Side by Side Comparison of: AGPtEK vs Vastar

I ordered this expecting a 'slightly better than average' soldering iron..... This was not AT ALL the case.I plugged this in and set the temp to max after dealing with the 'top-of-the-line' radioshack soldering irons.....I checked back in literally no more than 1 minute (if not even less than 30 seconds! I'm used to 5+ minutes on my previous iron) and the iron was beyond hot enough to melt standard flux core solder. For the price, I absolutely cannot give this less than 5 stars! Different soldering tips, temperate control, ets. Excellent soldering iron and I cannot recommend anything even close to the value for under $50! I'm not entirely convinced that the iron respects the set temperature, but compared to an always-on iron, this is the highest quality I've used. I'm also a little bit skeptical of the fact that this is a US FCC certified... but for the price and quality I can't justify bringing it down any stars as long as you remember to unplug it after each useI don't do 'precision' soldering, so for anyone looking for that, this may not be the best iron for you... But in my use case where I use soldering irons to basically connect one circuit to another or for general soldering tasks, this iron is SO much better than anything I could purchase locally.

I don't like to solder, mainly because I'm not good at it. I've watched people solder and it looked so easy. Anytime I tried to replicate what I saw other people do, my efforts turned out mediocre at best, until I got this iron. It wasn't me that "sucked" at soldering, it has been the cheap, sub-$10, Radio Shack irons I'd been using all those years. This iron heats up fast (compared to what I'm used to) and provides a constant temperature that's just right for the job. Being able to control the heat makes all the difference. Turns out, I'm actually not too bad at soldering, thanks to this little tool.I don't know how durable it will be over the years, because I've only had it for a short time, but if you are like me and solder things every once in a blue moon, I'm confident this will last for some time. If you solder as a professional on an everyday basis, you should buy a professional iron. This one is more for the hobbyist and the home mechanic who needs to replace that old $10 iron for something that actually performs as advertised.

Absolutely awesome, especially compared with my old, decrepit 30w iron that I couldn't even find replacement tips for. The temperature adjuster is inconspicuous, does not require a massive base, and definitely works. It has a small non-blinding indicator LED built-in, which is nice for reminding you that it's on. The extra tips are a nice touch although I haven't used any but the standard point. They are much more convenient to change than the threaded little rods on my old iron.It's a remarkable feeling when you have a precise instrument that works with you rather than against you.I used to use a big 100 watt soldering gun for bigger jobs, but with this one being so versatile, the gun may not be getting much use.

Excellent soldering iron for a good price. Very fast service. It heats up fast. Most soldering done with the heat setting dialed just under half-way. It has a comfortable feel. Good soldering pencil. I believe Hakko tips for their ceramic heater units will fit this unit.

I looked at Weller soldering irons first because they were the standard when I was growing up and Home Depot & Lowe's both carry the brand. Yet, the reviews on the WEB were really mixed and I wondered if 'the standard' had slipped a bit or if the competition had caught up. I decided to climb the price ladder and look into soldering stations (and ones with hot air guns). Man, I went down the rabbit hole for a couple days, almost pulling the trigger a couple-o-times on a $120 station. Then, after downing a triple-grande-latte, I recalled I'm a hobbyist who solders occasionally-- I don't need a $100-$200 setup. Duh. So I went back to irons and found this one with variable heat and a great review.I'm very pleased with the purchase. This is the right price and the right iron for me, the hobbyist. It heats up fast, does the little infrequent jobs I need done, fits in my toolbox and I didn't have to read a 70 page manual to operate it.

I have used many soldering irons. My favorite was my Weller commercial soldering station at about $250.00.My father worked for Plato products, now a division of TechSpray. He was an engineer and got me extremely highquality tips and soldering items. It was a great soldering station until someone decided they needed it more than I did.I wasn't going to spend that kind of money on another Weller. I purchased cheap soldering irons. All were crap.Amazon was quick to refund the items that were crap. I have watched these irons sold on ebay for over a year.But, they were 220VAC. I couldn't use it. I found the 110vac here and had to try it. It is small, light, extremely well built,Nice to use, and heats up quick. The variable temp works great. The nice thing is that it uses Hakko M900 tips thatare readily available. And, with the heating element going inside the tip, there is MUCH less heat on the outsideof the iron. It did not even discolor or smoke. On my first project, I was surprised how reasonable the tip was considering the price and and also considering I gotsome of the best gold plated tips available in the world from Plato. They are no longer made that quality. Too bad.Some of my tips were 25 years old and still in PERFECT shape. Considering the price, I am extremely satisfied with this iron.I couldn't ask for a better item. It even surpasses Weller regarding engineering. It may not be build to the standardsof Weller, but it has modern better engineering. I am happy with my purchase. I would recommend it to any hobbyenthusiast or even a professional for that matter. Can it stay on 8 hours a day and work for 25 years like Weller, Idon't know. But, for my casual projects, this is awesome!

First off, until this I have only ever used $10 el cheapo pencil irons you pick up at radio shack or wally world. So I always assumed soldering was just crazy difficult and I had no talent for it. Popped this open, plugged it in, turned it to 375 and magically I was super adequate. I knew the junk irons made things harder than they had to be, but I had no idea just how much harder they made it. Seriously, now I can solder surface mount components like nothing. If you want a great iron and don't wanna plunk down $80 or so, pick this up.

I have suffered for years on odd and end jobs where I needed a soldering iron but not enough to make a huge investment. Consequently, I ended up with cheap "super store" irons and I was always frustrated that I couldn't get my materials hot enough to get a good solder. NOT THE CASE WITH THIS BABY! The tip glows on its highest setting! I used it to solder some heavy gauge wires for an RC Drone battery which use to be pretty much impossible and incredibly frustrating since my old iron couldnt head the lead wire and the brass adapter at the same time. That always lead to weak joints and lots of cussing. This iron is worth every penny. I'm looking for stuff to solder now.

I bought this after misplacing my usual go to iron. Now I am glad I lost it. This heats up substantially faster than my previous soldering iron and the adjustable temperature is a must have feature. Also, the five bits that it comes with are of very high quality. I purchased this with a $5 Elenco soldering iron holder and could not be happier.

Surprising good Solder Iron! I've had a Weller for upwards of 20 years and needed to replace the tips. I was surprised at the cost of the tips (needed 3 new tips). Found the Vastar unit with multiple tips while searching Amazon.Com. After reading the reviews, I decided to give it a try...I've used the Vastar now for 2 weeks. Unit heats quickly, temperature adjustment appears to work properly, unit is lightweight, changing tips is quick and easy (be sure it has cooled down!) and soldering is nice and precise! I highly recommend the unit!FOLLOWUP: I've used the heck out of this Soldering Iron. My original 5 Star Rating stands. Handle gets warm after extended use however, not uncomfortably so. Two important things to keep in mind - 1) Tips must be tinned properly on first use (search internet on "How To") and 2) tighten tip ring before each use as it has a tendency to slightly loosen after repeated heating cycles.Note that I like the Soldering Iron so much, for Christmas 2015, I ordered 2 additional units and gifted them to my Son-in-Law and Brother-in-Law.

It's my first soldering iron, but it seems to get the job done. I've done soldering of wires together, LEDs to wires, etc. Tomorrow I'll be testing it with perfboard, but it hasn't really given me anything to complain about, especially at this price. Included solder works well for what I've used it for.

This is a step up from the "circuit shack" irons available locally. I bought this for the tips and the adjustable temperature. If you crank it up too high, the tip will GLOW!! But anyhow it heats up fast and I had no problem using it for my needed application of the day. Don't hesitate to buy this product. It's good value. (not sure about longevity) but the interchangeable tips are a big plus at this price point. If you keep the tips clean then you should be fine. I bought the ML Tools Soldering Iron Stand holder to go with this. Great match!

Love this soldering iron and have built many drones with it. It can get hot enough for doing the larger xt60 connectors and yet run cool enough for small gauge soldering like video and signal wires. I'm on my second as I broke the temperature knob on the first but I only half blame the product as I wasn't so gentle with it. That being said if you use this thing as much as I do,...17 bucks is quite a deal and I don't mind picking up a new if the reason it broke is my fault. If your serious about soldering you'll likely want something of higher quality but for quick jobs and hobby type RC soldering this thing is perfect and doesn't break the bank.

It is what it is, a $10 soldering iron. It heats up quickly. The 'temperature' knob on it is worthless though. Mine is either cold to the touch or extremely hot. I left it to warm up for a few minutes one time in a stand and came back and the whole tip was red hot. Comes with several tips which is nice. I've used this for some basic through hole soldering and had good luck with it. If you're looking for something sensitive or that you can actually control the temperature look elsewhere but for basic projects for a beginner it's not too bad.

This is a decent soldering iron for the price, but be aware that the temperature isn't really regulated by a thermostat (minus one star) as the tiny dial markings imply. The temperature setpoint dial functions as a 'light dimmer' to increase or decrease power going to the heating element. You can see the tiny red LED go from dim to bright as you adjust the dial. If it were an actual thermostat the LED would turn off if you adjusted the setpoint lower than the iron's actual temperature. However, you do still have the ability to adjust the amount of heat (probably 15-60 watts) you need in a given situation, by trial and error, and that is useful. The tiny tip functions nicely and I like having spare tips.

The assortment of tips are nice, especially if you are putting together a smaller kit, with a small board. The smaller ones definitely help avoid creating solder bridges. The adjustable heat is also nice, although takes some getting used to the correct setting. For a cheap iron this is definitely worth picking up. You may want to be weary of purchasing from some of the third party sellers because some of the reviews mention missing tips. I ordered mine through Amazon and everything arrived as expected.

This is Chinese knock off of a Hakko soldering iron. I was skeptical at first due to the price but decided to give it a try given the positive reviews. Does this compare to the $200+ Weller soldering station I occasionally use at work? No, but then again it costs 1/10 the price! Some people had issues with the tips. Mine showed up with the tips in the picture. The tips are not perfect, but are still nice tips and very useable.I have used the iron a few times now. It heats up quickly and holds temp. I have done some rework of small contacts on a PC board and was impressed. My only complaint is the temperature control is tiny!If you do not already have a soldering iron station, I would buy something that comes with a station. If you already have a soldering iron station and are just replacing an old soldering iron, then give this one serious consideration.For the price, this soldering iron is hard to beat!

Great little iron. It took a while to heat up the first time I used it, but in the end it is good. After the initial heat up I was able to de-solder some lead free capacitors from that needed to be replaced on my ASUS RT-16 wireless router. I already flashed Tomato on the router and didn't feel like buying a new router and setting all the QOS settings again. This iron allowed me to swap out the bad capacitors and now my router works good again. I like the knob to change heat temps and it comes with 3 heads. Now I'm going to fix my TV power supply.

First let me note that the one star reviews are correct: if you set the temperature too hot and run it too long, it will melt the housing. The first one I had melted at 400C after about an hour, but the company gave me a refund without asking me to send it back. I've tested it after failure and it can run at 350C for several hours without a compromise, so I bought another one because I can't replace the tips on the first one after the melting incident.The tip gets hot extremely quickly and it does a good job of controlling the temperature if you want it to stay cool, which is a combination you generally have to pay a great deal more for, so despite the fact that the control allows you to melt the iron, I'm still giving it 4 stars. It can't do 400 safely, but even 350 is sufficient for almost anything and as long as you don't turn the knob to 400 it's a great iron.

Just received this product (not for free or a reduced price). Everything appears to be there and intact with no noticeable defects. I sure hope the soldering iron is built better than the spelling on the package. Electical, Transistpr, Condenstor, oslder, somoke, brunt, Arter.... not to mention the incomplete sentences and poor grammar. I guess if it lasts a year and doesn't burn something down I got what I paid for. We will see and I will update the review if necessary.Update: 5/10/2017 - So far this soldering iron has worked well and it still in fine shape. I have used it on multiple projects and it out lasted the Radio Shack soldering iron I purchased in the past. Upgraded to 4 stars.

This is a great little iron, it gets the job done-I have used it everyday while working on a project and it has held up no problem. It is not the hottest iron in the world but for electrical soldering it works great! The only issue I have with it is that the tip unscrews with the change in temp so every time you start you iron up again you have to remember to check it-I would use a wrench to tighten it but the body is light weight and doesn't feel super durable so I don't want to break it or get it stuck

At max temperature this worked great to replace ten capacitors on three computer systems at my office. It took a little getting used to. The included solder doesn't have a rosin core. I bought my own. I used a slightly sharper tip with solder wick. This is the first solder iron I've used that had different tips. It was also the third time I soldered anything in my life, with the first being a capacitor on a monitor power supply and the second being a wire harness for my car stereo. Other wise, I don't really have any strong feelings about this device.

Being a 110V 60W iron, it heats up pretty quick and does a good job. I imagined it to be a lot thicker, and it has slight trouble seating in my spring type soldering iron holder, but oh well. The tips need to be tinned before the first use and after each use. You can watch a YouTube video on that if you are unfamiliar. The extra tips can be attached by unscrewing the previous one out of the metal sleeve (when it cools off) and simply loading the next one in place and screwing it back together. The coil of soldier in the tube that the solder iron comes with resembles a spring and is very thin, but works fine. The dial of the temperature control knob has really small print. Using a magnifying glass, I found that it can go from 200- 450 degrees Celsius.

Great soldering iron for printed circuit board work. I like having temperature control. The temperature control know is much smaller than I expected and you might need glasses to read it.

Works well heats fast

it turns off randomly, a small adjustment to the rheostat thermal controller starts it up again but it may be just my product. other than that, it's a nice burner.

After being used for just a few hours, the cord shorted out where it enters the handle. Lot's of sparks and pops and smoke.Revision:Seller contacted me after reading my review. They sent me a replacement. I'll use it for a while and update if I don't have any problems with it. Upping my rating to 3 stars for the good customer service.

The regulation is working but at full power the tip overheats and gets red. That much heat is never needed for soldering.

It warms up quickly but the quality is poor. The heating element is not straight so it looks like the tip is broken, when it's not. It comes across as being mass-produced made-in-China quality.

The temperature dial text is too small to read easily. A bigger knob with a bigger text is needed. The grip is a comfortable size, but could be insulated from the heat a bit better. I had it on about 300 and the grip felt warm but not hot. Overall it did its job though.

It's pretty flimsy. Tightening the tip retainer nut doesn't inspire confidence. I can also see why some people seem to have had issues with the body melting apart. Mine showed up with no knob for temp control, just a hole in the body and the potentiometer exposed. I have to use a small phillips screwdriver to adjust it. However, it seems to work pretty well. I had to crank it up pretty high to get it to work with the larger tip I was using. I was soldering crimp-on fork terminals onto 8ga wire. Not a challenge for my other Hakko clone soldering station. The tips also seem to oxidize as soon as you wipe them on a wet sponge, but it works. I'll use it until it falls apart, which I'm sure won't be too long.Update 2-14-2017: The seller contacted me about my less than glowing review and offered to try to make it right with either a full refund or a new iron. I chose the replacement iron. This one came with the adjustment dial and the updated solder tube. It still feels kinda flimsy and the handle gets warm near the plastic nut, but both irons still work fine. I've used the old one for soldering terminals onto fairly heavy wire and it hasn't melted yet. I even tried to crank it up and solder a piece of 16ga zinc with it, a job usually reserved for heavy plumber's irons. It didn't work, and I really didn't expect it to, but it didn't fall apart either. I can't give it 4 stars because it is still just an adequate iron, but for the money, it's well worth the risk.

Ordered this to replace my Weller sp40.60w with all the tips for tiny to medium jobs, I thought.Maybe I expected more, being used to the 40w Weller and the heat holding of the heavy tips, this iron loses heat too quick for making battery packs.I'll just use this for work.

Looks pretty fragile, but it works.

Does exactly what it says. My only complaint is that the temperature adjustment dial is very easy to turn so if you're not careful about how you hold it you'll bump the dial up or down 100 C which can make a big difference in temperature-sensitive components. Would be better if the dial took more force to turn.

The product itself works very well, but the fact that you have to pay extra for the stand is just silly. Unless you have an extra person helping you, it could be difficult and even dangerous to solder alone, especially when you're working with multiple items at once, one of which is a freakin' iron at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. I thought it would come with it standard, but turns out it was something that needed to be added.

The product works fine, just as one would think it to work but i received multiple emails wanting me to leave a review. That was annoying.

After not much use and putting it down for a few minutes the metal part seems to have become lopsided. The tips have trouble with melting soldier and are constantly oxidizing. Worked well until it failed. The metal part has now fallen off of the iron.

It worked just fine, until I accidentally set the temperature too high. The temperature control is very small and it's not easy to see the setting and during handling it must have rotated without me noticing. After about 5 minutes I started smelling melted plastic and when I picked up the iron from a holder the heated metal portion of the iron started sagging at about a 30 degree angle from the plastic handle portion, kinda like a boomerang shape, no longer straight. The iron still works but it's awkward to hold bent as it is, and probably also unsafe, so I replaced it, of course. Kind of sad because I liked this iron. It was compact and did the job well before it self-destructed. The manufacturer should either provide better thermal separation between the metal and plastic or adjust the temperature control so it can't be set high enough to damage the iron.

It seems like it would work fine enough for lower temperatures, but I have a really hard time believing that the ceramic element is in fact reaching/ maintaining temperatures of 450° C.

I know this is an inexpensive soldering iron but it's still not worth the money in my opinion. On the first use (about 2 hours of soldering) the rubber base started to show signs of melting. I have 25 year old irons that have stood up better than this. My recommendation is to spend a few more dollars and get something better made.

A better heat regulator/monitor is needed (in my opinion). Additionally, solder points do not retain their tinning (require frequent attention) before they become so oxidized they won't hold or retain a tinning.

I am very particular about the quality of tools i purchase, this was needed for a project that required a low heat solder. I expected the quality to be better and was disappointed by the packaging. The tips seem to not hold up well, one of the fine ones bending, and just overall looking rather used after a single use.It got the job done so I cannot fault the functionality, however the quality lacks in this tool and I would continue looking if I were to purchase an adjustable temperature soldering iron again.

When I cranked up the heat to over 400 degrees, the connecting between the medal part and its rubber/plastic sheath melted.

Used one time and the iron MELTED ITSELF, within three minutes at 370... It dropped just inches from me and nearly caused serious injury. Ridiculous! This product is just as bad as those with exploding batteries. Given other recent reviews, they obviously didn't always make the product this way, they must have recently started using cheaper parts. And given the extremely short length of time it took to melt, there is no possible way this design, with these cheaper posts, was properly tested... All at the expense of there customer's safety. Shameful! I will never buy this companies products again. Safety is important to me, just as it's supposed to be important to Vastar.Update: AlizonTech contacted me to offer a refund. They mentioned that that issue I experienced is rare, but can happen in some defective devices. I increased the star rating as some may want to purchase anyhow, with the knowledge that it should be well tested before use... But AlizonTech will work with you if something goes wrong. I'd increase it more if this danger of defect was clearly stated.

Update: They did refund my money. So this broke after my second use. The handle melted off. It would get extremely hot. Clearly it was not insulated at all. I am very disappointed. I've included a picture of what it looks like now. I contacted the seller and they told me they were sorry. They said I must have received a faulty item and they would love to send me a new one. They would not refund me the money. Why would I want the same crappy item a second time? Please read the bad reviews and do not get this item if you will use it more than once and more than 5 minutes. This is not a professional item.

Worked for the firts 10 or fifteen uses, but the iron was left on for about 5 minutes afterwards, and the plastic surrounding the metal melted off, and the tip heated up so much thatit was red hot, completely corroded and unusable.

I bought this soldering iron based on the description - in particular the words "thermostat range 200 °C-450 °C." Unfortunately this unit does not contain a thermostat - the knob merely adjusts the power delivered to the heater. There is no thermostatic control to maintain the tip at a constant temperature - it just just keeps getting hotter and hotter until it reaches thermal equilibrium. It may be a lot to expect for the price, but the word 'thermostat" has a specific meaning and this iron doesn't do it.If you want a good iron that won't lift tracks off a PCB, get a real temperature controlled iron, not this one.

You are really getting what you pay for here. The overall design of this soldering iron feels very cheap. I would not recommend this to most people. If you are planning on soldering only once in a while, this may be a good fit for you, but if you are going to use this more than twice or three times, I would spend the extra few dollars on a higher quality soldering iron.

Do not believe all the good reviews for this item. It is nothing but cheap Chinese garbage. It has all the look and feel of a Happy Meal toy. There is no way it will withstand more than a use or two. I returned it. Amazon should be ashamed of themselves for selling junk like this. You can get a very good pencil type soldering iron from Radio Shack for 10 bucks. That is what I did after I returned this one.

I bought one to replace my old weller after reading good reviews. Bad idea!!!!!! I had it at around 250 and out of no where it got super hot and started melting the plastic before the screw nut. It got so hot it burned my tip of my finger and the tip of the iron broke!!!! Lucky I ordered one but was shipped and also charged for two! I was able to finish what i was working on but with pain in my index finger!!! I'll upload pictures when I figure out how to do it of my burn, the broken iron tip!!

This soldering iron looked good, but it only came with one tip. Like others have stated, the 5 tips were not included in my shipment.

I used it lightly for about three days. I've noticed that the iron has melted - the iron part now sticks at an angle and a part of black plastic cover is melted. Also, the tips become unusable after a couple of days of light use - they basically oxidize an fall apart. I'm not sure how long are they supposed to last, but this seems to be way too short.

The first time I used this soldering iron, it heated up OK. Not great, but it was cheap.The second time I went to use it, it was dead - the internals had melted together.I'm throwing this away and cutting my losses.

Iron did not come with the five tips. I specifically need the chisel tip, and specifically bought this because I wanted to be sure it came with a chisel tip, and it did not come with any tips. Be warned that this product may not be delivered as advertised.

This is kind of a dangerous product. It melted the first time I used it, just as other reviews are stating. I thought maybe they were being dramatic... but this iron is really bad. It can be turned up to 450C and I was only using it at 350C...

The hot metal barrel melted the plastic that holds the soldering iron together. Now the metal part is loose, sagging and falling out of the handle. It's dangerous. I guess most of the folks were using it at lower temperatures and did not have this problem. Bad design when it melts under it's own heat!

Just used for the first time, one week past the return cut off... I had the iron on the stand while I prepared my next solder joint and the joint where the metal meets the plastic melted and bent the tip out of position. Tried to fix but the heating element broke. Wouldn't recommend.09-29-16 Update: The same day I left the above review, I received an email from the vendor AlizonTech apologizing and wanting to correct the situation. They offered to send another iron free of charge for testing/review or to refund my purchase. I replied either would be fine and they very promptly refunded my purchase which is already back in my account.So one star for product but 5 stars for AlizonTech's customer service! Thank you.

Very nice product for the work I do. I had to buy some extra long thin tips for the LED lamps I have to repair, and so far this product is what I needed. The only reason it gets 4 stars instead of 5, is simply because the handle gets really hot. I have a few other products similar to these, and they do not get as hot when holding it.Update. So after being on the road and using this product for a while I'm seeing why its so cheap. The piece that screws down over the heating element is always falling apart. This is a HUGE annoyance when you're 30' in the air trying to repair LEDs on a video wall....especially when it falls off when you grab it to do a repair and all you hear is clink, clank, click, ting.......ugh. This problem and the handle getting too hot together makes this a very sub par product in my book. The ring doesn't hold this shaft piece in place.Update #2. So I am experiencing the same as others here with the handle melting. I was running it at 350° and this thing is rated for 450°!? Ummmm....nope!

The soldering iron's temperature control doesn't work correctly, I bought this primarily for welding plastic (PLA) which melts at 200C. When this iron is set to 200C it gets hot enough to burn it black. So I think it's just heating up as much as possible despite what the control is set to.This may cause damage in what you are soldering or potentially be dangerous.

Do not buy. This thing is dangerous. The heating element melted the plastic housing and fell apart within 20 minutes of use at the medium setting.