There are many soldering stations available with either a passive or an active tip, of which active tips perform better, but are overall also more expensive. Hakko, for instance, sells one of those stations with an active tip, the FX-951. However, this station is quite an investment, so we were curious if this Chinese clone would be able to do the same job.

Products

Hakko FX-951 digital soldering station

The compact Hakko FX-951 digital soldering station is a professional station with a power of 75 watt. Compared to the FX-888D, which is mainly used for private use, this soldering station is made for everyone who must be able to rely on his soldering station every day.

The composite element and sensor guarantee rapid heating and thermal recovery. The temperature can easily be adjusted between 200 and 450 ℃. Furthermore, this soldering station uses a key card that functions as a password. When the key card is inserted, the temperature settings can be changed and when the key card is removed, the temperature settings are locked. This makes the soldering station ideal for places to which unauthorized persons may also have access.

The FX-951 soldering station uses the FM-2028 soldering iron. The handle of this iron is thermally well insulated and when the iron is placed in the holder, the energy-saving mode is switched on automatically. To prevent the soldering iron from cooling down immediately when it is placed in the holder, it is possible to set a time between 0 and 29 minutes in which the iron remains warm. The soldering station has an auto-off function when not in use for 30 minutes.

Soldering tips suitable for this soldering station are the Hakko T15 soldering tips.

Video

Bas compares in this video an original Hakko FX-951 soldering station with an AliExpress clone. Both the outside and inside of the stations are compared to see what makes the fake AliExpress station about 4 times cheaper.