Weller WPS18MP High-Performance Soldering Iron , Red

I'm pretty lazy when it comes to reviewing stuff, but this soldering iron is SO GOOD I feel like keeping it to myself is pure evil.Background: I recently got into electric guitars, and wanted to modify them a bit. Every guitar how-to guide emphasis a good iron. I obviously dismissed that at first and bought the Vastar all-in-one kit that shows up as the first hit when you search for "soldering iron" on amazon. Big mistake. The thing melted (yes, MELTED) within the first 2 hours of use. I burned my parts and myself and swore to god I will always bring my guitar to a tech now.That didn't last long.A few weeks later I, once again, felt an itch to customize my guitars, and so I looked for a new iron. This one seemed new with exciting features, and it wasn't overly expensive. Other Weller irons all get great reviews - I assumed this hasn't yet because of how new it is. I bought it anyway.I'm so glad I did. The iron heats up REALLY fast - exactly as advertised, and the best thing is that it has a light that tells you when it's hot enough. Light turns green, boom, go in, solder, turn it off, put stuff that needs soldering together, turn it on, light is red, 30 seconds, light turns green, older, repeat.No complaints whatsoever. Buy it!

Bought for a gift so hopefully it works.

Soldered a few joints with this iron on a project not long after receiving it from Amazon. I definitely can recommend as I am well pleased with it's performance. The unique plug-in tip tinned and wetted solder readily. The short warm up time is impressive and in line with manufacturer's specification. I'm not totaly convinced this iron has all the power output of a 60 watt unit as the manufacturer claims, but it's at least equal to say a forty watt. That's not bad for the price, and be assured you'll have plenty of heat to flow most any joint nicely. Because of the 18 watt DC power requirement I was able to use a smallish battery powered portable DC to AC inverter unit to operate away from line power for a bit. Cool.I can only see two down sides to this product. Firstly, the non standard plug-in tips are relatively limited as to availability. Secondly, I am not too sold on the handle design. Supposedly you don't need a holder as it just sits on your bench top, but the way it wobbles around doesn't give me a lot of confidence the weight of the cord couldn't pull the hot iron off the edge of my bench. Still, with just a few cons and a lot of pros I can heartily give the Weller WPS18MP PRO Series it's rightful place at my electronics lab.

Great design can lay down on table without a stand and won’t burn anything also very fast warm-up especially like led light that turns green when ready to go. Super fast like 30 seconds my soldering is better quality now

I have been soldering electrical circuits here & there since about 1953 using irons & guns mainly. I've used this innovative soldering iron several times in the last month, and I'm impressed at it's performance. It's small & light, but it heats up fast and does an excellent job soldering #18 wires together. In the recent past, I've primarily used a Weller soldering gun with a chisel tip, but the round tip on this iron does very well. I've ordered a chisel tip (WPS11) and connical tip (WPS10 ~$8.20 each) to serve as spares... just google the P/N's to find vendors. The iron comes with a seven-year warranty! I purchased another WPS18MP for my son. I really like the fact that the iron is off more than 95% of the time one is using it... very similar to a soldering gun.

Does what it's supposed to do. LED indicators are nice as is the white work light. I noticed a bit of smoke come off of the barrel near the body when I first started it but that went away in a few seconds and never saw it again. Probably just some stuff from the factory on the heating surface. NICE. Hope it lasts a long time. No problems with intermittence like I have with my cheap soldering gun. No need to fiddle around with this one, just solder away.

Best investment in my life. I learned to soldering with this and I'm still using the original tip although I must admit that I will need a replacement soon.Used it on automotive wiring, marine and electronics (motherboards mostly) never had a problem with it. The LED is convenient and the tip heats up in seconds.Only thing I do is clean it with a Hakko cleaning wire after soldering and coat it with solder for storing.

Great product. Using with fine solder but its coping very well and so much easier to use than my little mains voltage stick with temp control. No indicator for the temperature. Nice product at a very reasonable price. For home use you cant go wrong.