Brands of solder that you trust ...

[Kiriakos-GR]

Few years back , there was many European sources " brands " , that you could easily find ,
medium to good quality of solder ...

The last time that I got , my new roll of solder , I had very few choices to select from.   

And I ended up , to buy the most branded that I could find .. called as NEDIS  Sn60 Pu40 1mm 2%Flux.
And at list it works well .

But I need to know your opinion too. 
Like the brand that you trust more , or like more .   

[flolic]

Fluitin 60/38/2 or 60/40 0.5mm

[DJPhil]

I've always used Kester and been happy, but I can't say I've tried much else. The only others I've used were no-names from Radio Shack, and the quality difference really shows. Kester's been making solder for over a century, so they've become somewhat of a standard here in the US (though I'm not sure everyone would agree). They're not the cheapest, but you know you're getting what they say you are. Check out their website, they've got a lot of useful info there.

I use the #44 series for pretty much everything, which is RA fluxed. I've got a roll of 63/37 3% 1.2mm and a chunk of 63/37 3% 0.5mm I borrowed from a friend for smaller stuff. The prices can vary depending on which dealer you get it from, but you can expect to pay between $35US/lb and $20US/lb depending on thickness.

I know they do business in southeastern Europe, and poking around on their site the closest sales contact I could find was in Bulgaria. I don't know if that's helpful or not, but I suppose you could always mail order.

[lhc]

You can believe me or not but we have a Polish factory that makes the *best* SnPb solder ever  It's called Cynel http://www.cynel.com.pl and they make a really good solder used by everyone here for long long years. Every electronic shop has it. Everyone here likes it. It's made in Europe according to high standard norms so it has no oxides (PN EN - polish industry norms), high quality and used very long by everyone here and works great.

Additional plus - it has nice smell, not like some other brands with very corrosive fluxes.

Very good quality product that makes you smell like a forest - like a true hard man, womens love it! 

[Kiriakos-GR]

Very good quality product that makes you smell like a forest - like a true hard man, womens love it! 

     

If you tell us and the retail pricing for 250gr & 500gr,
I will decide, if I will share your excitement .. and start dancing too. 

Poland , are an trusted country ( technology - heavy industry ), with very nice people.

[TheDirty]

I bought a big spool of solder from a local store a few years ago and haven't even used up a quarter of it.  It's Chinese or something.  I know it's good, because it says Super on the side.  Really, for no name solder it works really well, no complaints.

I don't use much solder now with SMD components and even less now that I try to hot air reflow quite a bit.  I had to use a bunch of through hole components about a month ago and forgot how much solder you can use up on through hole parts.

[EEVblog]

I use Multicore.
http://www.multicoreaustralia.com.au

Dave.

[desolatordan]

Kester

[lhc]

For 250g 1mm Sn60Pb40 with flux - about 6$ + shipping
500g 1mm Sn60Pb40 with flux - about 11$ + shipping

It's inexpensive like you can see, there is no point in buying some crappy noname solder because this one is great. There is no point in inporting some cheap stuff here.

I don't know if you can buy this solder in Greece.


(Few words about the smell: I like the rosin based fluxes, they have a nice smell and are not bad for your eyes and nose, just a bit of pine smoke. The more aggresive ones used mainly in lead-free solder are really horrible last one I had to use smelled like cat urin mixed with acid    )

[mikeselectricstuff]

Whatever brand I'd highly reccommend getting stuff with 2% silver - lower melting point and makes nicer looking joints more easily.

..and if you really must use lead-free  , an alloy with some silver makes it somewhat less painful.