WEP 948DQ-II Double Filter Fume Extractor Soldering Iron Station 2-in-1 Solder Smoke Absorber, Soldering Fan with PID Control,℉/℃, Sleep Mode, Tip Cleaner, 3 Soldering Tips, 35g Solder

Saves work bench space, spare filters, temp appears fairly accurate

This is a very basic starter soldering station. If you're like me and crimp a lot of wires and do basic electronics around the house, this is perfect for you to keep on your workbench.

I've had this for a while, but finally got to use it recently to replace a 3-way switch in my Les Paul. Worked like a charm, no issues whatsoever. I feel that this is a good budget alternative to the more pricey Weller units, perhaps if you're not relying on it for your profession. But as a hobbyist, I think this is great!

Been using this fume extractor to re-flow solder on some older automotive head units that are infamous for cracking cold solder joints, and can safely say it holds the smaller boards up without problem. Medium to larger boards may require additional assistance holding them up, but that's not the biggest benefit here. This fume extractor does a fantastic job pulling the solder fumes away from my face while soldering, although I can't comment on how well the filtering media works (do not have filtration testing equipment). For the 10 or so head units I have disassembled and reflowed / replaced solder on in the past few months, this has been phenomenal for keeping fumes out of my face!

Has excellent thermal control. The fan doesn’t pull air very effectively so you have to work pretty close to it. That’s made a little more difficult by it not having a long enough cable. Other than that it’s a good little machine.

Soldering temps go up to almost 900°f good for small to medium sized projects. Easy 3 button control and the helping hands clamps work well for Soldering connectors, wire to wire, etc. The filtration is minimal but it does get the fumes out of your face. The tray for the iron and tip cleaner is nice and keeps the hot tip safely put away. It does include multiple tips and a lead free solder. It takes up little space on your work surface and it heats up quick enough so you're not waiting for a hot soldering tip.

The good: this is a well constructed fan; it's well built, it effectively draws solder fumes away from your work as long as it's reasonably close, and is reasonably stable. It could use a somewhat larger base, to be even more stable. The fan noise is OK; it's not unbearable, but could be a lot quieter.The bad: I've read that filters on these fans do nothing to remove the smoke particulates from the air. They have some benefits; they keep you from inhaling a concentrated stream of particulates, but those particulates remain suspended in the room's air.I happen to have a particle sensor, so I set up a quick experiment. I ran the fan both with and without the filters installed, with the sensor placed behind, heated up my iron, and gave it three good dollops of solder for each run. See picture for my impromptu design.My room started fairly pristine, with a PM2.5 reading of 1 in standard units, and counts of about 83 particles per .1L. I started the test with the filters off; the fan easily sucked away the smoke and blew it out in a plume at the back. The plume didn't quite hit the sensor, unfortunately, but PM2.5 went up to 88 (2406/.1L)I waited for levels to drop back down and reran the test with the carbon filters in. You could still see a big plume of smoke come out the back, and the filters actually directed the smoke towards the sensor. With the filters in place, I now got PM2.5 readings of 642 (49,500/0.1L)!I don't think the filters actually made it worse; just redirected the plume. This was hardly a well designed test, but it did clearly show that the smoke coming out the back had *huge* levels of particulates; the activated carbon did not do a good job removing solder smoke.It's not the fault of this particular device per se; any solder fume extractor that doesn't vent to an external exhaust or huge filter bank will have similar issues. And it does have some benefit; it keeps that super concentrated smoke from hitting your nostrils. If you have a well ventilated room, don't do too much soldering, and aren't super finicky about what goes in your lungs, it's probably good enough (certainly better than inhaling directly).But the claim that the extra carbon filter on the back makes this fan better at removing particulates is misleading; this device is no better at extracting smoke than any other fan.

Needed the extra arms and clips, man does that make a difference. Before it felt like I always needed a third hand. Everything else is just an awesome addition to a regular solder set. Temperature control, filter and fan for the fumes, tip cleaner, a solder holder, yeah this is a great upgrade from what I had. Really happy with this soldering station.