Cold Heat Type Soldering Iron....truth behind the hype?

[Caesar]

I am looking to get a new Soldering Iron and was interested in the COld Heat type ones, i see one by Coleman and the as seen on tv one the COld Heat... any others out there? anyone use both? or had one and had problems?

thanks for any info...

 

[jhooten]

They are ok for big work like making up cables. The tip is too big to do circuit board work.

I was given mine as a present. After working with it and knowing what I know about it, I am glad I didn't buy it for myself. It is the one I grab when I need to just do one quick connection and don't want to wait for the plug in iron to heat up and cool down. For board work it is the plug in with the smaller tip even if it means waiting for the heat up and cool down.

My opinion, YMMV.

 

[Caesar]

ah ok, thanks...any suggestions for a power rating and solder type gun for both cable ends and curcuit boards? or just one that i can change the ends/tips on?

 

[Bow]

ah ok, thanks...any suggestions for a power rating and solder type gun for both cable ends and curcuit boards? or just one that i can change the ends/tips on?

25 Watt Pencil Iron...

 

[jvasquez496]

I have one of these and i love it. You can purchase other tips for the unit, bevel, conical and chisel. I use if for working on circuit boards with the conical tip to soldering larger wires with the bevel and chisel tips. I have to say it does take some time to get used to but once you do it is great. I also have a Hako Soldering station I use for SMT work but I now use my Cold Heat for everything else.

 

[KT4HX]

Here are some Cold Heat reviews that might help you decide whether its right for you or not.

http://www.xyzcomputing.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=191&Itemid=2

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=282117&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6151688[/url]

 

[Dubbin]

Had one, took it right back. They are a total joke!!!

 

[djeplett]

It is definitely only for small jobs. I tried repairing an old Lionel train with it and it died on me. I ended up going to a Radio Shack to get my money back. The guy behind the counter wasn't happy returning my money since it wasn't bought at his store. Apparently he got several of them back and he had never sold one. He claimed it was hard for him to get credit from Radio Shack.

 

[SCPD]

They suck! The first time I tried to use mine it wouldn't get hot enough for the job and the tip broke. I went back to using my Weller iron I've had for 15 years.

 

[TeRayCodA]

A soldering iron that runs on batteries? -no thanks,I'll keep my trusty old collection of Wellers!(I would be more inclined to use a portable butane iron for remote work anyway)
I always wondered how well the cold heat performed.

 

[james32746]

A soldering iron that runs on batteries? -no thanks,I'll keep my trusty old collection of Wellers!(I would be more inclined to use a portable butane iron for remote work anyway)
I always wondered how well the cold heat performed.

Yah, I got one of those for christmas and after breaking 3 tips (2 bevel and 1 conical), I went back to the Radio Shack soldering station that was there before. It works much much better and I don't get as burned when I use it even though it takes longer for the thing to heat up and melts the solder quickly unlike the cold heat which took several times.

 

[Halfpint]

A soldering iron that runs on batteries? -no thanks,I'll keep my trusty old collection of Wellers!(I would be more inclined to use a portable butane iron for remote work anyway)
I always wondered how well the cold heat performed.

I've actually got a couple battery powered soldering irons that actually work as advertised. Both are WAHL `ISOTip' irons. One has a `dedicated?' NiCad battery pack and the other takes a pair of `C' sized batteries and with NiMh ones does a dang good job for quite a reasonably long time. (With the NiMh batteries I was able to almost 2 1/2hrs of soldering time which is actually pretty close to the actual time spent doing soldering under something like a repair shop environment! [The really great part was that because the tip isn't kept hot all the time the tip should probably outlast one on an iron that is on all the time by about a factor of 5.] ) About the only drawback to both WAHL irons is that they are fairly bulky compared to even the largest of the Weller Butane irons. (I've got 4 different Weller Butane irons, 2-3 Portasol Butane irons, and a couple `oddball' butane irons that I use or have used laying around.)

Now... Having said that I have and use both battery powered and butane powered irons I also have to say that as good as the majority of the ones *I* own are I *still* prefer a good old `plug in' iron.

Given what I've managed to see the few times I've gotten to see them and from what I've read here and other places I really *don't* think that this `Cold Heat' iron just isn't worth wasting one's money on. One could be better off going and getting a decent quality corded iron of between 25 - 35 watts and maybe a decent butane iron like the Weller WSTA3 Pyropen or Weller/Portasol and have, between the pair, the majority of the soldering jobs one might run into pretty much covered. It might cost you more than the `ColdHeat' iron but even if one doesn't take perfect care of them they should last long enough to hand down and maybe get handed down a second or third time after that. (OK... Maybe the butane powered ones may only get handed down once unless one has stocked up on tips and butane cylinders. {WAN GRIN!} But, I think you get my meaning. Buy quality, take care, and keep enough of the `disposables'/`replacment parts' around and they should last longer than you. {CHORTLE!})

 

[HabboX]

I bought a Cold Heat soldering iron. I was a sucker. Any other suckers out there that would like to buy mine? :wink:

 

[bsavery]

I bought a Cold Heat soldering iron. I was a sucker. Any other suckers out there that would like to buy mine? :wink:

I'll trade ya some Arizona swampland fer it! :wink:

:lol:

Bob

 

[ncarpenter]

Seriously, how does one break a tip? Are you ramming the tip into concrete?? I've had my Cold Heat iron for almost a year now, and I have to say I'm quite impressed! I use NiMH batteries instead of regular batteries, because they have a higher amperage. I do carry a regular pencil iron because I think we can all agree northing beats the original!

I find the biggest complaint on the cold heat gun is the fact that no one knows how to properly use one! It takes some practice to get the split-style tip just right, but I can even do pc board work quite easily now that I use the thing a lot. (I am in the radio-repair business, fyi)

And I don't care what anyone says, the tip is still too hot to touch immediately after soldering something!

Anyways, just my input.

 

[Nemo46]

The irons work quite well as long as you use high amp batteries. We normally suggest using lithium batteries as they will last for quite awhile. If you use standard alkaline, the tip just doesn't get hot enough and you press to hard, breaking the tip. If you still have one lying around, try lithium batteies, and I think you will be pleased with the results.

Matthew - KE5AFU
RadioShack Manager

 

[DaveNF2G]

I got one as a birthday present this year. After getting past the rather steep learning curve, I found it to work as advertised. It takes a bit of coordination, but it DOES do what they say.

Thanks for the suggestions about higher-amperage batteries, though. That will help, I think.

 

[JnglMassiv]

We normally suggest using lithium batteries as they will last for quite awhile.

I just wrote a long post advising against interchanging 3 volt lithium cells with 1.2-1.5v alkaline/NiMH/Nicad but I looked up some info for a reference site. I didn't realize Energizer makes a 1.5v AA lithuim cell. Does anyone know in general terms how they achieve this?

 

[Nemo46]

The Energizer 1.5 volt AA batteries were what I was referring to. They cost a bit, but are well worth it as they last for a very long time. They also make ones in the AAA size.

 

[CLB]

You can always take the tip off and use it as a flashlight like I do when working on boards.