Are cheap USB soldering irons worth it?

Hey guys! In this video I'll be testing some cheap USB soldering irons that are currently dominant on the market. This video is not sponsored and I made it cause I was genuinely curious about the quality and performance of these irons. I was also looking for a potential microsoldering pencil, until I'm able to afford a real one. I hope you enjoy!

[@danielmbirch]

Really good video mate, thanks for reviewing these. I've been looking at picking one up and I wasn't sure how powerful a battery powered soldering iron could be, years ago it was unthinkable, I guess tech has come a long way.

[@rhalfik]

This is basically an E-cigarette with a $3 soldering screw on tip. The button has been reprogrammed so that you don't need to hold it but apart from it, there's no difference.

[@milanfixer]

True. Although with the battery powered one, you still need to hold the fire button (and the safety off feature after 8 seconds still exists). So that one can't really be used in the field as much.

[@rhalfik]

@@milanfixer It helps to save energy though. I guess the best for me will be just a vape with two batteries and a soldering tip in my pocket. Until they come up with a USB heat gun, I'll keep my bulky soldering station at home.

[@megatronskneecap]

These are all over Temu and I’ve just picked one up so 🤷‍♂️

[@notsure659]

The Silver battery operated iron is the same exact device used for vaping lol. Had one given to me and since i didn't vape I was going to toss it until I seen the tips on Amazon and realized they would work with it so took a chance and ordered them and to my surprise they fit and yes it doesn't work to well due to it having a duration limiter .

[@mavis34]

You even said it yourself, all these USB irons are for emergency use or where a normal bench iron cannot be used. To be honest if you are working with fine pitch/SMD you would be on a bench with a beefy iron with much better heat profile's. Usage context is key here. Apart from that, good info for people who are looking for a toolbox iron for emergencies, spare iron on the go. Thanks again fro the video.

[@milanfixer]

I absolutely agree with everything you wrote 👍 I keep them in my backpack for quick "on the spot" jobs. Thank you for commenting 😊

[@emremat33]

I used ZD-20U (1st one) for 3 years and it died last week. Personally it's quite good for it's price, and also 15sec timeout helps to regulate heat because my old 40W soldering iron doesn't have any temp regulation. Now i have those LCD 60W iron and sometimes i miss ZD-20U. I carried it in my pencil bag sometimes, it's great comfort.

[@tubegor]

Very interesting, informative and factual. It's fun to watch. The white soldering iron (my favorite) seems to be PWM controlled, which is why the current consumption is so pulsating. With DSO 150 you could show that via a resistor (just my guess). I personally use a gas soldering iron for mobile use.

[@milanfixer]

That may very well be the case. I'll check it out with the oscilloscope. Thanks for the suggestion and kind words 😊

[@ramranchcowboy8857]

man i keep holding my breath everytime that fume goes to the camera lense 🤣

[@dschannel1171]

31:25 - When you have a so hot soldering iron to work, you need be fast when soldering, I learned soldering fast with a 60W soldering iron! Being fast is really required when have a powerful iron like this, otherwise you want lift the pad and tracks.. 😅 Doing soldering so fast is the secret to don't give enough time to stress the pads and do them lift, of course is so better don't have to worry about putting the iron and doing the soldering in only about 1 to 3 secs max! In a SMD pad, only one sec literally... 😁

[@ruparupa3789]

I always used 60watt solder to. Work in smd part its ok, if u know the tricks... 😅

[@marlo0oty213]

@@ruparupa3789worked with normal soldering application with 60w and smoothed small tip it works great and you can be so accurate and also it doesn’t have the ability to heat up the other things with it if you’re fast

[@noble_lime]

Using the white one as my main soldering machine since I don't solder everyday it's just one's a month.

[@milanfixer]

The white one is actually the most practical in my experience so far.

[@Ferrari255GTO]

​@@milanfixer i was looking for a review on that specific one as i saw lots of very positive reviews and some people complaining about it just not functioning. I'll most likely buy it soon, also they no longer have a brand name and they're just discrete now.

[@dyamant2005]

thanks for the video , i got the first one with the jack and it does not melt the wire , also the second one is similar but with batery i use that one but the bat discharges quite fast

[@carloscervantes836]

I've been super happy with my TS80P. I use it as my main iron with a flexible silicone cable. I had to buy the D25 tip because the one it comes with isn't really useful in my case.

[@AlanDike]

If you go up to 25 - 40 dollars, you can get some pretty ok irons. Sequre s99, pinecil v2, and a few others in that range. The sequre has sleep, boost, gets up to 500, and can use over 100W... though I do use 65W with mine. My pinecil also does the same thing.. one uses a c245 tip, the other use something based off the t12 (t15) tips. I dont know if you can get something serviceable under 20.. but a little bit more gets you a LOT more iron.

[@milanfixer]

That's true. But at the time I made this video, those good portable irons weren't available. There were some on the market, but were 120$ at the time. Now you have a lot more options.

[@AlanDike]

@@milanfixer I totally understand, market has changed a Ton in the last couple years. Would be Interested in seeing ya test out some of the sub 50 dollar USB c PD and qc3 powered irons out now ..

[@antonbende8210]

are they durable? or after 2 weeks garbage? That's important to know!

[@Eagle01ph]

I have the white one you tested. I've built 6 guitar pedals and 2 Adruino projects on it already.... but...... i went through 4 different ones before I found that one

[@kaunisiapa]

I use it without any problem for a small scale soldering.. Regarding the amperage.. I use regulator xl4015 module wt cc & cv control to regulate whatever voltage & ampere I needed.. as l also have soldering tips with ranges of 8w-15w (which they claimed it as 8w-40w..😅😅).. Anyway, as for me.. so far the cheap USB soldering iron is doing great.. 😂😂 TQ. btw.. I have both the 1st & the 2nd one in ur video.. 😊😊

[@atifsultan_mech]

Excellent detailed review man!

[@milanfixer]

Thank you very much mate ❤️

[@bartman58]

I think the 3rd one is an e cig that has been modified 😂

[@milanfixer]

You're absolutely right! They also sell "rosin atomizers" on Aliexpress, which are e-cigs used to melt rosin instead of vaporizing liquid. They also look the same 😂😂😂

[@firesnake6311]

Cause it is, in fact they just changed circuit a lil bit then resell it as soldering iron Also you can use it as e-cig

[@mikejones-vd3fg]

@@milanfixer You mean weed vapourizer? hehe it looks exactly like my weed vapourizer and operates the same way with its 5 pushes. But it only caps out at 4v on the dial, which by your test looks like it should be enough. I bought this for under $10 here locally so a better deal then ordering from ali, all you need is a tip and i thnk you can safely convert any of these vap pens into soldering irons. Albeit limited in power to the voltage setting, wich i hear you can modify to be overvolted anyway as some people who vap do that to their vap pens apparently to get bigger clouds. I wonder if the one you demonstrated had any modifications done to it that make it better for soldering then converting any pen. Looks pretty much the same though.

[@vuqaragabekov]

@@milanfixer Hi bro still running the battery second?

[@milanfixer]

@@vuqaragabekov I use the battery powered one from time to time. But, I mostly use the second one in conjunction with a power bank. Much more practical and you can hope to solder something substantial.

[@arshadjaan619]

Thank You. I just cancelled my order for that garbage and ordered that handskit one.

[@annaplojharova1400]

For such a portable iron I would tolerate the limited power, the battery is a basic physics limitation. But what I won't tolerate is the missing thermostat. Even more when the energy is limited, as it leads to unnecesarily higher battery drain. And more over even when the most expensive hardware for that (the very low Ron mosfet, a microcontroller whose many have ADC capability to evaluate the typical thermocouple output,...) are already there, what is missing is just the code doing the thermostat function...

[@fmphotooffice5513]

900M irons are common now. Some fairly inexpensive. You can get a grounded one with the digital regulator in the handle for not much $. The whole battery thing is kinda silly. You're at the bench. Unless you're in a tent in the middle of a desert...

[@milanfixer]

True. I've used a TS100 only once when laying under an lab instrument the size od a car (the only time I ever needed a cordless soldering iron). Most people wouldn't ever need them, as they work on a bench - so this really is a niche product. Also, there are really good cordless irons for not much money nowdays. Back when I made this video, there were none (cheapest one was a 100$+).

[@pir869]

As a technician i'd only use a remote soldering iron for light pcb work,NOT heavy wires or large bulky connectors,smd /1/2-1w tht only to think any battery powered iron will do much more is a bit delusional to be honest,if it ran from a large 12v lead acid battery then that would work for everything ,but keep a sense of proportion ,and also gas pens are at best for repairing electric irons. I'm here because i want a non 240v pen iron to do some work while i watch youtube ,so i expect to be able to solder the small pcb smd or 1/2w parts until i get the mains iron on for full on work.i make daughter boards such as regulators,smps,buffers etc while i lay down the main circuit that needs to be tweaked on breadboard such as amplifiers ss or tube.

[@emaayan]

i have to say from POV, the battery powered sounded very good, EXCEPT for the "safety feature" which requires you to click 5 times to turn it OFF, during normal operation, i can see myself forgetting to do that and just click on it once thinking instinctively it's off , i also don't get the whole needing to keep the button pressed and entering "sleep mode" what does that even mean?

[@milanfixer]

After using all of them for a while I can say that I don't really like the battery powered one, because it's the same circuit used for electronic cigarettes. Pressing it five times isn't the issue, but it going into "sleep mode" after 8 seconds is really impractical, because you need to press the button periodically which gets really old, really fast. Sleep mode is just a safety feature to prevent overheating of the Li-Ion battery, because heaters are too low of the resistance for it not to be considered a short circuit. It's meant to protect your battery from overdischarge and short circuit.

[@emaayan]

@@milanfixer thanks, i was REALLY hoping to find a wireless usb recharbable iron, because what i currently have is TS80, but it's usb cable is driving me nuts, i see that now TS101 came out, and there are also either irons like pencil iron, but the usb silicone cable really does look good

[@snickerswickers0515]

Thanks I ordered no:2 thanks I thought it would be crappy but no I'm excited for tomorrow now thanks

[@milanfixer]

How does it work? Are you happy with it?

[@snickerswickers0515]

@@milanfixer works good for 3 heat modes and yes I'm soooo happy

[@S_Info_Tech]

Is the white one coated with white plastic ? or is it the metal painted in white ? Isn't the lack of plastic insulation on the handle a problem with heat in your fingers ?

[@arieldurano3247]

i think the usb soldering iron is just for emergency and outdoor use where you can use your power bank. And I think you need a steady and light hand for you not to lift off the soldering copper pads. the switch is intended for on and off and for you to realize the proper temperature, though it's very annoying

[@milanfixer]

It is for emergencies, it's not meant to be your main iron - that's very true. But, if your iron overheats to 500°C, you'll lift the pads no matter what. The switch cutoff serves a different purpose: It is meant to cut the power off so you don't draw a lot of current for too long, which prevents overheating and eventual damage of the battery. Since the last iron is a repurposed electronic cigarette, they kept that feature - which was actually implemented to prevent fires and explosions if you accidentally activate the e-cig in your pocket.

[@dschannel1171]

​@@milanfixer I have a 60W wall socket soldering iron, and when I solder with this, I need be really fast, it's possible soldering with high temperature at tip, but I can't give enough time to this heat transfer to pad, otherwise I want a lifted pad. It requires so high skills on soldering, I've already lifted few pads until get used to a 60W, but I don't usually use a 60W to SMD, it's so inconvenient, to soldering small components the ideal iron have to be one needle tip or knife tip, not the huge 60w iron's tip, comparing to SMD components, it's huge and dulls the job.

[@zg2964]

if you can just buy the tip of the battery powered one you can just use thc vape cartridge batteries lol. that one looks identical to the ooze batteries i bought from gas stations lol.

[@milanfixer]

Yeah, it's actually a vape that's been repurposed 😂

[@zg2964]

@@milanfixer just ordered some 510 threaded tips on amazon.

[@joeery5699]

It has different temperature control..on ecig it has 10sec firing protection

[@zg2964]

@joeery5699 so did this one. Iused the tips on a "mod" vape battery and it's honestly been the best soldering iron I ever used lol. All for 10 bucks on Amazon with my old vape batteries. Just have to be carefull, I had the mod vape turned to 25 watts and let a tech play with it. He didn't realize there is no temp protection and smoked one of my soldering tips. On the mod vape battery these things heat up instantly and provide enough energy for larger wire.

[@carvelera]

27:00 is it?

[@acostin4004]

How do you get to the battery on the silver chrome one.

[@walterorlowski4808]

A chemist (26:30 or so) who doesn't know that SALTS of ammonia are ACIDIC (hence the name of the tip cleaner)....well.....

[@milanfixer]

True, but only in aqueous solutions where the hydrolysis would be able to happen. In solid form or melted form, they're not acidic and behave like all other salts. You could also make the case that they're in a crystalohydrate form, thus melting them makes them acidic, but most of the commercial ammonium salts are anhydrous.

[@giovannigiorgio2262]

do u recommended second one ?

[@MaxGameZz]

I bought the handskit one at first solder sticks normally then when i cleaned it. solder stopped sticking to it and the iron tip gets cold when touching the pcb even at 450 c

[@milanfixer]

I've had that happen to me before. I used it on a large surface, which sucked the heat out too quickly and the iron was stuck to the PCB for a while. It's a weak iron for those types of jobs. I use it in the field for splicing up wires, reconnecting small components and reflowing the existing solder. You can use it for SMD soldering only if you don't solder to a large ground plane. It is useful, but has a lot of limitations.

[@MaxGameZz]

@@milanfixer i saw that you are using cetric acid to clean the tip can i use lemeon juice to clean it because lemon has cetric acid too? thank you for this review

[@milanfixer]

@@MaxGameZz But lemon juice has a lot of water. It's really not recommended to use water, because it corrodes the metal like crazy (that's why solder won't stick to it anymore). I tell people not to use ethanol either to clean their electronics, because it's usually 96% concentration and that 4% is enough to cause corrosion. I know you don't expose it to water for too long, but when there's current running through it, the corrosion is induced electrochemicaly (that's why a phone/tablet/laptop that has water damage, corrodes it's components in seconds).

[@MaxGameZz]

@@milanfixer alright thank you

[@kabirhossain30062]

What is the battery life of evod twist ?

[@milanfixer]

Not great. It's good for a few joints (maybe 6 or something like that). After that is starts to struggle. But you'll be glad you have it when you need it. I still carry it around with me in the field.

[@alessandromarconcini4124]

Con stagno dolce funge. Ricordando per la mia generazione non era ancora possibile trasformare la corrente continua in Alternate.

[@habiks]

But.. are cheap solder iron thermometers accurate? ;)

[@milanfixer]

Great question. And the answer is: "Probably not.". But they get the job done 😂

[@Em-vj8sm]

Anyone know what the third one is? I'm looking to melt wax and it goes to a lower temperature than the portable wax pens which get too hot in about 2 seconds.

[@fasihzafar7423]

Not fair comparison....!!! without flux soldering is just like shit.....!!! you have to use some good quality flux for best soldering experience.

[@milanfixer]

You're absolutely right, but there was flux inside my solder wire. I use a high quality solder wire that has 2,5% rosin flux. As you could clearly see at 22:40, the solder can't form a perfect ball like that without any flux.

[@dschannel1171]

18:27 - Oh no, it's a bit painful when soldering hits equipment... It already happened to one of my tools.

[@bulentdemir6641]

goot MSD-5 also check out this product, how?

[@sapereaude391]

Wow, you are so hard to please! The USB iron you describe as garbage because it it low powered AND too hot. Plus you complain that it switches itself back on when you pick it up (via a motion sensor) - like when you might be going to use it. On top of that, it is as cheap as chips, as we say in the UK. I have one of these amongst my collection of half a dozen soldering irons and it gets more use than any of the others and I have just ordered another one. You mentioned Big Clive's review but I wonder if you actually watched it.

[@sharkfinn6469]

Because some cases require consistent heat rather than erratic change in temperature. It's all use cases. Watch the video properly and understand what you need to solder first

[@stephenshop4946]

How is the handskit soldering iron today, is it still working?

[@milanfixer]

Yes it is. I use it at my workplace a lot. The tips degrade fast, but other than that it's good.

[@stephenshop4946]

@@milanfixer Thanks for the feedback.

[@serifpersia]

Gde si kupio tu belu sa temp control ima na kp ta prva koja kazes da nije dobra(nameravam slucalice, sitne stvari da popravljam ali ne i komponente na pcb ali ako vec ima sa temp control jeftino kazi gde si uzeo. Pozz

[@milanfixer]

Kupio sam je na Aliexpress-u. Koštala je oko 20$. Ima je još: US $3.12 43%OFF | 8W 5V Soldering Iron USB Charging Electric Soldering Iron Kit Digital Welding Iron Tool Temperature Adjustable + Stand/ Tin Wire a.aliexpress.com/_mNsyRtM

[@serifpersia]

@@milanfixer Jbg ja nemam paypal ili kartice samo sa kp kupujem uzecu tu prvu sto si testirao 700 din hahah

[@stephenshop4946]

What is the name of grains for cleaning the tip?

[@milanfixer]

Oh it's just a regular dish scrub that you can find in every supermarket. I also use this acid based paste for cleaning the tip (that's if you need total restoration): RSD 150.96 54%OFF | Soldering Iron Tip Black Oxidation Clean Plaster Resurrection Plaster Refresher Solder Cream Non-stick Tin Repair Tool a.aliexpress.com/_mr7o1Po

[@stephenshop4946]

@@milanfixer Thanks

[@RyoSaebaAGK]

ive seen this soldering iron used y a guy in several videos that he uses to repair cellphones and he never burned anything or lift any pad.

[@milanfixer]

Can I have the links to those videos please?

[@RyoSaebaAGK]

@@milanfixeroh sorry my eye cheated on me, the guy used it for wires, then he uses a solder on a station for the cellphones :P i tough was same solder .

[@meco3215]

Great 👍

[@robertomartins9598]

Its not amazing. Its ok for 2x2mm máx size pad. If you try one of the bigger pads, none of these irons will melt it.

[@milanfixer]

I said at one point that I plan to use it for microsoldering. For bigger pads it won't work. The most you could do is low gauge wire splicing.

[@chssbob]

Use thinner solder wire.

[@ramranchcowboy8857]

Ugh I hope i found this video sooner😔 i just ordered the solder that heats up super high😢

[@milanfixer]

Don't worry about it my friend. Just before you solder something, touch a wet sponge for 2-3 seconds. It's going to drop the temperature enough for you to successfully solder something, without lifting the pads up with excess heat. Don't worry and enjoy soldering 👍

[@Tiyagi99]

Use a lower voltage

[@dschannel1171]

Learn fast soldering, I'm experienced with a 60W wall socket soldering iron, if you do the soldering really fast, about a half or one second, it won't give enough time to all heat transfer to the pad, and won't lift the pad.

[@boblordylordyhowie]

With the battery sodering iron, had you read the instructions you would have seen it takes 20 seconds to heat up.

[@milanfixer]

20 seconds? Doesn't it turn off automatically after 8 (because it uses the same protection circuits as electronic cigarettes).

[@boblordylordyhowie]

@@milanfixer No, because it is on the heating cycle it will over-ride the auto-shut-off.

[@milanfixer]

@@boblordylordyhowie But it doesn't. It keeps shutting off after 8 seconds. Can you post a video demonstrating it?

[@BobGoogle-Account]

Wonderful, comparison. Another apparent fault, with your 'ugly' pick, is that the touch sensitive button, doesn't work if you are wearing a grounding strap, or working on an anti-static mat. I was hoping to avoid purchasing a power bank, but if you go to kzbin.info/www/bejne/pV6bdWiqa7l9j7c and start at say minute 4:45, you will see a reason to avoid using, plug in power supplies with USB soldering irons, where static sensitive ICs are proximal.

[@practicallab]

good

[@dusanmilojevic3017]

To su jeftine lemilice tako da nije strasno.Nego nesto sada nema onih “vrhunskih” miniware lemilica (precenjeno Kinesko sranje).Bio sam jedan od retkih kojima se nisu svidjale i smatrao sam da je kupovina bacanje para.

[@milanfixer]

O da! Pokušali su da naprave hype preko YT influencer-a. Svako ko ih je hvalio i ko ih je gurao je bio sponzorisan (niko normalan nije trošio svoje pare na to). Više nema ni T12 tip lemilica u ponudi kao pre dve godine (KSGER je skoro nedostupan ili više je ne možeš naći za 30$). Imajući u vidu da je trenutno $=€, koristi to što imaš i uživaj - sve je precenjeno. Hvala ti za pregled i komentar 😊

[@romerovalin2635]

You lifted the pads, not the iron. Its you. Obviously you scratch it by its tip hardly.

[@popcoron11]

紹介してくれてありがとう。この様な半田ごてもあると言う事ですね。しかし、私は使う気はありません。 それは簡単です。電子工作に使っている半田ごてのチップを細いものに交換すればいいだけの事です。 また、私がビデオを見る限り、半田の溶けだす時間が遅すぎます。付け加えると、こて先チップが丸いので半田付けの切れ味が悪いと考えます。 わたしが使っているチップは三角型▲の物です。人それぞれ、好きなチップがあると思われます。 それらの中には【針】の様なチップもありますが、使い物になりませんでした。それは細すぎて熱を伝えられませんでした。

[@hesh8100]

Sadly i bought the first one before watching your vid 😅

[@milanfixer]

Loot at the bright side. It's cheap, so you didn't lose much. Still, this one isn't completely useless. You can use it for rough electrician work, it's perfect for that.

[@dschannel1171]

Learn fast soldering, if you have a really fast contact of a half or one second, probably won't lift pads. I'm experienced with 60W wall socket one.

[@anthonypuccini4669]

JUNK! DID YOU GOT THAT FROM TEMU? JUNK!

[@chssbob]

The L is not silent in solder.

[@soulbrothers7789]

What did you expected 😂 quality

[@milanfixer]

@@soulbrothers7789 True 😂

[@emmanuelsam7311]

Suspect number 1😂😂😂💔💔💔💔

[@hewagehewage901]

Thanks brother

[@milanfixer]

And thank you for watching 😊

[@xxbambamxx7261]

Those are old vape pens, not made for this purpose.. Stay away, they are known to blow up too..

[@njowitt]

Presenter had made his mind up before starting. Shows total lack of understanding of soldering and presented a very ignorant theoretical view point. Anyone can put an iron on a temperature gauge without any understanding of thermal inertia and lag and heat sinking caused by ground planes.

[@nikolajc7617]

Looks like batteries for E cigarettes.

[@milanfixer]

They're exactly that. Just repurposed for soldering 😂😂

[@nickknel]

so i smoke weed and why this is important is we have batteries just like this for our dab oils. I'm curious if that's just a normal 510 thread battery with a soldering 510 attachment that's been fitted to a soldering iron tip. i had one with the twisty bottom just like this

[@milanfixer]

Yes, it was originally a vape battery with a 510 thread. They just repurposed the battery for soldering by making dedicated low resistance tips for them. I actually like the idea there. Make a standardised battery, that can be used for whatever you want (just replace the 510 attachment).

[@PetRng_legendarexe2]

they are so cheap, 2$ on temu

[@aleksandarlangovic6207]

Daj malo na naski pricaj😁

[@milanfixer]

Naši uglavnom ne gledaju ovako nešto 😂😂😂 Hvala za Sub! Ljubi brat! ❤️

[@catlady8324]

Thank for covering a bunch of personal lamenting totally off topic. 👎

[@mranonymous7138]

The first solder iron is useless

[@argiemorta523]

Garbage ❌