Hakko FG-100 Real vs. Fake

After buying a "fake" Hakko FG-100 off of eBay i wondered how accurate it was compared to the "real" Hakko FG-100 so I bought a "real" FG-100 and I pitted them against each other. Here's what i found out!
If you have any questions for me you can either email me at: [e-mail]
or Catch up with me on Facebook:
GreywolfStudios74
If your looking for a good forum I urge you to check out the one I am an Active supporter of:
www.RCNitrotalk.com

[@madmax2010ok]

I don't know your stance on this...but thank you for making my decision easier to buy a clone temp. sensor for $11. You rock!

[@johncunningham5435]

Excellent; very informative, thank you.

[@robc8468]

Thanks for the Video I just ordered the FG-100 off eBay for $10.04 USD it was priced $14 something in Canadian dollars. The color scheme is the same Blue and Yellow but the Hakko name on the front has been dropped with only the FG-100 model number remaining. Looks like the sensors included are in are still in Hakko branded bags. I could care less about the Fahrenheit "issue" once I am over 400 degrees F for the kitchen oven I have no feel for what 750 deg. F means anyway. I am happy to solder in Celsius as long as the solder still melts and I don't ruin my project. As far as accuracy it looks like the generic Celsius version has a decimal point either way if I could calibrate to +/- 1 or 2 degrees C I would be pretty darn happy since I am not doing any work for NASA. Thanks again for the review you saved me a boatload of money.

[@AreYouKenneth]

Mine's US patent says 4860485 I searched and it's an exchangeable tip for a fishing rod. I just hope it measures temperature accurately

[@maurourrai2550]

Awesome video, a light teardown just to show the jumper would have made it perfect

[@Greywolf74]

Better late than never? lol kzbin.info/www/bejne/nquqi5R6h6lkbJo

[@bryede]

I disagree with your conclusions about Hakko's involvement but I can't say I know for sure. The patent number is probably lifted from a different Hakko product. The Hakko stuff has been knocked off all over China for years, and there are also plenty of Chinese brands of similar equipment. I think it's just a matter of making it easier to sell by copying a name brand's look and feel. The good news is that the Chinese stuff seems to be getting better all the time. Thanks for the comparison!!

[@Metalhead-4life]

Good Info, just recieved a clone fg100 & have an authentic 191 on the way. Curious to compare them as well, Wish my fg100 had the F/C jumper but definately not worth the extra $200.

[@Greywolf74]

JAY LEE totally. the only reason I was able to do this video is because I managed to buy a "real" fg-100 from a store that was going out of business for $50. I thought I would compare them and put the results out there so people could get one that will work perfectly fine for a fraction of the cost.

[@Metalhead-4life]

Right on thats a good deal. I paid about the same for my 191 hopefully it works just as good. Its probably not much different.

[@fabts4]

Nice. Would have been nice to do a teardown as well :-)

[@Greywolf74]

Better late than never? lol kzbin.info/www/bejne/nquqi5R6h6lkbJo

[@fabts4]

@@Greywolf74 Absolutely!

[@heavy6161]

Thanks man!!

[@winstonsmith478]

Just got my "counterfeit" unit out which I haven't used for a few years and the 9V battery is at 5.8V which is far below shelf-life discharge levels. If anyone else has ever had this problem, the "counterfeit" versions may be defective authentic Hakko units that will do this (badly discharge the battery just sitting on shelf) or older units with an inherently defective design that Hakko trashed and someone else got their hands on them and sold them. I've heard this is very common in the ethics-free country of China. Or, of course, they could simply be cosmetically very good counterfeits.

[@robc8468]

Regular 9 volt batteries don't have years of shelf life lucky for you 9 volt batteries don't usually leak acid since they are double sealed. Just buy a $1 9 volt Sunbeam battery from Dollar Tree and change it yearly when you do your smoke detectors.

[@JonathanMcDonald]

got a fake both buttons died after a couple of months replaced them with new ones from rs components part no. 336-7227. good video thanks

[@charlesmorris1003]

I noticed on the real Hakko, it has the website name on it. It printed on the front of it, and the aftermarket one does not.

[@TheKelikat]

разница 1-3 градуса, так зачем переплачивать

[@dev1ator_yt]

Hey. You said PCB is different. What color is PCB circuit board on "fake" ? And if you remember does it have 2 blue potentiometers ? thanks in advance.

[@Greywolf74]

Better late than never? lol kzbin.info/www/bejne/nquqi5R6h6lkbJo

[@dev1ator_yt]

@@Greywolf74 Ahh thanks for link but I found out then which is real and fake. I purchased clone and works good but Im not sure is it calibrated properly... There were clones made with green PCB and with chips similar to real one but stopped making them when I was looking to buy one. Mine has brown pcb i think. Probably with low cost black blob IC... and matt finish display...

[@3dtexan890]

Just wanted to know where you found the fake Hakko FG-1100 with the Hakko label on it. The ones I find on ebay or Amazon do not say Hakko. Just askin.

[@robc8468]

They just say FG-100 now same generic unit...

[@yakacm]

There is an on-line store called Buy&Box in the UK selling them for £12.95, the scary thing is I hadn't heard of Buy&Box so did a whois lookup on them and the domain was registered by Amazon, so it would appear that Amazon are selling fakes.

[@Nameless.v2]

The max button works on fake fg-100?

[@atbglenn]

+Anonymous Nameless yes

[@KoolBreeze420]

I have an RST FG-100 that I just recived today and it came with what appears to be Hakko sensors legit or not couldn't tell you (the ones in mine have a patent number I guess that makes them legit Hakko sensors?). I wonder if they changed the name to RST in order to avoid a "not genuine claim" on eBay because eBay will refund you if you get a fake when you thought it was real.

[@MrLew1965]

So the moral of the story??? ... If you paid $50-$100 for one of these calibration units ..YOU GOT RIPPED OFF !!!

[@pseudobacon8814]

Can you do a video with a teardown of the genuine one? Curious to see how it looks inside, and would be helpful for anyone looking for a genuine one

[@Greywolf74]

The two were virtually identical inside except that the real one has a switch on the PCB inside for switching between F and C. If memory serves, I dont have the real one anymore. It was so expensive for something that I was only really using for a video so I sold it to recoup as much money as possible from it.

[@mrxpexplorer6318]

@@Greywolf74 your lucky on that part, if you would have shown the real inside of a real Hakko your video would have been removed, just like all the others. If you ask Bing AI if manufacters can do that, they can. They can actually prevent KZbin from showing it by saying ''this information is copyright infridgement''. I dare you guys to find one video of a real Hakko Temperate Tester teardown video. You will not find ANY! . And if you did, show the link in the comments here.

[@Greywolf74]

Better late than never? lol kzbin.info/www/bejne/nquqi5R6h6lkbJo

[@mrxpexplorer6318]

@@Greywolf74 thx for that, lets hope they dont make that video go offline also, its just weird that this fake device was sold a LOT of times and nobody shown the inside of a real Hakko to compare its internals. But good link.

[@chriscolt45]

It would have been nice to have seen the inside of both units considering how long this video was and how much time you spent discussing the ink color of the faceplate - I assumed that some video of the insides would follow - circuit board part numbers, components used (brand, type - thru hole, surface mount), single or double-sided board, thickness and material used for circuit board and comparing the Celsius to Fahrenheit switching circuit location/components to fake Hakko to potentially visualize if that feature could be added if circuitry is there but the switch is not and could be added. In my opinion, that would have been more valuable than the time spent on the outside cosmetics. As you may know there are many FG-100s that are not advertised as "Hakko" - some have other China based companies on the front panel - others don't have any company name at all - all look identical to the two units you used. I wonder if all the knockoffs are made in the same China based factory using the same design/components or if they are completely different. As far as accuracy is concerned - without having a real Hakko, I guess I can try using an infrared laser sensor for comparison and a couple of digital soldering stations set for a specific temperature and finally the manufacturers specification for melt point on a high quality roll of name brand solder, for example Kester Tin/Lead. Setting digital iron for the lowest temperature that melts the solder - then checking the digital irons display temp, calculate accuracy, then use the FG100 and see how accurate both the Irons & FG100 are in comparison to the actual melt temp Kester says that particular solder formula/diameter should melt at. Also a good temperature measurement accuracy comparison between digital irons built in temp sensor, infrared laser temp senser and the FG100 temp senser. The most helpful part of your video was the excellent temperature comparison between your iron, the real Hakko FG100 and the fake Hakko FG100 and comparison of the two sets of thermal straps considering the huge price difference of the Hakko branded ($27.00/10 vs non-Hakko $7.00/10 thermal straps). How long do these thermal straps last (how many tip tests - approximately?). BTW you had mentioned that the fake Hakko may have been an older model based on what appears to be an EXPIRED Hakko patent before the company changed names - a third option is the Chines company that is using that patent may not be following any design patent from Hakko at all - they just picked an old Patent number that may be obsolete - the deign could be what is being pushed as "no-name" FG100s on Ebay, Amazon, Ali-Express from $8.00 - $20.00 - that's another reason why I think the included "thermal straps" for the knockoffs couldn't be real Hakko branded because they are selling the package FG-100 plus 5 thermal straps for as low as $7.00 - while real Hakko thermal straps are selling for $27 package of 10!! Chris

[@Greywolf74]

I wish I would have thought of doing a tear down back then when I made this video.

[@JUANKERR2000]

Fair comment; I simply pronounced it the way it looked :-)

[@Greywolf74]

+David Williams so did i :p

[@vicever08]

The fake version is just a simple version, realized the same function yet much cheaper. In fact, many $20 digital multimeter can do the same measurement yet have even more functions. Genuine Hakko is just over-engineered for this one. It is much complicated inside, thus more expensive. If you pay by your self, the choice is simple. If the factory pay for you, the choice is also simple. They are for different buyers.

[@billfischer1552]

The fonts are totally different

[@rickyo8145]

The real Hakko has their website on the front.

[@guayabito6946]

Why would you want Fahrenheit?, when soldering we always use Celsius regardless of whether we are in the US or not.

[@Greywolf74]

Because that's what I'm used to using and I'm not a professional. Thanks for the heads up tho :)

[@guayabito6946]

@@Greywolf74 Yes if you notice on all KZbin videos that talk about electronic soldering they never talk about farenheit. I live in the US and I know I have to set my soldering iron at 350c and have absolutely no clue what that translates to in Farenheit.

[@Tocsin-Bang]

Banggood are selling a "copy" under the daniu label. Looks pretty much identical to your "fake" one except for the name.

[@cnegrea]

easiest way to spot the fake, decimal point

[@Fizbin321111]

These just got banned from ebay. I think I bought one of the last ones before they pulled the plug. You can still get them on Aliexpress.

[@Fizbin321111]

FYI... For those who prefer to deal with ebay you can still find them there with the search words: temperature tester soldering

[@robc8468]

You can still get it on ebay as of March 2020 the Hakko name and logo was dropped it is now just called the FG-100 still the same blue and yellow case.

[@mrxpexplorer6318]

8 years later, still selling them (but unbranded or rst).

[@Mike-vk2ni]

Funny thing is the picture hakko has on their web site has the picture of the fake hakko for this tool has and not the one he shows for the real tool

[@Greywolf74]

The one on their website looks just like the real one I have in this video so not sure why you think that.

[@Mike-vk2ni]

Im looking right at their website right now and their picture is of your fake one get real here

[@Mike-vk2ni]

www.hakko.com/english/products/hakko_fg100.html

[@Greywolf74]

That link does have a picture of the one that is supposedly fake. If you go to hakko U.S. website though they have the picture of the one "real" one. This could be a sign that my hypothesis was right about Hakko using an old patent numbered product to sell cheaper in markets where their money isnt worth as much as the US dollar.

[@Mike-vk2ni]

Yes I agree with you on that I bought a cheap one off ebay because their picture well I compared it to my 300 dollar Klein Meter and the temperature reading is identical so I say your are right thanks in your theory about them using an old patent numbered product

[@kumahoken]

I think you mixed up the real sensors with the fake ones. The sensors on the right at 9:20 look fake. I believe Hakko is not involved in any fake products in any way. They have published a press release warning about those counterfeits.

[@Greywolf74]

+kumahoken Im 99.9% sure that I didnt mix them up but even if I did they both test the same so it really doesnt matter if you use counterfeit ones or not.

[@kumahoken]

+GreywolfStudios74 Yeah, that's true, they're just K type thermocouples. But take a close look at the Hakko logos and compare those with the real logo that you can find on the web. The logo on the fake one doesn't look right, especially for the star mark. The real Hakko star is composed of one circle and five segments. The font glyphs of the letter "会" and "阪" on the fake one doesn't look right, either. Those glyphs are never used in Japan but in China.

[@emerybryant]

lol i looked up the patents. it appears to me like the chinese used a patent number from hakko's probably original design. because the picture shown looks like a hakko 191. so im guessing they stole the modern design and the original patent to make it look legit. the chinese have very little in the way of copyright laws so they can legally copy anything they want. usually without concern. but the chinese quality has been going up ever so slightly. so its not unheard of at this point for the chinese to release some pretty good quality stuff, of course its still made down to a price so it may not have the longevity that you expect, but should be usually pretty good for the life span :) interesting to know they made fakes that are so believable! :D and accurate!

[@DeeegerD]

The reason you can't find a Fahrenheit version is because THE REST OF THE WORLD uses metric ;) Common America get with the program ;) I picked one up several months ago on eBay. Looking just now - there are still some available but only a couple sellers now and range $16 to $30 so you may be right - old stock and drying up? The actual sensor and circuit are quite simple so it would be hard to make a bad one and the price of the true Hakko is way way too high.

[@ITubeTooInc]

You can find the fake Hakko FG-100 for kr75 incl. free worldwide shipping at AliExpress (China's answer to eBay) www.aliexpress.com/item/High-quality-soldering-iron-head-thermometer-FG-100-temperature-test/32385727766.html The reason they have disappeared from eBay is probably because they have been banned because they are fake. To find eBay banned China knockoffs go to AliExpress, there's a good chance they have them as they don't ban them. When buying something from China I always check both eBay and AliExpress. Some things are cheaper at AliExpress while other things are cheaper at eBay and some things aren't available both places.

[@DeeegerD]

ITubeTooInc Real or fake there's not much to them ;)

[@atbglenn]

Just ordered the fake one for $12.99 from aliexpress. I'll compare it to my Fluke 289's included heat sensor. If it's a POS, no big deal.

[@atbglenn]

+Glenn Martin Got mine today. It works great!

[@techguy666]

Can I uses my fluke 87v's heat sensor instead of FG-100? thanks

[@Greywolf74]

+cyrus Not 100% sure to be honest as Ive never tried but Id say probably not effectively. the fg-100 is designed to use solder to effectively transfer the irons heat straight to the really thin sensor wire which will display how much heat the iron is transferring very fast. You could potentially get a ball park figure with your fluke (assuming it can handle 700-900F) but without the aid of solder IDK how accurate that number will be.

[@atbglenn]

+cyrus The Hakko is much easier to use than a DMM with a heat sensor from my experience. For under $20 I think it's worth getting

[@JUANKERR2000]

"Hay-co"?? Surely it's "Hack-o"!!

[@Greywolf74]

+David Williams I discovered that its actually pronounced "haw-ko" from the company

[@ThePowernest80]

+David Williams no it HAK-KO

[@The_SegaHolic]

Hah-ko actually.

[@Landrew0]

A lot more guessing than information.

[@Greywolf74]

+Landrew0 The only thing that I guessed at was whether or not the fake hakko was an actual clone or just old stock being sold off in other countries. Unless youre talking about the couple ways I showed some differences between my real one and my fake one which... A) isnt so much guessing as it was just observations and B) I give you 2 for sure ways to tell the difference between a real and a fake hakko fg-100. But that shit was only one of two main points of the video. The other point was how well the fake one worked compared to the real one and there was no guess work done in that part of the video. So I really dont see what your on about unless you only watched the first 5 minutes of the video in which case I guess I could see where you would get that impression.

[@johnd942]

You need to write out and read from a script.

[@EleanorPeterson]

I rather like the informal delivery. A super slick production may be what media-junkies and wannabe KZbin 'personalities' strive for, but a guy in a shed doesn't need all that polish. The natural unscripted delivery is fine for a topic like this. It makes the subject more believable; a concise, scripted narration would sound too much like a sales pitch. This is more like being invited into a guy's home while he talks about some stuff over a coffee. :-)

[@g.g.hochstetler2286]

Why the quote unquote bullshit. One IS fake and one IS real. There is no quote unquote about it.