YIHUA 853D 5A-II

I have used this unit at least once a day for the better of 3 years for numerous of repairs and builds. I have been about 95% satisfied with the performance. I have had a couple details that I wasn't completely satisfied with. The unit meets all the stated specifications and it is at least as well made as my old Weller soldering stationg that is about 15 years old. I do not know if the station will last as long, but new Weller products won't last that long either. I think the attachment holder could be better designed. I do not use a wet sponge for tip cleaning and the little place for it is too shallow to use with anything but scraps of solder. The iron it self will absolutely get uncomfortably hot if held right at the foremost part of the handle. I wrapped mine in self-sealing silicone which resolved the issue and gave me additional grip. The tip will loosen quickly with the cycling of the hibernate/use, but most models do as well. The included tips are the same as you get anywhere, and they work fine if not overheated. The can be re-tinned but there is little reason to have the temp set that high for most jobs. I have a large work area and it has other equipment that can become frustrating with the cord length of the iron. This is a personal preference, but my iron has a cord twice the original length without any impact to the performance. I would not go much longer though. The connector is a simple GX16 6-pin connector and the other end is just run into the soldering iron in place of the original. You cpould buy a 3ft cord with a male and female to plug between the original iron and the unit as well. Another preference wold be knobs lik the hot air uses for all settings. This unit is odd to me that it mixes them. Maybe Yihua thinks knobs are antiquated, but they are longer lasting than membrane buttons and quicker to set. Again, these points do not affect the actual performance of the unit's functions at all. For any of these kind of stations, I would open them up prior to using and look over the internals. These things can take a lot of abuse during the journey from the big rock candy mountain. Just take a quick look at the connections for loose wires or components beforehand.It is unlikely you will be disappointed with the unit's performance and I believe it exceeds the offerings from other brands at the same price point offering a better value.That is about it for now, hope this provides someone details not found elsewhere.

I love this tool, and am very glad to have made this purchase. I was skeptical of this, given the dodgy quality of many electronics on Amazon. I even opened it up to physically inspect it before operating it, and was impressed at the build quality. The heatgun is powerful, yet quiet. The soldering iron heats quickly and comes with many great tips. The power supply is my favorite feature though, and it is very well designed, and so much more useful that I imagined. This was well worth the $204 I paid!

I was in the market for a new station since the hot air rework part of my old station died. I didn’t want to bother fixing it, and I had some specific criteria that led me to this unit.I have limited bench space as I currently sleep in my lab (student life).I need a soldering iron, hot air gun, and a power supply in preferably one unit with a small foot printThe core components should be replaceable.That last of the criteria was very important to me. My previous station had the hot air gun pump built into the unit itself, and when it went bad, the whole thing was bad, and cost wise, was unfixable. This new one needed to have a replaceable hot air gun, with the pump/fan built into the gun itself.This unit fit the bill, but its price and lack of thorough reviews had me a little tense about the purchase. It wasn’t until I saw a good review about other yihua products from eevblog on youtube that I decided to make my purchase.After a few months of light use every week or so, I am happy with my purchase. I have used all of the features at least a few times. The DC power supply is nice, I have been using it to test custom gear box motors before fully assembling. I can view the current draw from the motor, with out having to hook up a separate multimeter. I didn’t expect this small feature, but I really enjoy it. It’s taken the guess work out finding the stall current for my gear boxes. It also comes with some adapters that let you power laptops, and other generic DC jacks which is another nice bonus.The soldering iron is awesome. It has a fast heating time, about three or so seconds. It maintains temps and can get very hot for soldering ground planes. I originally found myself struggling with temps, only to find I was on a ground plane. I upped the temps, and this thing handled no problem. The iron is replaceable as well. The cord to the iron is made from silicone, which is a dream to work with, since it’s much softer, and doesn’t pull back on the iron when your working on SMD components. It’s also heat resistant if any accidents happen.The hot air gun worked great so far. I’ve used it to desolder USB-C jacks and replace them with working ones. If the gun goes bad, it’s an easy and cheap replacement. If you can plug something into a wall, you can fix this. Not that anybody working with a soldering iron shouldn’t be able to… fix things. The cord to the hot air gun is not silicone, and I don’t know if it is heat resistant. The unit also come with some spare heating elements for the gun for future maintenance.The stand for the iron and hot air gun is one solid unit made from cast iron (I believe, or steel). It feels very beefy and heavy. This is great, as I am confident that I won’t knock my iron/gun over by sneezing, like you can with other, lighter stands. Also, there are some other accessories that come with the unit, that I don’t think I covered, but they are basic complimentaries that help you have a good first time experience. Things like solder, wick, ic poppers and other stuff. The manual is also well done, with very minor translational issues. They have a thorough list of parts and accessories that can be used with the unit, complete with names so you can order them easily. Many of these parts are generally common parts that can be ordered direct from yihua, or from third party manufacturers. I don’t remember if there were any schematics for repairs, like you might get with some high end units.The only cons I have found so far is that the face place of the unit is made of plastic. The body of the unit is pressed sheet metal, but the actual face place where your hands interact with is plastic. I don’t know if it is heat resistant as I’m not too fond of the idea of permanent marks occurring from a slip of the hand, but that’s part of life. Also, the manual tells us to unplug the unit when not in use for extended periods of time? I find this odd. It has a literal off switch on the back on the unit, which cuts the circuit form main, so I am not sure why this is. If anyone knows, please feel free to let us know.So, in conclusion I have enjoyed my purchase, and feel I can recommend this unit. I have purchased a four-year warranty, as some back up insurance, and I will update my post if I ever have to come to that. 😊

I purchased this product 3 years ago. It's a very good unit and heats up very quickly like it'll be 400 degrees under one minute. I'm writing a review now because the power supply built into my unit has broken. The iron and hot air gun still work very well. I did have a warranty but that expired one year ago. If your reading this and debating buying it then debate no more. If your are looking to upgrade from the crappy irons you can buy at auto stores for 20$ then this is a good option.

Product shipped missing one cable, customer service was spot on and ensured I received a replacement quickly. Works as advertised and the Iron and heat gun heat up really quickly. They can be removed and stored elsewhere when not in use and the main unit does not take up a lot of space on the bench. You get a lot for your money with this unit.