What To Look For When Buying A Cordless Soldering Iron

By Author: Iso-Tip
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The first place to start when considering the purchase of a cordless soldering iron, like any good tool, is to consider how it will be used. In some cases it's hard to know the full range of uses but if you have a little experience with soldering you should be able to come up with a few typical uses. Will it be used to repair electronics at a bench top? Will it be used to work on automobiles, motorcycles, RV's or even airplanes? Do you work on projects at different locations though out you shop or home?

If you've ever done much work at locations away from your workbench the corded units can become quite a hassle. First, find an outlet and extension cord. Then make sure the cord doesn't get moved while you are using it. In many of these situations you'll spend more time getting setup then soldering. If you are at a bench all day doing soldering work you're going to want a higher end corded unit with variable temperature control. However, in some high workload areas people will have two cordless units so one can charge while the other is in use.

After thinking about the usage you'll want to decide how ...
... long you'll be soldering and how consistent the soldering effort will be. If you are a casual solderer a lower cost battery unit might be fine. If you do a more then a few solder joints at a time a bigger battery unit or a fast recharge device may be more appropriate.

The next biggest issue to consider is the solder tips.. Having the right tip for the job is a small variation of the old saw about having the right tool for the job. If you have a big tip and are trying to do small surface mount component work it simply won't work well. Also, the tips will wear out over time and you'll need to be able to get replacements.

Another aspect of that is having a variety of tips that can expand the function of the solder iron. Some extended tips can get into small places that normal tips wouldn't work. Blunt tips or knife tips allow completely different uses for the tools. So, look at the available tip selection and the stocking availability because you may not know how you will want to use the iron in the future.

A final area to examine is the availability of replacement parts. Even though some cordless soldering irons can last decades sometimes a component will wear out. Being a fairly straight forward device it should be repairable by the average user assuming the manufacturer sells replacement parts. This will allow you to extend the life of the device for much less then the cost of a new unit, giving you a much better value over the long term.

Keeping these aspects in mind should help you to find and acquire a good, high quality tool supported by a group of people that will help you get the most out of it.