A few days ago I had to replace one part of my Pace MBT-250-SDPT, Solder/Desolder Station: the heater assembly for the TJ-70 Mini ThermoJet handpiece. The TJ-70 Mini ThermoJet handpiece provides continuous flow of precision focused hot air for component installation and SMT land preparation. The cost of the part was 5 (without shipping charges). It is also possible to buy the complete ThermoJet handpiece assembly (TJ-70 for the Pace MBT250-SDPT) for 5.
At same time, a friend of mine bought brand new AOYUE 2702 soldering station for 0. He was very happy with this soldering station. I had the opportunity to use this soldering station and it works great. An important thing to note is that the complete AOYUE 2702 soldering system costs less then one hanpiece for the Pace MBT250.
Iron Solder
So why would you pay 00 for Pace MBT250 when you can buy AOYUE 2702 which is similar soldering system for 0?
I like both soldering stations. AOYUE 2702 soldering system is excellent soldering system and will cover most of your soldering needs.
However, if you need soldering station very often and use it on daily basic for a variety of soldering and desoldering project at your company, you should consider the Pace MBT250 soldering system as your first option. Serious consideration should be given to this station if you prefer good quality over low cost and don't mind spending the extra buck to get best soldering station on market. In other words, Pace MBT250 is really professional soldering system and soldering system for professionals.
In my opinion, Pace MBT250 soldering station is little bit overpriced, but on other hand it really is the best soldering system available, so over time it will pay off.
I have been using this soldering station mostly for soldering and desoldering surface mount components with the use of a microscope (a microscope is not part of Pace MBT250-SDPT station). It really is a joy to work with this station and it is great feeling knowing that it can satisfy all your soldering needs - with the exception of BGA (ball grid array) - surface mount components that have all leads underneath.
Aoyue soldering station 2702 comes with only 3 handpieces. Pace soldering rework station MBT250-SDPT comes with the following 4 handpices:
-PS-90 Pace soldering pencil,
-SX-90 Desoldering Handpiece,
-TP-65 ThermoPik Handpiece
-TT-65 ThermoTweez Handpiece
In addition, two optional handpieces are available separately:
-TJ-70 ThermoJet
-TJ-80 Precision ThermoJet
PS-90 soldering pencil is a very slim iron ideal for soldering of surface mount components as well as for soldering of through hole components.
SX-90 Desoldering Handpiece works as desoldering pump, making it very useful for desoldering of components and cleaning holes on printed circuit boards.
TT-65 ThermoTweez Handpiece is an excellent tool for removing surface mount resistors and capacitors.
I do not use the TP-65 ThermoPik Handpiece much because for each surface mount IC you want to remove, you need the matching tip -same size and shape as the particular IC. I think this handpiece is great for removing ICs in high volume manufacturing where you use same tip for removing same IC.
I give 5 out of 5 stars to this Pace MBT250 soldering system.