Had to pick between a hot air rework station and a desoldering gun...

I was fixing an old Xbox power supply and couldn't decide if I should get a Hakko 808 desoldering gun or a Yihua 858D hot air station, both around $100. I went with the hot air station since I had more stubborn BGA chips to deal with, but now I'm fighting through lifted pads on thru-hole caps. Did I pick the wrong tool for this kind of mixed job?

2 comments

2 Comments

ward.piper1mo ago

Bought the hot air station first too and immediately regretted it on the first through-hole cap I touched. Now I'm sitting here with a soldering iron AND hot air on the bench which kinda defeats the purpose.

norag551mo ago

and THEN you find out you need BOTH and now your bench looks like a tech support hostage situation. I swear my soldering station is just a prop at this point while I wrestle with the hot air gun.