The Original X-Tronic 3020-XTS • 75W Soldering Iron Station • LED • 2 Helping Hands • Roll of Solder • Brass Sponge w/Cleaning Flux • Wet Sponge • °C/°F Conversion Switch • 10 Minute Sleep Feature!

I'm not a computer guy, I don't solder tiny or delicate stuff. I've always used super cheap solder guns so this is my first real solder setup. But Holy crap does this thing get HOT and does it incredibly FAST! I have no idea what other solder irons are like besides the cheap ones that take 20min to heat up and don't stay hot enough to do any real soldering with. I'm currently using it to make wire harnesses for muscle cars and man, I can't get over how sweet this rig is. I'm 100% happy with this purchase. I didn't expect the spool, tweezer, solder sucker or other tips... It was a nice surprise to find them in the kit. 3yr UPDATE: This thing was a trooper, but the iron itself didn't like to stay together. The metal portion would fall off the handle pretty easy. The threads weren't stripped either. The only thing I can think of is the plastic locking ring grew from repeated heat cycles or the handle shrunk from the same cause. Very irritating! I used some thread tape on the handle threads and it helped, but still wasn't right. I really liked this soldering iron; used it yesterday and it was fine. Today it wouldn't heat up no matter what. I tore it apart trying to find an obvious problem and couldn't find one. Everything Ohm'ed fine, continuity was good, no burnt spots, no damage..... It just won't heat. Even the element was good. I can turn the knob to command a temp and it'll flip to the actual temp in a few seconds. It just sits there at 100 degrees or so and doesn't rise. I can hold a lighter under the tip and watch the digital readout temp rise, but it won't heat on its own. I tore the base apart and inspected everything, all looked good. I used a thermal camera on the board and the hottest part was the potentiometer knob body, but I'd expect that. No other part of the board or the mini board inside the iron itself had any hot pots per my Ames thermal inspection camera. I cleaned all possible contact points inside the iron end to no avail. I was at a complete loss as to why it wouldn't heat. Of course I started checking even dumb things and my unsteady hands touched the wrong thing. A single spark and it's now DOA. It was great until it wasn't..... I learned though, I'll have a cheap spare on hand at all times. Now I have to wait a few days to get a replacement. I went name brand this time.

After purchasing and returning 2 of these because they did not work, the owner of the company contacted me personally to apologize and offer me another one to try in order to see if it would work better. This third one worked perfectly, exactly as I had hoped the first 2 would. I can say that the customer service from X-TRONIC gets an A+ and their product works great! This was my previous review: I needed a soldering iron for some electrical/circuit board work I was going to be doing. I looked online and read articles and reviews of different soldering irons before I bought anything. This particular soldering iron from X-Tronic was rated as the best soldering iron in a bunch of head-to-head reviewed tests online. I always try to buy the best tools and the best quality that I can afford, and I figured that I should get the best when it came to soldering irons. My goodness, was I in for a surprise. I ordered one of these soldering irons and I immediately noticed that it did not seem to melt solder very well. I kept it for about a day and tried to work with it, I thought initially that maybe I was doing something wrong. The solder that I was using had a melting point somewhere in the low to mid 400°F range, so I set the temperature on the soldering iron to about 530°F. You would think that this would work perfectly, but it seemed like the iron was not heating up properly and it just did not really want to melt the solder. I have never seen anything like it in my life. I turned the temperature up on the soldering iron to 600°F and it still was having a difficult time melting the solder! I would hold the iron on the solder for literally 15 or 20 seconds and it would deform the solder, but it would not melt the solder. Unreal! I figured I must have gotten a defective unit, so I returned it to Amazon. I then ordered the exact same X-Tronic soldering iron again. I figured this time I would get a good one and everything would work the way was supposed to. Wrong again! This new soldering iron was just the same as the first one. It had the exact same issues where it did not seem to want to melt solder. I kept this iron for a couple of days, I even had my father-in-law try it out to see if I was crazy. I thought he might say that the iron was fine and it was user error. My father-in-law is much more experienced in soldering than I am and he's very good at it. After using it for about five minutes he looked at me and said it's no good, just return this junk. He pulled out a cheap soldering iron that he bought online for about eight dollars and he used it on the same stuff that he had just tried the X-Tronic on and it melted the solder like a hot knife through butter. There was no comparison. The cheap junk soldering iron was light-years better. So I actually returned my soldering iron for a second time and I bought a different soldering iron, from the same brand that my father-in-law purchased his cheap one from. I'm here to report that the new one from the cheap brand works great. Can't say enough good things about a soldering iron that came with a case and set for less than $20! Here is what I got: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0744P55YR/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I don't know if the two X-Tronic irons that I purchased and returned were both defective and from a bad batch or if the design is just no good, but it's just shocking to me that this iron has so many great reviews but yet I bought two of them and neither one worked well at all. It might be a defective heating element, it might be that the thermostat is calibrated wrong from the factory. I just don't understand it.

Gets the job done perfectly. Heats up in 30 seconds or less. The display shows the temperature I'm setting as I adjust the knob, or just after turning it on, and after a few seconds it shows the actual temp as it ramps up. The temperature stays nice and constant as I use it. It's great for basic electrical fixes, from lamp cords to fine electronics. I don't know whether it has the wattage for jewelry or to solder a lead to a potentiometer casing, which takes considerable wattage, but based on the rating it should. The stand, sponge, and brush are very conveniently located, and the wire from power unit to pencil is flexible and doesn't pull or impair fine position control. I don't use the solder holder, so I didn't bother attaching it. I prefer the smaller footprint without it. It's nice that we get the option of having it attached or not.

EDIT My station died. About 10 months after purchasing it, I went to use it and it would only display 181. The iron would not heat up. I have only been using it a few times a month so it is not under heavy usage. I would consider it moderate use. Because of the 181 displayed and the fact nothing would work I assumed it was the station itself and not the iron since the element was still in excellent condition. I contacted X-Tronic through Amazon. They asked me to go to their website and start a claim, which I did. I explained how the unit was functioning currently (not at all other than the 181 on the display). They sent be a complete brand new unit. It took about a week to arrive. So they have very good customer service. Note one thing I realized about this unit that I should have thought about before is that you cannot just replace the iron if it goes bad. There is no jack to plug the iron in, it's wired directly into the base station. If I have a problem I will replace the new iron with the old one by removing the wires and rewiring in the old iron, but the average person with no spare parts will have to replace the entire unit. When this unit is working it works well, but if the base station dies again I think I will spend the extra money for a Hakko or a Weller. I would take a star off because the iron broke down, but there customer service was so good I think they deserve a star for that. Original Review: I have been a professional tech for over 30 years. I am constantly soldering, although nowhere near as much as I used to. I had been using a HAKKO soldering station that was pretty good but the unit had been dropped at least once, had a heavy part dropped on top of it, and the power switch failed (I soldered it closed so it powers up as soon as you plug it in). I use a Weller at home that I have had for almost 30 years. Even though it was beat up and had no iron when I found it, I cleaned it up, bought an iron and it's been working like a champ ever since. However, Weller soldering stations are expensive. I did not want to spend $200 or more for a soldering station I don't use as much as I used to. Cruising around on Amazon gave me a bunch of choices. I picked one out based on the availability of tips and heating elements, as well as satisfaction shown in reviews. I received this XTronic station today. I have set it up and tested it. Everything seems to work very well. The iron heats up quickly, the regulation works well, the iron is nice and light, the cords nice and flexible. At this point, this station looks like it should work perfectly for my needs. I am little worried that the manual says the heating element may only last a year under heavy use. On the Hakko we would get about 5 years of heavy use, and on the Weller I have never had to change either the tip or the heating element, but it is used sparingly. So, I have to say the station looks excellent and I was very happy with the testing I did. At this point I just need to know what the longevity is like. If I have any issues in the near future I will come back and edit this review.

Very impressed by the quality of this tool heats up quick easy to use 👏

So far everything is great, no problems with shipping, great condition

Im not going to say im the master of the soldering iron by any means. but for me this iron gets the job done. learn from my mistake and remember to remove the plastic protector on the end of the iron prior to turning on or itll be a smoky mess... one thing that irks me is they did not include any flux but included a bit of decent solder in the box. because of the size of the whole unit the "helping hands" are rather useless for anything larger than a business card as there is no counter weight. the little sponge to assist to clean your tips was a nice thought but doesnt really assist. as for the soldering iron proper, the display is very easy to read however i didn't check the accuracy of the readout to actual temperature but it feels relatively close. I would say prior to first use allow the iron to hang with the wire stretched out as there is a fair amount of memory which creates awkward bends which are a bit annoying. final critical thoughts: I like how there is included solder however( a problem with every soldering iron) there is no included flux. both are required for 80-90% of connections you will do when soldering so why not include a small amount of general purpose flux? also they included a tip cleaner but no solder wick? Small inclusions like this would turn it from a 4 star item to a 5 star item as it would set them apart from the competition

Excellent produit!