Can anyone tell me if the connector between the soldering iron and base on the ATTEN 936 is the same one used on the original Hakko unit? I have read that some of the rebranded Hakko units use a different connector which makes getting replacement/alternate irons difficult. Looks like a nice unit and the price is fair, but want to make sure replacement parts are not going to be an issue should they be required. Thanks.
Hey Vraz,
I don’t have a good answer for you. We’ve been dealing with over seas manufacturers in China for a few months now and I still don’t have a clue how they do things. It seems like everyone is building the same box, but putting a different label on the outside.
If SFE buys 100+ pcs, we can even get our name on painted on it. While this is a fun idea, it complicates things tremendously. I believe most of these units are interchangeable, but I can’t say for sure since we do not have access to all units.
-Nathan
Fair enough answer. At the price its does not need to be a lifetime investment.
One more question. Is there any practical difference between the HR8502 (hot air + iron) and the 850B+836? It is actually $5 cheaper to purchase the latter combo and while two units require more space, a failure only impacts part of the investment (plus there are times when I want to take a soldering iron with and taking an entire hot air station seems like overkill).
So is there anything about the 8502 that makes it “better” than the 850B+836 other than space?
Thanks!
The difference in price are always the difference in quality of the heating elements. You can spend 10x this much on rework stations with heaters that will survive nuclear wars. The 8502 has a nicer element in the iron as opposed to the 836. The 8052/850B air elements are the same.
-Nathan