This is one of the best reviews of the KSGER soldering station in English that I have seen. Thanks! Unfortunately, this release (SW ver. 3.0) has several SW bugs. Hope these SW bugs will not bother you during your work with this soldering station. There are several other soldering stations from KSGRE that work much stable (SW releases: 2.1S, 2.09 for example) just in case. Anyhow these stations based on T12 soldering tips are definitely very good in comparison with others in terms of prices/functionality.
@@nurfuermist Hi! Based on my experience: 1. A tip calibration couldn't be done (for any T12 soldering tip) due to SW limits for an input value on a third step of the calibration process. Almost all tips cannot reach a temperature higher than 390 C. But the input limits for the third calibration point temperature are between 400 and 460C. It is a feature of this SW release only. 2. If you use this station with a battery an automatic cut off function does not work when a battery voltage drops below a preset threshold. Even a thresholds setup submenu works incorrectly (voltage input fields cover two submenu titles). Never use the “Low Voltage Protection” settings to avoid further problems with the station. You may even get an inoperative device due to other logical errors related to thresholds handling. 3. An information about current soldering tip type is not available anymore on a main screen. You could not get this info back on the main screen via setup menu anymore. 4. All fonts and styles were changed in not a proper way (let’s say). The screen covered a very deep tinted glass with these tiny fonts is not easily readable. 5. A clock on the main screen is just a “good” example. You need a magnifier glass to read it. 6. The soldering station sometimes hangs when you push it to Sleep mode by fast rotating of an encoder. You need switch a power off/on to proceed. 7. A function "Knob Setup" does not work correctly. Just do not use it to avoid any problems. Pushing the station to factory default after any changes in "Knob Setup" menu will bring a problem.
Ah... missed something? 8. Temperature presets (five customer's setting) cannot be picked up by pressing and rotating the encoder in Temperature setting submenu. Trying this you will get back to Main screen within couple of seconds. You have to be rather fast to cope with this challenge. But this is not so important as the rest...
I spent $50 Australian on a basic soldering iron in 2011, it still works to this day and does me well. I am not sure what technology is needed in a soldering iron. It gets hot, melts solder and cools down when turned off. The heat mass is a function of the element capacity and the tip. It is the tip and the person that make the quality. Technology only adds things like sleep time, or programmable heat settings. There is not much else to change in what is essentially an electric heater heating a tip. The T12's have become popular due to the cheap price of the clones and easily available tips, but I don't think technology really changes much. It's pretty well the same as now in 2022 as the one you have.
I purchased one of these a few months ago. For what it is and the price point, I found it perfect for hobby use. Being in the US, I off course wanted to change the temp reading to Fahrenheit, but after tediously going through all menus, I could not find it. I just decided to start thinking in Celsius :-).
got mine directly from the official ksger store on aliexpress, had to wait a few weeks before I could use it. unfortunately, it was pretty much DOA and cant make a dispute as its too late. i have contacted them with no response. The station just keeps on power cycling when u plug in the iron. I saw another video with a similar issue so I've bought another t12 iron hoping that will fix it. the station itself seems glitchy as sometimes it freezes and i have to manually restart it. I've double checked all the wires inside the station and the iron and nothing seems to be out of place. anyone have any ideas? Would love to get this thing to work. SW release for my version is 2.09.
To bad all these hakko clones and 3rd party t12 compatible stations insist on using a (ball switch) tilt sensor in the handle, instead of simply copying hakko's stand with the microswitch or a lightswitch or hall sensor... Does it actually enter sleep mode when the handpiece sits in a stand at a 15° or more angle?
@@rudyshobbychannel I have ordered V2.1 which was ~39€. Now I am tempted to cancel the order and get the V3.0 for ~32€. Do you have any idea what might be the difference between them?
Srđan Letina I have no idea. I saw those older versions too and wondered about the price difference. I just bought the latest version. The only bug I found is strange behavior after setting the sensor zero point. So I simply don't touch that. Possibly my temperature readings are not correct now, but I don't mind that ... I only care about how well it solders and how easy it is to adjust and how it has this sleep mode ... and all that works very well.
Rudysmodelrailway I was just Browsing the „official“ KSGER store on AliExpress. Turns out there is no finished unit based on HW3 and SW3 *but* one can buy the STM32 controller PCB alone for around €15. I‘ve just received my finished unit with HW 2 so I will probably not upgrade. Nice to see that it‘s kind of modular and one can replace/upgrade almost every part. What I could‘t find out: They sell heat guns with the same plug. Will they work on the same unit?
KSGER needs to clean up their product line. There's too many versions, options and poor descriptions. Their silver faced station says "Mentel Solder Station." Not exactly inspiring confidence in their products...
I think the problem is that there are clones of these Ksger stations. It seems like the only official versions are 2.01 and 2.1S. The "fake" ones have either a serif font like the one in this video (instead of a sans-serif as the original Ksger) or have angle brackets in the menus title text row (like ). If you search for "KSGER Official Store Aliexpress" you'll find their official store on Aliexpress where only original stuff is sold (and their product line is pretty clear). On Banggood it's full of poorly working clones like this one.
Unfortunately with cheap irons you get that, even now. YOu might get one that works well, you might get junk. That's the joys of buying cheap Chinese stuff.
This is one of the best reviews of the KSGER soldering station in English that I have seen. Thanks! Unfortunately, this release (SW ver. 3.0) has several SW bugs. Hope these SW bugs will not bother you during your work with this soldering station. There are several other soldering stations from KSGRE that work much stable (SW releases: 2.1S, 2.09 for example) just in case. Anyhow these stations based on T12 soldering tips are definitely very good in comparison with others in terms of prices/functionality.
Hi what exactly are the bugs on 3.0? Do xou have any source or mofet info? Thanks appreciate it
@@nurfuermist Hi! Based on my experience:
1. A tip calibration couldn't be done (for any T12 soldering tip) due to SW limits for an input value on a third step of the calibration process. Almost all tips cannot reach a temperature higher than 390 C. But the input limits for the third calibration point temperature are between 400 and 460C. It is a feature of this SW release only.
2. If you use this station with a battery an automatic cut off function does not work when a battery voltage drops below a preset threshold. Even a thresholds setup submenu works incorrectly (voltage input fields cover two submenu titles).
Never use the “Low Voltage Protection” settings to avoid further problems with the station. You may even get an inoperative device due to other logical errors related to thresholds handling.
3. An information about current soldering tip type is not available anymore on a main screen. You could not get this info back on the main screen via setup menu anymore.
4. All fonts and styles were changed in not a proper way (let’s say). The screen covered a very deep tinted glass with these tiny fonts is not easily readable.
5. A clock on the main screen is just a “good” example. You need a magnifier glass to read it.
6. The soldering station sometimes hangs when you push it to Sleep mode by fast rotating of an encoder. You need switch a power off/on to proceed.
7. A function "Knob Setup" does not work correctly. Just do not use it to avoid any problems. Pushing the station to factory default after any changes in "Knob Setup" menu will bring a problem.
Ah... missed something?
8. Temperature presets (five customer's setting) cannot be picked up by pressing and rotating the encoder in Temperature setting submenu. Trying this you will get back to Main screen within couple of seconds. You have to be rather fast to cope with this challenge. But this is not so important as the rest...
@@alexeyk8460 Thank you for these. I'm looking to buy this station and this is very good information!
@@lassi4855 Hi, I recommend you to buy KSGER V2.1S. It is very stable, no bugs!
I spent $50 Australian on a basic soldering iron in 2011, it still works to this day and does me well. I am not sure what technology is needed in a soldering iron. It gets hot, melts solder and cools down when turned off. The heat mass is a function of the element capacity and the tip. It is the tip and the person that make the quality. Technology only adds things like sleep time, or programmable heat settings. There is not much else to change in what is essentially an electric heater heating a tip. The T12's have become popular due to the cheap price of the clones and easily available tips, but I don't think technology really changes much. It's pretty well the same as now in 2022 as the one you have.
I purchased one of these a few months ago. For what it is and the price point, I found it perfect for hobby use. Being in the US, I off course wanted to change the temp reading to Fahrenheit, but after tediously going through all menus, I could not find it. I just decided to start thinking in Celsius :-).
It does look good. I will put one on my Christmas list.
This is so cheap but looks very good....A great review...I wonder where you get the soldering tips from....
I got it all from Aliexpress
Wow very fast Startup. It's look very Good
got mine directly from the official ksger store on aliexpress, had to wait a few weeks before I could use it. unfortunately, it was pretty much DOA and cant make a dispute as its too late. i have contacted them with no response. The station just keeps on power cycling when u plug in the iron. I saw another video with a similar issue so I've bought another t12 iron hoping that will fix it. the station itself seems glitchy as sometimes it freezes and i have to manually restart it. I've double checked all the wires inside the station and the iron and nothing seems to be out of place. anyone have any ideas? Would love to get this thing to work. SW release for my version is 2.09.
that sucks, did you fix any?
To bad all these hakko clones and 3rd party t12 compatible stations insist on using a (ball switch) tilt sensor in the handle, instead of simply copying hakko's stand with the microswitch or a lightswitch or hall sensor... Does it actually enter sleep mode when the handpiece sits in a stand at a 15° or more angle?
Steve Holvoet Mine goes to standby and sleep while on an angle in a stand and also while laying flat on the table.
It would cost them $0.25 cents to add a cheap accelerator and make the sensing, rock-solid. That would be so worth it.
How happy are you with the soldering station? Have you experienced any issues that Alexey K mentioned???
Srđan Letina I'm very happy with it. I use it all the time and have not encountered any issues.
@@rudyshobbychannel I have ordered V2.1 which was ~39€. Now I am tempted to cancel the order and get the V3.0 for ~32€.
Do you have any idea what might be the difference between them?
Srđan Letina I have no idea. I saw those older versions too and wondered about the price difference. I just bought the latest version. The only bug I found is strange behavior after setting the sensor zero point. So I simply don't touch that. Possibly my temperature readings are not correct now, but I don't mind that ... I only care about how well it solders and how easy it is to adjust and how it has this sleep mode ... and all that works very well.
what HW version is this station? is it the V2.1s?
It's HW and SW version 3.
@@rudyshobbychannel Really?. Even KSGER's official store at AliExpress just sells HW 2.1S with SW 2.10 and HW 2.00 with SW 2.09
Yes, I saw they do ... and there's no info on what the differences are. Mine did not come from the official KSGER store.
Rudysmodelrailway I was just Browsing the „official“ KSGER store on AliExpress. Turns out there is no finished unit based on HW3 and SW3 *but* one can buy the STM32 controller PCB alone for around €15. I‘ve just received my finished unit with HW 2 so I will probably not upgrade. Nice to see that it‘s kind of modular and one can replace/upgrade almost every part. What I could‘t find out: They sell heat guns with the same plug. Will they work on the same unit?
KSGER needs to clean up their product line. There's too many versions, options and poor descriptions.
Their silver faced station says "Mentel Solder Station." Not exactly inspiring confidence in their products...
I think the problem is that there are clones of these Ksger stations. It seems like the only official versions are 2.01 and 2.1S. The "fake" ones have either a serif font like the one in this video (instead of a sans-serif as the original Ksger) or have angle brackets in the menus title text row (like ). If you search for "KSGER Official Store Aliexpress" you'll find their official store on Aliexpress where only original stuff is sold (and their product line is pretty clear). On Banggood it's full of poorly working clones like this one.
better than hakko. Ordered
Did you test it at the club yet ?
Yes, we did ... and everyone who used it likes it a lot. Specially the fast heat up and the standby / sleep modes.
I will sell my JBC and get one of these, then spend the $400 usd left to get me a good osciloscope.
Junk! Their customer service is awful as well.
Unfortunately with cheap irons you get that, even now. YOu might get one that works well, you might get junk. That's the joys of buying cheap Chinese stuff.
Ohno, a dutchie explaining a soldering-iron in English..... :-) #dutchaccent