Not a pro, but the handful of times a month I solder, the Pinecil has been great. It can use TS100 tips so easy to get different tips.

It packs easily away in a plastic shoebox with my soldering accessories and consumables along with whatever project I'm currently working on.

I have a genuine Hakko 888, a “T12 clone” and a pinecil. These clones are usually not fake Hakko products but they use the very common T12/T15 tips. I got the T12 clone because I was moving and wanted something that worked on the voltage of my new country (it has a DC power input so it’s easy to change). This clone was like $20 and works just as well if not better than the real Hakko.

But I have yet to set it up in my new place because the $25 pinecil also works just as well and is so small and works on a usb-c power supply which I always have plugged in at my desk anyway.

So really I would just recommend the pinecil as your first iron.

Pinecil is $40 now. I got one and can't figure out how to power it, it complains about my power source. Is it picky? Any ideas?

It works with my Xiaomi and Lenovo 65W chargers. Maybe you can check the power of your charger and if it supports the PD protocol.

Not really, I’ve been using it at 15V and 20V. Not sure if it will work at 12 or 9. It will work at 5.

Typo: it will not work at 5V.

Pinecils are $26 on pine64.com atm.

I got amazon'd

I have both a hakko and a ts-100, and honestly I end up just using the ts-100 most of the time as I can run it off a small battery pack.

Its kinda like having a dyson battery vacuum vs a proper AC one - the AC vacuum has way better suction, but the dyson is so light and convenient to use and good enough for most things.

Depends on the AC vacuum — my old Dyson V6 in turbo mode outsucks most AC-powered vacuums I've dealt with. Sometimes new tech is just better.

You must have used some very very shitty AC vacuums.

I have a dyson v6 and a nilfisk x150 - the nilfisk motor is 1600 watts, they aren't even in the same ballpark suction power wise.

Without the motor brush head the v6 is pretty useless even in turbo mode.

Dyson V8 here...it cant even suck a rice grain on high power mode. Worst vacuum cleaners ever

Out of curiosity I just did a bit of a google, my AC vacuum is 6x the measured suction of the dyson in turbo mode:

v6 normal - 24 air watts

v6 turbo - 100 air watts

nilfisk x150 - 600 air watts

Pinecil has been working out well for me. Haven't been using the smart parts of it, but definitely a good step up from the cheap amazon stuff.

Also discovered that the barrel jack (and power req) are compatible with some asus laptop bricks

I’m used to Weller irons, and personally had a hakko 888 but for home use (where I currenrlt don’t have a dedicated electronics bench) I love my pinecil. So convenient to just hook it up to my MacBooks brick.

I use Weller stations at work, and have a Pinecil V2 at home. Have to admit haven't use it so heavily, nor attempted to solder SMTs with it, but it seems good enough for through hole devices.

Metcal (actually OKI) changed my life, and for under $200 all in second-hand with a selection of tips and the option to add another handpiece (dual port power supply).

Stay the hell away from the USB-C ones. They are toys. And yes your friend is right: spend on a Metcal. The PS900 is decent if you don’t want to spend on a higher end iron.