It only makes sense that iFixIt would launch a soldering iron at some point. The company, which is best known for its electronic repair toolkits and wealth of repair guides, says that it has over 1,000 repair guides that call for a soldering iron. And up to this point, it hasn’t offered a tool for those guides. The new Smart Soldering Iron, as iFixIt calls the device, puts a unique spin on an old design in order to make the soldering iron easier to use and more beginner friendly.
Power has a lot to do with that. Instead of plugging directly into the wall, the Smart Soldering Iron is powered by USB-C. And iFixit says you can use “any USB-C power delivery source,” but it points specifically to its 65-watt GaN charger. The company says the soldering iron can heat up in under 5 seconds, but that time presumably increases if you’re using a USB-C device that can’t deliver above 65W.
If you don’t want to leave heating up the soldering iron to guesswork, iFixIt is offering the Portable Soldering Station. It comes with the iron along with a portable power station that features dual USB-C ports capable of delivering up to 100W. The station comes packing a 55-watt-hour battery, which iFixIt says can power eight hours of continuous soldering on a single charge. If you don’t need that much time, you can also hook up your phone or laptop to the spare USB-C port and power it off the portable station.
This isn’t the first USB-C soldering iron, but iFixIt made some specific changes to make the iron easier to use. Most notably, an LED ring runs around the middle of the device and shows the state of it. When it’s blue, the tip is below 100 degree Fahrenheit. When it’s purple, it’s actively heating up or cooling down. And when it’s orange, the iron has reached the temperature you set and is ready for use. Sean Hollister over at The Verge notes that you need to plug the soldering iron into a PC to set the temperature, however.
In addition, iFixIt includes an automatic sleep mode, fall protection, and an accelerometer to automatically cool the iron when it’s not in use. According to iFixIt, “this is the ideal tool for anyone new to soldering.”
It doesn’t come cheap, though. The Smart Soldering Iron itself is $80, and if you want to bundle that with the Porable Soldering Station, you’ll spend $250. You can also spend $300 on the Soldering Toolkit, which comes with the iron and power station, along with a variety of addition tools including a wire stripper, no-clean flux, and precision angled tweezers. Preorders for the device are live now, and shipping starts on October 15.