Soldering irons come in a variety of sizes and shapes. There is a wide selection of soldering irons, soldering pencils, soldering stations and soldering guns available on market in the USA.

Which soldering iron is the best soldering iron for you depends on the soldering work you are planning to do and how often you are planning on using your soldering iron. The following four factors should be taken into consideration when picking a soldering iron that will be used for soldering projects on circuit boards:

1) ) type of the soldering tools

2 wattage of the soldering iron

3)temperature control

4) tip size and shape

Types of soldering tools

All soldering tools can be divided in four different groups

-Soldering pencils

-Soldering station

-Soldering rework /repair stations systems

-Soldering guns

Soldering pencils

Soldering pencils are the simplest (and the cheapest) soldering tool. Soldering pencils are good only for simple do-it-yourself projects. The price range of the soldering pencils is $10-$30

Soldering stations

Soldering station consists of two parts: soldering pencil and a power station. Soldering pencil is attached to a power station. Power station controls temperature of the iron tip in the wide range. It automatically keeps the iron tip at an appropriate temperature. Desired temperature of soldering iron is set with knob on the face plate of power station. Soldering station can be used for most of soldering projects. It can be used for soldering of through-hole components on circuit board as well as for soldering of very fine surface-mount components as small as 0603 and 0805. The price range of the soldering stations is $40-$150.

Soldering rework /repair stations systems

Soldering rework/repair systems are complex soldering tools which are mostly used in industry or in the high-volume manufacturing facilities. This soldering systems are the most expensive soldering tools since they usually consist of power station and 4 or 5 hand pieces including soldering iron, hot-air gun, tweezers , vacuum pump which is used for the de-soldering work. The price range of the soldering systems is $250-$2500.

Soldering guns

I do not recommend using soldering guns for fine soldering projects on circuit boards.

The most popular brand names for soldering irons in the USA are Weller, Pace and Hakko. Aoyue soldering irons are less popular brand name in the United States then Weller or Pace. However, Aoyue soldering irons are much cheaper and they are good combination of quality and price.

There is a wide selection of iron tips. Iron tips come in different shapes and sizes. For most soldering projects you can use screwdriver tip 0.062" or 0.032". For fine soldering projects and for soldering of small surface-mount components you can use conical tip 1/16".

Conclusion

I recommend a temperature controlled 50W soldering station. This soldering station will be excellent tool for most of soldering projects. My top recommendations are:

-Weller WESD51 soldering station (digital)

- Weller WES51 soldering station (analog)

- Hakko FX-888 soldering station

- Aoyue 2702A soldering station

- Pace ST-25 soldering station