REQ - opinion - these "cold" soldering irons

The tip is pretty small and can't heat a very large connection, but the worst problem is that it puts 6 volts (four AA batts inside) across the terminals at the tip... shorting that produces the heat. I wouldn't get near any PC board with that toy. You risk torching the components! Another thing: don't depend on the tip staying cold like they show in the ads. It does get hot on larger solder jobs and can burn you. Not worth it!

Ray

PS I didn't buy one. One was left on my bench by someone who just had to have it... and then discovered the shortcomings.

I look for opinion of users, but I don't think I ever have seen a user respond, only speculators.

greg

I think one speculator stated he had one left on his bench, that he USED.....

GregS: My brother got one for his birthday last month..... IMHO it is nothing more than a toy.... might be useful for a very occasional solder job like a soldering a wire on a battery clip or some other light duty job. I tried several solder jobs and got less than satisfactory results and I certainly wouldn't use in around and near semiconductor junctions. So there..... an opinion of a user. By the way, if you ever take a piece of equipment to a service shop and they have one of these "cold" soldering irons on the bench..... leave immediately, don't leave your equipment, find a different shop.

thanks all, much appreciated.

Completely useless if you need to de-solder something.