JBC DIT soldering station review.

[Kibi]

I decided that it was time to upgrade my soldering station from my Aoyue 937 station (a good little unit mind you).
I was torn between the Hakko FX-888 or this JBC DIT station with C245 hand piece. I was feeling a bit flush, so I ended up getting the JBC. The idea being that I won't have to upgrade again for a long time if I got the JBC.

The box arrived today. It being rather larger than I thought.


It was very well packaged, bordering on extreme perhaps. I was immediately impressed by the fact that it is supplied with the correct mains lead for this country.






Rear of the control unit.


So, before we switch it on, let's take the back off of it!




PCB behind the front panel and LCD.


Rear PCB.


USB connector.


Power input connections.


The stand connects to the control unit via a cable about 500cm long. Then the hand piece connects underneath the stand.


So, upon power up, it enters sleep mode and heats the tip to 180 degrees in a few seconds.


When you remove the hand piece from the stand it reaches 350 degrees in 2 seconds. It may overshoot by about 2 or 3 degrees. Nothing to cry about really as it recovers almost instantly.


If you leave the hand piece in the stand for more than 30 minutes then the power is cut off to the tip altogether.


The cable between the control unit and the stand runs down the back of the bench and is plenty long enough for me to adopt split level positioning of the components to save bench space. Yet, the cable for the hand piece still originates from the stand so there are no wires dangling down from the shelf. I can even pull the stand forward if I like and the control unit cable is long enough.



The soldering stand is nice and heavy (1.3Kg) with good rubber feet. The cleaning station weighs 860g and does not move at all when you poke the iron around at it. Although it has a fan it's not very loud, and you won't hear it at all if Dave and Chris are jabbering away in the background

I applied some solder to the tab of a TO220 package and it heated it quickly without a hint of undershoot while the power meter on the control unit was registering only 20%. If I had a bigger tip more suitable for TO220 tabs for instance, I'd have got better performance . The 50W C245 hand piece very light and comfortable to use. It's cable is very flexible and surprisingly thin. The springy cable management thingy keeps the cable out of the way, but I didn't feel much resistance from it when the cable between it and the hand piece reached it's limit. There is enough cable to adjust to suit anyway.
I am very impressed with this station, well I'd want to be at that price!

[Fraser]

Nice soldering station 

[shebu18]

Looks great. The tools from JBC are just great. I also like the details they put in their products.

[nanofrog]

Very nice! 

I skipped on a JBC over costs for a Weller (WD1001), and now I'm wondering if I made the right decision...   

[tekfan]

That's one nice station. The thermal response must be amazing. People put USBs on just about everything today. It won't be long untill they start making screwdrivers with a USB stick inside. Oh wait, they already do.

[metalphreak]

What is the USB for anyway? Just software/firmware updates?

[Kibi]

What is the USB for anyway? Just software/firmware updates?

Yes, it's for firmware updates.

[M. András]

i like that power meter in this unit, it wouldnt be a bad thing for the weller units too

[nukie]

I like JBC, looks overly complicated.

[kaz911]

I have just posted a mini review of the Little Brother to this station here (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/product-reviews-photos-and-discussion/jbc-cd-2bb-solder-station-mini-review-with-pictures/)

Thanks for the DIT review. I am very happy with my CD-2BB the quality is great - in both stations.

/Kasper

[Lectrode]

Nice station indeed although why would you be comparing an advanced $600 JBC with an entry level $100 Hakko FX-888 station instead of the FM-203 or FX-951? It's like racing a Pinto against a Challenger.

[T4P]

Nice station indeed although why would you be comparing an advanced $600 JBC with an entry level $100 Hakko FX-888 station instead of the FM-203 or FX-951? It's like racing a Pinto against a Challenger.

Agreed. I love the FX-951 when i tried it out at my school ( i didn't know there existed one till i walked to the "Mobile Devices Sector" )
Weller is pretty shit compared to this ( their recent attempts has been less than stellar )

[Kibi]

Nice station indeed although why would you be comparing an advanced $600 JBC with an entry level $100 Hakko FX-888 station instead of the FM-203 or FX-951? It's like racing a Pinto against a Challenger.

Sorry if I came across wrong. I wasn't trying to compare the two products side by side. What I meant was that had eventually narrowed my long list down to these two and went for the JBC in end. For me, the Hakko was attractive because of the price and the JBC was attractive because of the features and quality. The JBC is expensive, but you only live once, and this iron should last a lifetime, and it's an absolute pleasure to use.