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Comment by dogma1138 | Hacker News Reader

If it’s for actual use and not hacking it would wait...

$25 for a high powered device that one holds in their hand and has a heating element would have me worried.

Soldering irons generally are not expensive. Antex which is a fairly reputable soldering iron brand (as far as i understand) sell them as low as 10$ on amazon

Antex irons don't seem to get enough love in my opinion. They are (at least partially, I think) made in the UK and I've always preferred them as the handle/body is much thinner than many of the other available irons which I find a lot easier to use.

Antex have switched their production to China a while back, including their precision and soldering stations line.

They are cheap but with the exception of a few product aren't that good of a value for money for what you get.

Their soldering stations are rather anemic and getting bits is rather hard (they also have a very limited line of bits to begin with).

Their gas powered portable soldering irons are quite good they don't overheat, have decent control and are well built but their electric ones are simply a miss these days.

Dumb AC soldering irons don't have to be (unless you really care about temperature accuracy and ESD), portable gas soldering irons are also essentially glorified lighters.

However when you get into a DC soldering irons you do start getting into complexity that isn't as cheap to do safely.

I'm skeptical of your skepticism. Monitoring temperature & adjusting current are tasks humanity has, in my view, gotten quite good at & made quite routine, safely & cheaply.

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