Eleshop ELE-T12A active soldering station reviews

The kit does provide everything you need for a decent soldering job, provided supply could be better.

Heats up quick (~15-20s), keeps up with ground planes (depends on tip though), has no issues with RoHS solder.

The provided tips are the usual ones that you get with cheap soldering irons and their usability is debatable. They do seem durable, but I suggest a tip activator (like ERSA 0TR01) as the smaller SMD tips tarnish quickly.

I'd also suggest to get the T12-K (knife) tip, as its versatile enough to be used for both through hole and SMD if the board is not too dense.

Note also that with some tips (like the T12-K tip) the provided stand is actually too short and the tip touches the casing of the stand. I got used to placing the iron half-way in the stand, which is meh.

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The provided supply does seem to provide the necessary oomph to heat up the soldering iron, but since it's a generic SMPS, it does have leakage, which is within regulatory limit and would be OK for a standard appliance, but I wouldn't consider it good for a soldering iron.

A simple measurement from supply GND or 24V to earth shows 80 V AC, 50uA AC, which is enough to give you a tinge if you happen to rest your hand on the trace / plane you're soldering.

I haven't had any dead components due to this yet, but it doesn't really instill confidence.

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If this would be provided with a more appropriate supply, I'd say this would be a great kit.

Without the supply, it isn't really that of a deal compared to other T12 OLED controllers out there. The separate supply versions seem to have died out on the open market, and I can't claim that the integrated supply variants are any better, so YMMV