anyone here have any experience w/the coldheat soldering iron. from the commercial, it looks really good for around the house stuff and my car audio stuff

danx

It's an interesting gimmick and may be ok for occasional light use, but if you need to do any serious soldering on a regular basis a portable butane iron is a much better solution. You can get a butane iron at Radio Shack for the same price as this thing.

From BigFoot Computers user forum...

BigFoot Computers Forum Review (http://forums.bigfootcomputers.com/showthread.php?t=15238&highlight=cold+heat)

I was thinking about getting one too

cool review, just what i'm looking for, something to do light work. i don't do enough soldering to require something like a butane one.

anything serious, i take and do at work, hehe

Yeah, I was thinking the same. I was thinking mostly for joining wires in the car, because I don't feel like messing with extension cords and the chance of burning the interior.

Just a note: I've heard that the big surge of current it uses for heating can damage sensitive electronics connected to the wire/lead being soldered. In fact, their website says: "We do not recommend it for soldering of large metallic components that require a lot of heat transfer or for soldering sensitive electronic components that may be damaged by fast-rising temperatures or high electrical current. (Momentary high-amperage current will be created during active soldering.)"

Yeah, that was also mentioned in that review I posted, and my biggest concern regarding the use of it.

I could see using it for joining spliced wires before they were connected, but yeah, I wouldn't want to use it on anything electronic.

It's an interesting gimmick and may be ok for occasional light use, but if you need to do any serious soldering on a regular basis a portable butane iron is a much better solution. You can get a butane iron at Radio Shack for the same price as this thing.

Lol, I love my Radio Shack butane soldering iron, and surpisingly it cools off faster than I thought. Came with a torch end fitting I would use for shrink wrapping.

For many years I've used Wahl recharagable soldering irons. About the size of the coldheat, but no current issues, and actually heats fast and works well. But a lot more expensive...