Cold Heat soldering Iron

I needed a new soldering iron and spent the extra $5 for the "Cold Heat" cordless iron. First off the cordless design and the LED light on the front are very cool, but it doesn't work worth a shit! In order to get it to heat up you have to actually touch the solder to the tip which is totally the wrong way to solder unless you are soldering on boards. Also, it doesn't really melt the solder fully. When I was using it it would melt the solder, but just leave a little ball on the end of the piece of solder you're using. Another thing about it is you gotta use 4 "AA" lithium batteries and those are like almost $20(the cost of the iron) and if you use regular alkaline's it doesn't work right and dies like after 5min of use. All in all an absolutley terrible soldering iron that is not worthy of anything besides causing headaches. I would not recomend this tool to anyone at all regardless if you do a lot or only a little soldering. Mine will be returned to Radio Shack tommorow. Peace-

Thanks for the heads up. I knew those things were too good to be true?

I've used one of those once, and it got the job done, but I wouldn't want to buy one for myself.

Sure, it "will get the job done" but so will a lighter and a piece of solder. I just hate how they advertise this thing on TV as being so good and then it turns out to be an absolute piece of crap. Heats/cools in 5 secons, it does. Only problem with that is if you don't have solder in constant contact with the tip(first, off THAT IS THE WRONG WAY TO SOLDER!) then it cools down and you just end up making a mess. Peace-

What did you expect from an "as seen on TV" product?

What did you expect from an "as seen on TV" product?

Not much, but this worked even worse than that. I went to their websites and all the reviews and testamonials are great. Hummmmmm they don't let you write a review right there(I wonder why that is?) Peace-

i have a $20 solding iron that plugs into the mains a real "no-bullshit" one. its ultra-simple; no switches or anything. you plug it in an let it be for 2 mins and its very very hot. i wouldnt' bother with some fancy cordless one unless it's gas-powered.

My friend got one of those and it broke in less than 2 days. I tried it and it just plain sucked.

i was going to get one of those but i figured that something that great and is so cheap is probably a piece of crap.

I love how the dipshit in the commercials is sucha little bitch about the wire getting in the way..

"Whaaaa! The cord won't reach... Uh-oh, gotta buy a POS cordless one that eats batteries like a fat kid eats cake :thumbsup:

That goes for almost anything sold on tv though...

Its an oxymoron besides an "as seen on tv" product. Common sense would tell someone that it is garbage.

^ agreed

But regardless, thanks for actually being the guinea pig and trying it out. I had been waiting to hear from somebody who actually had used it...prior to me getting a few for Christmas stocking stuffers.

Yea I have that thing too. It's too hard to use. If I was stranded on an island and absolutely had to solder something with it... then yeah, I could make it work. Otherwise I would just wait until I can use my gas powered one.

but those wire strippers that come free with it are the shit.