Soldering Station Comparison: Circuit Specialists vs Weller vs Atten

We recently decided to put our Circuit Specialists soldering stations to the test and to compare them to some of the better-known brands.  In this experiment, we chose the Weller WE1010NA MSRP $129 to see which station provided the best heat transfer for the price. In order to do this, I performed an experiment using a 5mL beaker and evaporated 1mL of water using each soldering station.  The experiment allowed me to compare the heat transfer rate of each of the stations I measured from Circuit Specialists to the Weller station. The goal was to allow us to quantify which stations performed the best among the ones we sell.  The data would also allow us to determine the rate of heat transfer per dollar that each station offered.  Since one station, the CSI8786D includes both a hot air gun and soldering iron we applied a correction factor to the account for the 2 in 1 nature of that station.

The experiment was performed by using a 5mL beaker, an FG-100 soldering thermometer, a CSI6500 digital thermometer, an infrared thermometer, and my cell phone for stopwatch. The FG-100 was used before each tip was submerged to ensure all the tips were within close temperature proximity before being submerged. Each station was set to 300-310 (avg 304) degrees Celsius before each measurement. I then measured the temperature of the room walls with the infrared thermometer to test the environmental temperature. The CSI6500 was used to measure the temperature of the water. The stopwatch was started at the same time as I submerged the tip into the beaker. The results are below.

The data collected was extremely surprising to me. I had no idea that the Circuit Specialists CSI-STATION-75D and CSI-PREMIER-75W stations would perform so well. At their respective price point, they really are a good buy if you’re looking for best heat transfer for the price. 

I’m still a fan favorite of the Atten stations and use one on my bench.  Since the Atten ST-60 and ST-100 soldering stations also performed well I’m glad to see that the data supported my preference for those stations and it isn’t just subjective. Some relevant specs in the metric used here are excluded and will be compared in future posts.  The J/s per dollar dimension does a pretty good job of capturing the fundamental value of each soldering station though. It also should be a good indicator of its ability to melt solder effectively for the price. The other dimensions that have yet to be tested, such as quality of circuit design, warranty, ruggedness, cost of heater replacements, and lastly cost of extra tips should quantify which stations really are the best for the money.  However, even with the data given, it’s not hard to see which stations are better for each dollar spent when it comes to raw thermal transfer. My next set of data collection will be on the quality of the circuit design, and some way to test the life cycle of each station, and heater. I have yet to formulate a test, but stay tuned.

If you’d like to see a few of the experiments, and watch how I test the evaporation, the videos are below in a playlist. Thanks