2:00 - Hakko FR-810 unboxing. 4:53 - Quick 861DW unboxing. 7:26 - Which station makes for easier use of desk space? 9:03 - Quick 861DW interface. 11:00 - A quick overview of my preferred interface and why it is important to be able to change air/heat settings QUICKLY. 11:52 - Hakko FR-810 interface. 12:23 - The FR-810 interface is worse than a 1980s alarm clock. 14:05 - How many button clicks to change setting on Quick vs. Hakko. 15:10 - Quick 861DW program settings & correcting the instruction manual programming procedure. 19:16 - Auto turnoff feature on Quick vs. Hakko 20:14 - Quick 861DW removing RAM chip from 820-3437 board A - 42 seconds. 21:52 - More BS in setting Hakko temperature. 23:26 - Hakko FR-810 removing RAM chip from 820-3437 board B - 140 seconds. 27:05 - Hakko FR-810 removing RAM chip from 820-3437 board A - 96 seconds. 29:25 - Quick 861DW removing RAM chip from 820-3437 board B - 33 seconds. 30:57 - Quick 861DW included nozzles. 32:26 - Quick 861DW ISL6259 removal with nozzle. 32:55 - Quick 861DW RAM chip removal with nozzle. 33:36 - Conclusion - Quick 861DW destroys the Hakko FR-810.
If Quick hot-air works for you then you could also try Quick soldering stations like Quick 202D or QK202D (QK it's rebrand I guess). It's 90W heater using induction (400kHz) to heat tips.
I know you shouldn't have to but to fix the light issue either install LED's or just use a powerboard or surge protector that claims to smooth out the power like a Monster or Belkin!
This reminds me of comparing a iPhone X Max and a Motorola G5s Plus one is cheaper and gives you the fast charger in the box 1080p great battery life a 3.5mm jack and still works great the other is much more expansive does not come with a fast charger, does not charge out of the box has a 1080p screen no headphone jack!
They were right, you were doing your viewers a disservice by not reviewing the Hakko unit. We never knew how bad it was until you did! Thanks Louis for taking the time to do this!
I was very clear about this thing for a long time and they never addressed it. I had asked about sponsorship months back when I realized that my amazon links sold over 100k worth of their stuff and they said no quickly. I think it is for the best. If they did sponsor the channel, it would be an awkward breakup when I inevitably posted this since they seem to have no intention of making a proper hot air station.
That’s great... I usually just buy the most expensive thing because I expect it to be the best... That’ll save a lot of money when I upgrade from a shitty heat gun to a proper heat station :)
Please never stop being critical and keep demanding user friendly interface. Your criticism has more effect than an anonymous users mail and there's no excuse for a user infriendly interface on a device that blows warm air...
Isnt this like a $300 samsung galaxy s7 vs an $600 iphone 7 2017 prices were lets face it the galaxy s7 kicks the living geesus out of the iphone 7 😂 ps... the quick station is well worth its price
No kidding! Rotary encoders are not that expensive. I don't get why every electronics engineer designs products with push buttons where a dial should be. Volume buttons on radios really bug me.
For sure, at the price, I'd definitely not be complaining, certainly not a deal breaker. Maybe rotary things are seen as to antiquated/lower-budget by the designers.
with buttons like that, all you need is some basic CMOS logic chips to hack in some rotary encoders. seems like it could be a simple add-on to me, but a teardown would tell us more.
About holding down preset button to save setting, it is actually extremely intuitive, at least for drivers as usually radio presets in car radios are being set same way.
I think it is generally intuitiv, as just pressing the button to set could also mean that instead of calling the preset you replace it with the current one.
I got a cheap £30 soldering station for repairing shit at the radio station i work at.....it performs better than the 3-4 £300+ soldering stations i've used. Heats up well and it can even take large microphone connectors off of boards or large transformers off of things. Oh yea, replacement tips cost about £1 and you get a pack of 5 different tips and you get TWO bevel tips and only one conical tip.
I am one of the suckers who bought an FR810. I picked mine up about 4 months ago and would not recommend it at all. Some of this things I hate about it: As mentioned, you can not stack your iron on top. The wand never shuts off when you put it in the cradle. The INTERFACE IS HORRIBLE. It is so obtuse, even after 4 months I still have to get out the manual from time to time to change a setting I have not changed recently and can't remember where it is. It does not even come with one tip, I paid about $1k for my FR810 and tips and this thing is a pile of crap. I used to love Hakko, but after getting screwed hard on this thing, I will not buy one of their products ever again. Thanks for the review Louis, you hit the nail on the head, but you did miss the vacuum pickup feature built into the Hakko. I have used it a few times and it can be handy, but also a pain in the ass. Having the button for the vacuum on the wand makes it hard to use as you usually move the handle as you press the button. Kind of like having a switch on a TIG torch, hard to use.
I just can´t comprehend how any product designer or engineer could think of an interface that bad. It´s ridiculous, no, right out stupid I´d call it. Just why? How can you make a hot air station so unpractical to use? It´s literally only got on/off, airflow and temperature, maybe a few presets. I´m almost lost for words here.
I'm sure Hakko rationalizes the bad interface as being a security measure to keep uneducated line workers from ramping up the temperature and barbecuing components. Sort of like that blue plastic key that they stick in the front of the soldering stations. I picked up a Hakko FX888D and it came preset to Fahrenheit. As mind-boggling as this sounds, the paper instruction manual does not cover how to change the display between Farenheit to Celsius...you have to go on the Hakko website and download the PDF version of the manual. I have no idea why they included a partial version of the very short manual that excluded important setup information...
i just received this that Quick station, and allowed me to fix this old amplifier where the mosfets were soldered to the heatsink. Thank you for your video, and demonstration which led me to easier repair work!
In this age of lies,your honesty above the lust for gold, shows you are a man of integrity and honor which is refreshing and worthy of praise. My hat is off to you,sir!
This guy is right, it will be interesting to see how well the heating elements are designed, although Quick is living up to it's name, what extremes temperatures can cause damage to itself? we seen you struggle to get a replacement heating element for the Weller before, is the parts readily available or is this priced at a disposable heat gun (aka 2 years use max, buy another)
J Walker, Luis takes apart and fixes electronics on a daily basis and that includes operation of multiple high temperature equipment. Either his building insurance is already solid, or he stopped giving a fuck about that a loooong time ago.
The Hakko had an advantage on it's second run because it was 200 or so degrees when you lifted the handle. Also, the metal piece in the base of the quick is for removing and installing nozzles and you can rest the handle down there to warm it up or so it won't cool down while you put it down. Air is so powerful on quick you blew components off the board even though Jessa say's it's not possible. Lights may have flickered because the quick is more powerful. Also you have to watch where the hakko is placed because it blow hot air at your monitor while cooling down and the quick is blowing hot air into a metal base. Also look at how easy it is to change the heating element on the quick.
Perfect timing, was replacing my Hakko 850 from so long ago as had seen your work and wanted to start replacing Microprocessors. Am a massive fan of JBC solder stations the quick change tips instant heat. $2000 for the base model heat station. Saw your review and the components you easily removed and managed to find a supplier if the 'quick' for $240. The user interface sold me. Next looking for a lovely thermal camera that wont break the bank, cheap IPA works well but always room to improve. Thanks for all your work loved the right to repair but the workshop tips equipment reviews watching actual repairs. SMD didnt exist when I started now the SMC devices were beyond what I thought I could repair by hand, had borrowed 80k equipment to do repairs. Dont think I need that anymore. Many many thanks. Think my customers will thank you too. Saves boards from landfill..
Why? Because, some electrical engineer got paid once to design an interface for use by assembly line workers over 10 years ago, then... Sales said, "Should be fine for hobbyists and pro repair service folks too. That way we don't need to take a loss on our profane profit margin."
I noticed the Hakko took longer to reach the set temp then the quick did, which is why I guess they call it quick. This is probably why the quick out performed the Hakko. I'm curious to see if the Hakko has a setting that would allow it to reach optimum temp faster. The temp fluctuations on the Hakko we're odd as well for a hot air station, not really a consistent warm up. My number 1 concern is the longevity of the Quick. Which only time can tell. Clear winner though is the Quick if it lasts even half as long as the hakko cause you can buy two of them cheaper then the Hakko. Thanks for the review and I can see why you disliked the Hakko.
+S.A. Smith And Hakko isn't even a western brand... it's Japanese, the Japanese were the original killers of western brands due to putting effort into the design process. And now even they're falling behind.
well he didn't have to read the manual for just setting the temp, so that's good. it's the extra features that can't be made very obvious easily is not a problem requiring to read the manual, the problem starts when the manual is wrong
I have to say that this is the most honest and straight forward review of product comparison that I have ever seen. Good for you, for being honest with your evaluation and not recommending, or even fluffing the comparison for more revenue. There should be more product reviews like this. I wonder how many people actually purchased inferior equipment because the review was dollar motivated instead of being straight and honest. Thank you for being straight. You rock.
17:48 Setting the quick's memory is as easy as setting a radiostation memory on a car radio. 21:11 How long before the monitor bezel is melted by the Hako ?
I just bought a quick today. I also purchased 9 additional nozzles for $24.00. Thanks for the review. Makes me feel much better in my choice of hot air station 🚉! Thanks for your video and comparison.
I like that you are truly impartial and give true personal opinions and that you wanna spend / waste your time testing equipment for our sake THANK YOU FOR THAT ... you really make my job easier and I enjoy following your videos :)
Was already planning on buying the quick based on the review that TCRS Circuit did. I'm surprised at the performance gap and especially at the usability gap between the two with the cheaper station being better in both cases. Also Hakko surprised me by not including nozzles, at that price... Personally I think this great. Since rework is new to me the quick is very affordable to get a tool to learn a new skill and be able to do more kinds of repair :)
bought the 861DW half a year ago and never looked back.This thing performs! Also the wellers, hacko's and JB stations are way to expensive here in europe. If I would have had a better budget I probably bought one of those expensive once. But watching your review now I'm glad I have the 861DW anyway. As for solder station I think hacko is still the nr 1 for me. Same reason as for the hot air station, Weller and JB are just too freaking expensive here.
So glad you've done the review on the Quick 861DA, I recently bought the 861DW after my previous £200 station died (twice), i'd been researching Quick products for a couple of months before deciding on putting money down this particular model. I'm a novice / hobbyist when it comes to the repair scene and my purchases aren't made from repair work profit yet. Knowing you were going to be doing this review had me waiting with baited breat... I'm glad you weren't disappointed with the station which makes me happier over my decision to buy it as opposed to Metcal / Weller / Hakko.
@38:00 he wrote an review??? but anyhow, all puns aside: the Quick just went to temperature without any big hitches... the Hakko was programmed for 1100 but didn't go over 580... and took a LONG time reaching it. Hakko has to really look at themselves for usability of their products....
I just fixed a PS3 I had lying around for a few months with a Quick 861DW that I got & learned to use by watching this channel! 😁 Thank you so much Louis for making all of this information freely available!
Hi, I'm from Germany, and I bought a Cocoarm 861D+ from Ama.....de for 115 Euros (120 $ I think), which was identical in construction to the quick. And after buying it, I saw your test. I'm very proud of my intuition.... All the best for you
I messed up the calibration the first time I used my D-888. It's a consumer level soldering Iron, I didn't think I'd need to use the manual :( But apparently my mistake is so common that Hakko has as the second page of a PDF that comes up when you google "Hakko 888d adjusting temperature" explaining how to reset the factory calibration. kb.hakkousa.com/Uploads/Attachments/4171b3e8-9367-45c9-acea-0f1b.pdf Of course, that won't fix the bluing on my soldering iron. What the F*** is wrong with Hakko UI design. I get trying to save money on buttons in the early 90s when cheap microchips had limited hardware but not in today's age? . It's got to be some sort of thinking that less buttons will look better to purchasing departments? Or that less buttons is less complex. Well, no it isn't if I have to press and hold buttons or us multiple buttons to get basic things done. One more button the 888D and it would be easy to use. Either that or Hakko only wants to sell products to people on assembly lines where changing settings is frowned upon.
jeffescortx, I think that is for a video game. The actual buttons are: Press and hold Enter, Up several times to change MSD, If you overshoot you have to cycle back Enter, Up several times to change SMSD, If you overshoot you have to cycle back Enter, Up several times to change LSD, If you overshoot you have to cycle back Enter. The old FX-888 had a nice dial that you could adjust very quickly and accurately one handed without even looking at it. These push buttons suck the D real hard, and It's a major step backwards for usability. Buttons are great for activating a single discrete action (e.g. selecting a stored config), but they suck at pretty much everything else. ON/OFF must be a toggle switch, I don't want to look at things to see whether I'm switching them on or off. Temperature (and pressure, where relevant) settings should a dial, with stops for the minimum and maximum settings (like an old stereo volume knob). Are there many occasions where a hobbyist needs one degree precise selection? Anyone have an application that differentiates 400 *C from 401 *C [1]? Any dials should have a molded indicator, like the old 888, so you can feel it. If you have two or more dials they should feel different (whether because of size, or texture, or some other means). Not having to look up is not only a time saver, but it is also an accessibility issue. Many people can see very well at short distances, but need glasses to discern details past arm's length. Other people, like me, need glasses or magnification when doing close work and need to remove the same to discriminate at a distance. There is so much going on about putting haptic feedback into computer systems, but at the same time companies are taking tactile feedback out of products that used to have it inherently. If you need 14 pages of instructions, or if changing temperature requires a _minimum_ of seven button presses to complete then your UI and UX sucks donkey D --HARD. Old style station required. Plug it in. - Done. Turn the knob to desired temp. - Done. Switch it on,. - Done. Happy soldering. - Thanks. Want to change the temp? - Yes. Turn the knob. - Cool, this is easy. Do you want to read a manual? - Do I need to? Not really, it's just a one pager warning you not to lick various things. - Great, I think I've got that covered. 1. specified precision not guaranteed by the hardware.
i have same quick station. Have to say that even saving profiles doesn't need opening manual. Its the only logical way of saving them. How else it could recognize your intention of saving? Same way work most of the car stereos when you want to save channels etc. Im quite happy with this one. First hot air station for me and havent had much time yet to do anything but in future.
I just checked ebay for it, the quick is 249€ here in Germany, free shipping... obvious new station for me. Thanks for the great review Louis. Spot on, as always.
Pressing and holding a button to set a preset has been the method used for presetting radio stations on your preset buttons for years. I think many people will know that intuitively.
The quick channel feature and having to hold down the button actually makes intuitive since to me. Yeah the manual should have been worded properly but I think most people could have figured that out without the manual. But Wow I kinda want to order that Quick now.
I have had an Hakko 926 since 1989. Its plastic case fell to pieces so i made a polished aluminium case for it and transplanted the pcb and txformer into it. I replaced the crappy original plastic 5 pin socket for the iron handpiece electrical connection with a quality metal dc socket & plug and the station is still going perfectly today. After seeing this review I now realise Hakko have turned into Goldstar :( Lucky Goldstar changed their name - older techies will get this).
Hakko has a very strange interface. It seems like the temperature is set with Fahrenheit and displays in Celsius when in use. I think this because 1120 Fahrenheit is equal to about 600 Celsius, and during heat up it did not go over 590 Celsius.
es lo mismo que me pregunto, por que tener 4 digitos el display, si solo mostrara 3, ya estoy pensando que no se configuro bien y saco a 280 grados la memoria, por lo tanto tardo mas tiempo. mañana me llega una fr810 y probare configuraciones
In other words you run 2 Quicks into the ground, and make all the money you can from doing that, and have a 150 bucks left over for booze and burritos, not to mention what you save on nozzles. Hakko needs a new plan.
I got myself this station for christmas 2021, and couldn't be happier with it. The flickering is most likely caused by the 1 kW heater being pulsed off and on to regulate temperature.
I everytime prefer to read user manual at first, but in case of Quick station i quit this after just briefly reading over pages. It seems that it´s translated somewhere in chinese factory from english to chinese and back to english. Anyway - few days ago I bought Quick 861DE (more powerful from DW) and it worth every cent. Brutal power on one side, and very fine performance on the other. It simply works and has no problem with anything i touched till now. Absolutely agree with every word you said. Fantastic machine, my best friend on my workbench. I´m using it with primitive preheater. Btw excellent video, big thumbs up for quality, entertaining and very informative rewiew! Best wishes :)
The thing is i haven't been able to find a replacement heating element for my 861dw anywhere, including from Quick themselves. So other than buying more nozzles you're pretty much screwed for replacement parts.
Slydder68 where is "all over the place"? So far all I've seen is this AliExpress listing and I'm pretty sure that is recent. m.aliexpress.com/item/32820503884.html
thank you for the review, thing is Louis I would have pressed and HOLD the Channel number within seconds as that would be the same process as a Car Radio, if you jump between vehicles you find HOLDing a channel is what you normally do to a radio, so it working just like a car radio to store your favourite stations
There are really difficult pcb boards that can not reworked without having bottom preheating and if a single hot air is used even the most powerful the component is desoldered only after if the entire pcb is being heated first also.The fancy interfacings are only for impress or useful in industrial automated production lines process.Also this is for anyone hot air user-reballer,in such high temperature upcoming air mixed with flux smokes must start considering and for your health.
This is exactly what I was looking for, thanks so much for making this! I am a Hakko man through and through but lately the rising cost of their products combine with the astronomical cost of needed but not included accessories has pushed me to look at different brands.
To anyone that has the H- E errror indicating a heating element failure. If the heating element has failed the unit WILL NOT run the fan either. So if you have the H-E code come up a new element should get you back up and running.
Been waiting for this video, not because I know anything about board repair or hot air stations because I don't, just because when you announced you were going to do this comparison, it seemed like you already knew which way this was going to go, and Hakko are going to be pissed when they see this :)
Just purchased a Quick 861DW, waiting for it to arrive in these crazy times but can't wait to get it. Replacing an ancient Hakko 850D that was garbage.
I agree with the review about how terrible it is to click multiple buttons to adjust airflow and temperature, but I think this is partly based on the Hakko being designed for production environments Rapid change of settings is something that is not desirable, usually there are fixed settings that workers aren’t encouraged to change or often locked down Torque guns in an automotive production line for example have fixed settings that’s not easily toggled by accident, or are locked.
you get a comment and a like for smelling the new hot air station goodness. (like what I use to do with new books way back when) edit: the $500 brandname :,(
I have the FR810. Yours seems to take a lot longer than mine to get up to temperature. With that being said, I've had my eye on the 861DW as a second station. This was definitely an eye opening review too. I love your honesty
I much prefer knobs to buttons for temp and air. It's much faster. Buttons are a fuck around half way through a job. The only thing I don't like about the Quick is the handle being upright because of the way my bench is set up. I have my soldering stations on an upper shelf so hoses and cables hang down over my work and get out of the way when put away. The upright handle means I'd have to rearrange my work desk. Why is there not an induction heater version yet? A device you could pinpoint heat a component. A copper plate underneath with a handle you aim the heat with. No hot air to damage surrounding components.
The screen flickers based on the refresh rate of the LCDs. What’s happening is at the camera shutter speed is Out of phase with the refresh rate of the displays that’s why you see Flickr
If anyone is considering between the two, trust LOUIS!!! I’ve used both my boss uses the Hakko for iPhones and iPads but it SUCKS for Macs can’t remove shit! The Quick is truly awesome and it works great!
After my Yihua rework station quite literally went China Syndrome and melted down (darn thing went white hot before I managed to turn it off) I did a LOT more research (that I should have done first doh) I found your Quick 861DW review. Just got mine today and it’s excellent. So thanks for this, Louis. I would have bought it off you if I lived in the US for sure... but I’m in the UK and US import costs are MENTAL.
I would so love to see more analog controls on most anything these days ... It's new it has a "smart" interface ... I selected my soldering station to have an analog knob just to be able to set it in .2 seconds
My Quick 861DW just blew the heating element after about 6 months or so use.I believe it's a manufacturing defect that may effect more units.One of 2 crimps was not done properly in the heating assembly causing premature burn out and breakage at the crimp connection.This is obvious by the dark bluish color of the crimp as compared to the silvery colored crimp on the other connection .These elements are veryy expensive to replace .I was happy with my unit until today which is now useless and will cost a 100 bucks to get running again.
Hakko wanted a review, well they got one. I'm sure Hakko will rebut with "he did not set the station up properly" or "Louis most likely received a clone Hakko".......something along those lines. I liked your size explanation of the Quick's nozzles, "thick", "semi-thick" and "thin", LOL.
Thanks Louis I was about to make a big mistake by getting the Hakko. I did get the 861DW off ebay for $295. Later I found the same company sells it for $275 (free Ship) directly. Just got it today and confirmed everything you said about it. The unit works perfectly, Chinese companies need to start getting their act together when it comes to English manuals. I agree with what you say about manuals, but it does need to be referenced for setting the password for example. Hakko really messed up the user interfaces on their Yellow/Blue line of equipment. I have a Hakko FM-206 and a Hakko FX-951, both have really bad user interfaces. Perhaps Hakko will improve their user interfaces with their new products (Blue/Gray line of equipment). Maybe that's why Hakko calls the new products "GOOD DESIGN".
Very well done!!! Love the thorough honest reviews. I am blown away by the quicks price/performance. In the beginning of this video I thought I picked up in a slight bias toward the hakko, then I believe I noticed the exact moment that all disappeared and turned inti pleasant surprise..
In the quicks defense holding a profile button down to save it is intuitive. I honestly figured that's how it would work before that part of the video even came up. It's just like radio presets in a car.
Looks like the Hakko doesn't mess with your lights b/c it has a _weaker_ power supply. BTW, I checked AliExpress, the 861DW with shipping to EU was $300 before your video. Tick-tock...
+tocsa120ls the quick screws with the lights even if I have it set to low air flow and 100 Celsius while the hakko does not screw as much with the lights even set to full temperature and air flow. I have to hand it to the hakko in that specific regard
Lack of power factor correction? Or bad timing in pulse width modulation of the heater element? With an oscilloscope you could see what horrible things it does to your otherwise probably nice AC sine wave? Anyway, i would recommend LED lighting as there are some drop in replacement tubes. Instant full brightness and much less flickering if you get halfway decent ones.
rasz, I guess you mean pure resistive load. Light is flickering because heater in 861DW is more powerful. It switches heater on and off, therefore light flickers. Hakko most likely is doing the same but it's heater is less powerful, therefore less voltage drop on mains.
Louis, it does not matter what temperature you select as it still fully switches 1kW heater, just for less time and less often. If it was working as a triac dimmer, it would produce a lot of electromagnetic noise and would have an awful power factor (for high power device). Which most likely would prevent it from passing regulations, and would make nearby oscilloscopes go nuts. Making heater powered from 1kW DC power supply with PFC would make it a very expensive, large and heavy piece of brick. Doing this just to prevent lights flickering in places with crappy wiring makes no sense. But this issue can be greatly reduced or even completely avoided if you will use quality non dimmable electronic ballasts for your lighting. And BTW quick can be set to display Fahrenheit.
All the electrical equipment in that office going , A/C, and various heating elements from irons and hot air stations probably all being pulled through a 100 amp service drop (or less) and shitty old building wiring no doubt, I'm honestly surprised more shit doesn't flicker.
totally agree about the digital vs analogue interface. i by far prefer an analogue interface on a lot of pieces of equipmen, not just soldering or hot air stations but on stereo equipment, car heater, cooker heat and so on. Analouge is better for so many things
Hi, Thanks for your video is was enjoyable to watch, never seen one of your Videos will be watching more. You made it easy for me to pick the Quick 861. Great honest review well done.
look at temperature displays for the two units as you turn them on. The Hako is much slower to reach temp than the quick, which means it probably uses an underpowered power supply which is also why the quick flickers your lights
I always wondered why you always favor Hakko which IMO is fucking shamelessly overpriced, but this video brings nothing but joy to my soul. Fucking brutal and honest. Love from Pakistan.
The optimal interface would be buttons up and down for large increments (like jumps of 10) and a digital knob (infinite turns) for fine tuning, or the other way around. That way you could easily both rough tune and fine tune the settings without any distractions
Louis looks at the black wire with the aligator clip, and goes "no idea what i would use this for". The front of the Quick hot air rework station is labeled "ESD" on the upper right... Signifying that it's one of the reworkstations in their lineup that is "ESD safe". The wire is for connecting it to the ESD envirorment. (i bet he knows.) Thank you for the review on the Quick Louis. I just might get one, but sadly, not through Amazon, so nothing on affiliates for you... I'm almost smack center in EU, Sweden, and it seams every amazon outlet hates us here.
The ESD hookup on this station is intended for hooking to a ESD workstation. Common discharge to ground, over a resistor, generally on the Mohm scale, to make sure a charge dissipates slowly. The ground on your soldering iron is intentionally low ohm's, so that a short in the unit goes over the ground wire, rather then through you, and out, where ever. A ESD environment "generally" is grounded, but that is just convenience, the "real trick" is to have everything in the environment at the same potential. If you, the board, and the workstation sits at 2Mv, everything will be fine. When you leave your work area, holding the board, in your off-hand, by a ground point, and go to shake the end of that fella who's leaving, he bounces around a bit, and complains about the electric shock you just gave him. Through your hand. You just discharged 2Mv through him. You might think that since the board was in your other hand, it would have been safe, and not exposed, but the reality is, it to discharged way to rapidly, thanks to you holding on to the ground plane. The ESD connection wire on the soldering station, if connected to ground at all, should be equipped with that Mohm resistor, and may not be connected to the ground on the power-cord at all. If it's connected to ground, over a Mohm resistor, then it's a useful ground-point for the rest of the ESD environment, if not, then the darn thing has to be connected to a resistor equipped ground-point, for the unit to be ESD safe at all. My comment on the other hand was more aimed at Louis himself, since he doesn't really practice ESD safety. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dPjkNFb10IE.html The stuff that walks in his door is already broken, and more often then not, already messed with. It works for him. I on the other hand, hardly use the electric toothbrush without worrying about ESD.
I don't understand why they bother putting password protection on a soldering station or a hot air rework, i've been noticing this feature a lot on the digital units that i've been looking at online recently. Reading reviews of others who bought said workstations, it sounds like you can't disable this tamper/password protection at all. Hakko digital interface was designed by the same engineers that thought making VCR's so difficult to set parents couldn't do it even after reading the manuals.
