soldering station irons with a very flexible cable

[mcinque]

I'm looking for a BASIC, new soldering station and I'd like to buy one with a soldering iron with a thin and very, very flexible cable.

I'm using Xytronic and it's a good product for the price, but the iron cable it's a total mess: I hate when the iron cable folds on itself and does not stretch easily.

I'd like to have the same flexibility of the lab silicon cables.

What do you suggest? Hakko or Weller?

[GreyWoolfe]

I have a Hakko 936 and the cable is very flexible.  Go with the FX-888D.  I am sure the cable is just as flexible.

[poorchava]

I own a Xytronic too (LF1600) and the cable is kinda bad, but I've used worse. Unfortunately your options for reasonable price are very limited to non-existant.
Hakko and JBC are very expensive in EU. Basic JBC is over 400€. I would consider Ersa I-Con Nano or Pico depending on your needs, they have a comfortable pen. Weller also seems nice but I haven't had any hands-on experience with lower end models.

I'm thinking about just replacing the cable with some thin shielded 4-wire cable and that's all.

[NiHaoMike]

I can agree with the Hakko FX888 having a flexible cable.

[nanofrog]

FWIW, Weller also uses flexible cables (silicone). But so should most, if not all, of the major brands (Weller, Hakko, Ersa, JBC, Metcal, ...).

Pricing will likely be an issue though, but used might be an alternative to consider (base unit + iron as a bare minimum to make it work).

[DL8RI]

Hi,

in terms of flexible cable, i've (until now) had nothing better as the Weller WS81 (newer edition).

It's a little bit thicker than most other ones, but very flexible.

[mcinque]

thank you all