Weller BP 650. Why?

[tszaboo]

Browsing throug soldering equipment, I came across this today:
http://uk.farnell.com/weller/bp650eu/soldering-iron-batt-powered/dp/2373982?Ntt=bp650
WELLER - BP650EU - SOLDERING IRON, BATT POWERED

"Powerful 4,5 watt / 4,5 volt iron heats to working temperature in under 30 seconds"
It is not on weller website. It costs 20 GBPs but it is 13EUR on the other websites, significanly cheaper.
My question is: WHY? Why does this exist? Why do they use a respected German name for a noname cheap plastic toy? Is it possible that Farnell was fooled? I demand reviews in case it was not. How bad can this thing be, with pathetic, 4,5W heating?
(can someone put this thread in the other equipment section? Stupid me.)

[Carrington]

With more Watts. 
http://www.tme.eu/es/details/wel.bp860ceu/soldador-de-resistencia-y-transform/weller/bp865ceu/#

[Tac Eht Xilef]

It is not on weller website. It costs 20 GBPs but it is 13EUR on the other websites, significanly cheaper.
My question is: WHY? Why does this exist? Why do they use a respected German name for a noname cheap plastic toy? Is it possible that Farnell was fooled? I demand reviews in case it was not. How bad can this thing be, with pathetic, 4,5W heating

Nope, it's the genuine article, p164 of the Apex tools EU catalogue (Apex own Weller).

[tszaboo]

With more Watts. 
http://www.tme.eu/es/details/wel.bp860ceu/soldador-de-resistencia-y-transform/weller/bp865ceu/#

"BP860CEU Dual Power Battery-powered Soldering Iron delivers either 8 watts of power
on low setting level I (450°C) or 11 watts on high setting level II (510°C)"

Stupid me, I always solder at around 350°C. Can they really deliver the same quality, for a battery powered equipment for 13 EUR? It is a price of a tip. I mean, cannot they just make a "Wuang-Tseng, designed by weller" brand and use that brand?

[Jarrod Roberson]

I bought one of these from Fry's in the US to use for "field repairs".

It was HORRIBLE, takes forever to get up to temp, then as soon as you touch the solder to it, it cools off and the solder sticks to the tip.

By the time you get what you are trying to join hot enough for the solder to bind to the batteries are dead!

I was simply trying to solder a 2032 battery holder into a PCB, it was impossible.

Took it back the next day and got my money back. Complete crap! Don't waste your time or money!

[David Hess]

Iso-Tip made the first usable (for weak definitions of usable) cordless soldering irons that I remember and while they do work, they are not up to heavy soldering jobs at all.  They say 200 soldering connections which is about right in my experience although I only use mine as a last resort.  I inherited a couple of them but never would have bought one for myself.

http://www.iso-tip.com/

[david77]

Weller has had the "cheap" line for years already, nearly all the red coloured irons/stations are the consumer grade crap. They do not show them in the same Weller catalogue as the good blue stuff.
You can find the red Weller tools in many DIY shops here in Germany.

[IanB]

I have both the Radio Shack and the Hakko portable battery irons. Both work fine to make electronics sized solder joints. A key factor in both is that they take 4 AA cells (not 3), and that I use rechargeable NiMH cells in them to handle the heavy load. They do not replace a bench iron, but they do the job if you have no mains nearby.

[bronson]

When I have no mains nearby, I reach for the $40 propane pencil.  Variable temp, lots of thermal mass, nice small tips.

I had a battery powered iron back in the day.  Never.  Again.

[6E5]

Weller has had the "cheap" line for years already, nearly all the red coloured irons/stations are the consumer grade crap. They do not show them in the same Weller catalogue as the good blue stuff.
You can find the red Weller tools in many DIY shops here in Germany.

Agreed. a few years ago I bought a $30 red Weller solder station. Horrible, and utterly useless.

I only use Weller for their 8200 and D550 soldering guns. However, I refuse to buy them new, preferring to stick to the old pre-Cooper Group series. The new kind use a cheap system to connect the tip to the gun, which makes poor contact and fails quickly.

[tszaboo]

Weller has had the "cheap" line for years already, nearly all the red coloured irons/stations are the consumer grade crap. They do not show them in the same Weller catalogue as the good blue stuff.
You can find the red Weller tools in many DIY shops here in Germany.

I actually have a mini 2000 series iron from them. Plug into the mains, done. I had this for years, I only had to replace the tips, and I did not see any quality problems. But now, that you mentioned this, indeed, the cheap stuff is red, the quality one is grey-blue, and that 2000 iron is the latter. Good to know.