Hakko FG-100 Real vs. Fake 

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!

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!!

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.

разница 1-3 градуса, так зачем переплачивать

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

easiest way to spot the fake, decimal point

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

The real Hakko has their website on the front.

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.

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

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.

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.

Excellent; very informative, thank you.

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.

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.

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

Thanks man!!

The fonts are totally different

The max button works on fake fg-100?

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

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

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!

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.

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

You need to write out and read from a script.

A lot more guessing than information.