TA-0384: PTS200 V2 - 100Watt USB Solder - Portable ?? 

Hi Tony, thanks for the great review. A number of the engineers I work with have similar soldering irons from ali, Banggood etc. I'm told that they love them for field base work. From the point of view of my colleagues the reason they like them so much is that they use their USB C 20v 65w laptop chargers which I am sure you would agree is extremely convenient power source. The warm up time in the field is key and traditionally gas soldering irons have been helpful in given engineers a rapid heat rise needed, however in these days of work safety gas soldering irons require hot working permits. I personally would be keen to see how well it performs on USB C 65w PSU asfor me a laptop PSU would be far more convenient than having to remember to charge a power bank. Ian

I think this is a very visionary tool in the sense that it counts on the availability of such power bank in the future. I had already few power banks that died just because I wasn't using them that much. Thus here, you'll get an extra device that you can carry on with you to perform some soldering stuff when required. Anyway, thanks for this great review!!

Thanks for the review, it helped me to choose this soldering iron. As for portability, an RC battery (LiPo / Li-ion) and a couple of dollars on connectors makes this extremely portable. It isn't cheap if you don't already have a battery and charger, but if you think along the lines of using a DC-DC converter with PD/QC output (~$20) then you have a flexible power bank for your USB devices as well.

Thanks for the video...always awesome...✌

This iron seems to be pretty much a TS100 clone tbh. I know this has been reviewed by many people now, but the Aixun T3a with a T245 is a great iron. The last iron I used before the T3a was the TS100 and going from the TS100 to the T245 was like going from an all in one iron you plug into the wall directly to a soldering station for the first time. Disclaimer: I did only ever use it with genuine JBC tips and I actually bought a genuine replacement T245 JBC handle and replace the connector on the end with the Aixun one. So I have the JBC experience as far as can be had for under $500.

It looks beautiful, but I don't want to buy a cable or power source. As a portable version of the soldering iron, I used a Weller Magnastat 50W / 24V since 1984 and in 1991 I got an 80W /230V version and I think it will be enough for me and I have a noname 50W /12V lying around in the car - that's only a weakness, but so far enough for the little things. Nice day 🙂 Tom

Apart from smaller regular laptop adapters with PD output, I have a bunch of old 20V 170W Lenovo laptop power bricks. I've put a DC jack on one (instead of the Lenovo square plug) and use it for various tasks. I've been thinking on these soldering irons, it shouldn't be difficult to add an USB-C plug to the Lenovo power supplies. The cable isn't as flexible as on a regular soldering iron, though.

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Most Android users would have by now at least 65W PD USB C charging devices. Many new laptops would come with around 100W GaN chargers aswell. New drones would use them to. New iphones have usb c, but most of them do not accept proper fast charge modes and they are still limited with low speeds of connections (yay how great are iphones......). I tested this soldering iron and I have to say that 8s to soldering temp is great. Stable temperatures are also great bonus to this product.

Tony, on the box it says (blah blah) "Pine..." so I guess the fruit is a pine cone. Not very edible.

Талян молодец в очередной раз! 👍 But seriously, I would like to see a review after a month of use? did you like it or not? nuances of use. Thank you

For me, that kind of soldering iron makes no sense as it is too complicated to operate it via a menu and it needs special cable and power source to supply it. My homebrew analog soldering station with Weller WSP80 pen has similar power and I can set the temperature by simply turning a knob.