PINECIL – Smart Mini Portable Soldering Iron, Small

I've seen the Pinecil around for a while and decided to upgrade to upgrade from my Weller WLC100. Holy smokes is this thing amazing! I always thought that my Weller was a great iron because of all the rave reviews and I was just inept at soldering. The very first time I used the Pinecil I was blown away and how nice and easy soldering went. I can never go back.PROS:* Heats up in seconds* Very comfortable to use* The small size makes soldering in small spaces a breeze* You can power it with a all kinds of different power supplies* Works with TS-100 tipsCONS:* The included tip isn't the best for general soldering. I ended up getting a TS-D24 tip and now it's about perfect.* The tension screw that keeps in the tip requires a tiny screwdriver that's not included and is annoying to deal with. I just replaced it with a M2x4mm thumb screw and it works great.It's completely bare bones and requires you to have your own power supply, but I absolutely love it. I've told all my friends that they need to get one.

I was thoroughly impressed with this thing, it is very high quality, heats insanely fast, it’s comfortable, and it has a TON of features. Such as settings and tubing it to your liking. It even has a built in gyro sensor that recognizes orientation and will cool off when set down for extended time, only to heat back up lightning fast as soon as you pick it up. Theres also lots of support for it on pine64’s website and other places. I highly recommend this thing it easily exceeds any iron I’ve used before, especially at this price.

I rarely give a 5 star review, but I think the Pinecil is worth it.Not only is it small and portable, it heats up very fast, and cools down quickly as well. While it doesn't come with a power chord or charger, it connects via USB C as well as a barrel plug, giving you options for how to connect.I was surprised how easy it was to set up and use. It's way better than any other soldering iron I've used in the price range. I would highly recommend this for a beginner or hobbyist. I've seen professionals recommend it for professional use as well, but I'm just a hobbyist, so I cannot speak to that.It's nice that you can throw a custom firmware on there if you desire. The controls are easy to use, and the auto sleep works really well.Pros:PortableQuick heatingEasy to useCons:Can't buy first-party tips on Amazon, and the default tip is a little large if you're working on SMD.

I got this to replace a cheap 6W USB Soldering iron I had bought years ago. This will not work if you don't have a decent power source connected to it (think old cell phone charger/power bank) as it will quickly try to pull more power than the old USB chargers can provide. I connected it to a QC3 charger and it works perfectly, same with a QC2 charger, this iron heats up super quick, I haven't set to heat up to 666° F and it reaches that in about 45 seconds, it can go higher however I do not need it to go higher for what I do as that could burn a PCB especially if your not great at soldering. When I'm done soldering I'll unplug the iron then plug it back in so I can monitor the temperature as it cools down, and it cools down from my temps in about 2 minutes. I would recommend this iron if you want something that is portable and can be used with a decent battery bank that can provide QC2 voltages. It is not going to make.you the world's best soldering tech overnight, but this is a great iron to help you get there, or help you get those soldering tasks done as I have not had any issues, the only thing I have that will heat a wire up faster is my soldering gun but that will burn a PCB if I try to use it.

Great product and quality company so I don't want to give less that five stars.Positives: works incredibly well, great tip, heats super fast, easily controlled with many safety featuresNegatives: needs a usb C cable and power brick to power and the biggest negative, has absolutely zero ergonomics. If you solder for more than like 5 minutes, its difficult to hold and rather uncomfortable compared to other options in the price range. It has a large and heavy square shaped design and ironically is not like a pencil at all.Overall love the product and the company but hate the design. If you frequently solder for longer periods of time, stay away, but if you just need to fix a couple of wires here and there, the best there is!

Heats up fast and is perfect if you want a small iron that still works efficiently. Only complaint is that the usb-c port could have a little bit for depth because most supplies don't push all the way in so it has a little bit of wiggle room. If it pushed all the way in it'd probably be 5 stars, barrel port works perfect though. Other than that it works fast and the sleep feature on it is pretty nice to have if you ever need to walk away for a bit. Good for any hobby soldering and haven't ran into issues from it having a smaller tip than most irons.