About two months ago I bought a Solomon SL-30 from a1parts.com, the online store for A1 Electronics here in Toronto. I chose that station after a lot of research, despite not being familiar with the name. This review is not based on a series of cleverly designed test, but just my day-to-day use of the station for soldering connectors, wires and even a little PCB work.
I had been shopping around for a while when I decided to try the Solomon SL-30. I knew I wanted temperature control, a comfortable pen, easily to find tips and a good build quality. I had considered the Weller WESD51D, the Hakko FX-888 and the Edsyn 951SX SX-500D.
Summary
I’m really very happy with the station overall. I feel like I got good value for my money, and I got just about everything I wanted in a soldering station.
Pros
- Temperature setting and readout, very nice, especially for the price.
- Solid quality — a heavy unit with solid feeling construction. The temperature knob feels smooth and strong. I feel like this may be something that will be in my workshop for a lot of years.
- Tip and iron replacement seem readily available, even if the iron is swapped to Elenco brand. However, apparently Solomon has been around for a lot of years and is one of the biggest manufacturers in the world (according to Glen from A1).
- Really nice holder for the iron. I’m not a big fan of the wire coil ones, and because space is an issue for me, I also don’t want one of the huge ones that hold the iron and sponge (or brass) separate from the unit.
- Silicone coated wire on the iron, not that I can imagine ever burning my iron with itself.
Cons
I can really only think of one con:
- I really wanted a thin pencil-like iron with a super flexible (spaghetti-like) cord, but this one feels like most any cheap plug-in iron. In fact, it feels just fine in my hand, I just like the look of the smaller ones. The cord is a little stiff at first too. The silicone grip does occasionally slide down on my pen, but I just push it back up. I’m nitpicking really.
Deciding on the Solomon
The price of most other offerings, relative to the feature set really made the decision for me. Less than $100.00 got me a temperature controlled soldering station with a digital readout of both current temperature and set temperature.
I read a lot of reviews saying that the Weller had a cheap knob that broke, and basically that people who had owned Wellers from 40+ years back aren’t happy with the quality of the modern Weller products. Solomon seems to come out with new products, but the quality (from what I hear) is consistent. I was really tempted to get a Hakko, and I probably will some day, but there was just nothing for this price that could compete with the SL-30.
A serious consideration was the Elenco line of soldering stations, some of which seem identical to the Solomon offerings. The price of Elenco stations is a little less online, but shipping costs make it preferable for me to just buy it locally from A1 Electronics.
Impressions out of the box
A scanned image of the instruction booklet that came in the box with the SL-30. The reverse side seems to contain the same instructions in several languages.
Aside form the fact that the box looks like marketing material for a discount Chinese dish detergent, my first impressions were very good. Out of the box, the weight and build quality felt good, and everything was straight forward to set up.
Afterthoughts
It really just does what you expect. There’s not much more to say. The tips are very nice for the price, but the handle feels somewhat cheap. I’m going to be very picky on this point, however, because I really did want a station with a thin pencil-like handle and a very flexible cord. The Solomon is a little disappointing in that light, but there is really nothing to complain out. It is comfortable to use, even for hours at a time.
If anything ever happened and I had trouble getting Solomon parts, I believe that I can buy an Elenco replacement iron and tips (~$20.00 total) and it should be a drop-in replacement for the Solomon iron.
Overall…
I’m very happy with the unit, and I feel like I’m going to use it for a long time. I’m eventually going to replace it with a very expensive one, but that will be years down the road. And based on the build quality, I definitely feel that years down the road when I do replace it, I will be replacing a fully functioning Solomon.
Related posts:
- Review of Inkscape 0.48 With exciting new features and many welcomed bug-fixes, Inkscape 0.48...
Hi,
I am a TV service technician and have owned an SL20 for 10 years now, and have used it daily. It still has the same element and has needed no maintanance to the base station. The range of bits is excellent and it performs very well. Sadly it is now no longer available in the UK so I am looking for another one worldwide.
Regards,
Chris Rimmer
Hi Chris,
Sorry to hear about your fallen friend. I’m still enjoying mine, although I’m thinking about modifying the iron slightly for a slimmer grip, like one might find with the Hakko fx-888.
A1 electronics in Toronto should be able to ship you a new SL-20 or SL-30. But it may be more cost effective if you can find locally, an Elenco SL30A. I have to say, I’m also falling in love with the Hakko FX-888, which is in a similar price range, and would almost certainly be commonly found in the UK.
Please, let me know how it works out.