Helping Hands Soldering station

Bought this to accompany a new soldering station and couldn't be happier with the product. Comes with a heavy-ish bottom plate and some rubber feet to help keep the base steady, even when the arms are bent out at an angle. It comes with a great ring light and magnifying glass that has a long flexible arm and a magnetic base that allows you to easily position the light over your work. There are a couple of long arms and a couple of short arms that have insulated alligator clips on the end, great for clamping wires or small circuit boards. The flexible arms allow you to position the workpiece in pretty much any direction. Theres also an adjustable rigid arm with a clamp for bigger pieces but I really haven't used that accessory much. Overall, it's a great addition to my solder station. Highly recommended!

I have tried a few of the cheaper helping hands setups before and always been disappointed, but I'm really impressed with this one. The base plate has a decent amount of weight so it doesn't slide around on you. The magnetic bases are strong and solid. The flexible arms are properly stiff and stay where you put them, but still flexible enough to reach however they need to. The small "hand" clamps are really just alligator clips, but with two or three of them clipped to a work piece, it holds nicely in place and resists moving under pressure (doesn't move when using a soldering iron, etc). The posts work well for holding items both with their tips and sides so they're pretty flexible. The magnifier isn't large, but has a reasonable magnification, and the light source could be a little brighter, but is generally adequate for supplementary light if you've got other ambient lighting in your workspace anyway. The large clamp is actually very useful. It can hold a hot air gun, as suggested, but I found it was also great for holding probes in place, or even more cumbersome work pieces. I also discovered it works perfectly to hold my 7-inch-screen digital microscope, actually making this thing better than the stand it came with, and making it so much easier to see everything when working on small fiddly bits! Note: The single knob on the clamp arm does fully tighten _all_ the joints. However, you may need to really crank it to get everything properly tight. When I did this properly I found it could actually hold a fair amount of weight without moving, too. The only negative I've found so far is that the light uses a USB power cable, but does not come with a USB power supply to plug it into, so you will need to supply your own (but nowadays who doesn't have a few of those floating around?)

Amazing set! Very helpful not just with soldering, but with many other tasks (cleaning small parts, etc). I wish lens was better quality, but for the price - VERY STURDY set! The metal base is heavy, has 3m rubber legs if needed. The arms work great 10/10!

Great Tool. Solid. Heavy.

Update: I ended up returning due to the rust, but the seller did contact me offering a full refund (albeit after I already returned it). So I'll add a star for good customer service. The product itself is great. Magnet holders are great, although the clips are a little cheap. However, the reason for 3 stars is that the base came with a scratch and rust was already forming. If I can't remove the rust than I may return it.

Wow! This is a great piece of kit. • Solid base, will not tip. • Goosenecks that stay in place, i.e., bends don't unbend • Accessory based have VERY strong magnetic connections • Nice quality halo lamp around magnifier • Two long and two short gooseneck alligator clips • Solid clamp for hot air wand, or other large diameter accessory on an articulated arm with tight joint-clamps.

I've been using this for a few days and I'm kicking myself for not getting one sooner! While I am not using all of the 'hands', I do enjoy using the magnifying lens and light. And does it have a very strong magnet! The 'heat gun holder' has many uses, and I still haven't used it as a heat gun holder. The base is heavy and all of the magnets are strong, super happy with that for soldering. All in all a great purchase.

I, for some reason always put off buying tools that I really needed especially due to older eyesight and would be make do. Finally decided to look into something that would help and saw this. It is fantastic, and made the project I was working sooo much easier. Just being able to position things in place reliably is great. The light and mag works well and is easier than I thought to use as the mag is quite small. I have a similar but larger light that just won't attach to my desk and keeps falling on my head, so this one being securely attached to the base unit is perect!