyone who is familiar with soldering will know how easy it is to lift or damage a pad with a tip that's too hot.Price to quality ratio I believe this Yihua would be hard to match. In the right hands it will serve all your requirements at ease. I enjoy using it and it is definitely one of the better budget stations I purchased through the years.

I struggled with one of the spring loaded desoldering pens for ages. It would work some of the time but I'd always end up messing up the project and having to scrap the PCB. This has made things so much easier and much more reliable. I've desoldered a few keyboards and it's fantastic.I did accidentally get it blocked at the start and it was a little bit of hassle to fix. I just had to keep on heating and pushing the needle through the opening. It was all user error though. Just hold down the suction button until you know it's clear and I've not had the issue again.

4 stars for the product - I am happy with this unit as a substantial step up from the hobby-grade iron I was using before. The de-soldering head is helpful though not perfect, and I find myself using the iron and an Engineer solder sucker instead for a lot of jobs.5 stars for customer service and support though. I had an issue with the soldering iron itself and they responded quickly to me and dispatched a new iron without hassle.

A great unit, does exactly as is says on the tin

well having used this for a good few months its disappointing to be honest . its a pain to set up each time you use it. i place it back in the box . but the thing that gets me is you have to keep checking the fan on the hot air part . and the soldering iron tips are like cheese . i bought the same make new ones . they where the same sadly. wearing away after only very light use .the tip on the desoldering gun gets oxidation all over it even when tinned and put away . it seems the metals used isnt a good enough qaulity .it results in constant worries about it working . and the soldering tips work loose all the time .i have had to tighten it after each solder joint is made . imagine soldering a 40 pin ic and doing this after each pin? . and where the wire goes into the soldering iron is loose . looks like the hole is too big for the wire .the fan in the hot air gun is noisey the wire is thin and it just feels flimsy . ok for the price maybe ok for the odd project .i since bought another well known hot air gun . so this ones relagated to the shed. shame realy .

The device is dangerous, set temp at 380c got 450c, and with no suction (does not work), the device distroyed a ps4 controler i was trying to fix. Pointless tool, pay more for something that works!

Wish I had purchased sooner 👍🏻

Excellent quality item,I’ve been doing repairs for years none of my desoldering tools good as this one very clean jobs even in two layers PCb no issues so far highly recommended to every technicians… note this type of jobs is very delicate you have to watch out the temperature always otherwise you could burn/ damage the PCb especially in double sided one so this is not for beginner task…..