Mini Soldering Hot Plate, 25V 95W OLED Electric Preheat Soldering Station, Rework Heater Lab 55MM x 55MM Plate (T55 + PD65W Power Supply + 100W 5A Fast Charging Cable)

This mighty little hot plate is very well-built and does exactly what it is supposed to do. It heats up smaller PCBs (electronic circuit boards) in my case very well allowing me to more easily perform repairs by replacing small SMD components that failed or remove them in order to test them. Most of my repairs are on larger circuit boards, but this can sometimes be used to concentrate heat to the back of a large PCB in a focused manner too. Can you use a hotair rework station instead? Well, I would have to say yes, but a hotplate is much less likely to feel like juggling and you can keep your eyes completely on the part you're removing or reflowing. I'd recommend this to anyone who does rework and repairs on electronic circuit boards. It's a nice tool to have around when you need it.

The drift between set temperature and actual temperature below 400 F was only a few degrees (like, 5), whereas it started to become a little more noticeable above 400. Above 400, it was still within 15 of the set temperature which is pretty amazing.It's much smaller than you'd think, but it's very cute and functional. I used it to open a watch - that's the perfect size for this hot plate.

This little hot plate does a good job flowing SMD components on printed circuit boards.If you want a specific heating/cooling profile, you'll need to do it manually if using this hot plate.It has a small, but easily read, graphics display that continually updates the status of the unit. It also displays the menus and values for editing.There are two buttons on the unit for controlling the unit ,navigating the menus, and changing values and operating modes.Programming the temperatures in the three on-board setpoint memories (and changing the other parameters) is fiddly unless you have the procedure well memorized, because if you pause more than 5 seconds (while looking at the manual) the current menu jumps back to the previous menu automatically. It will continue to do this , every 5 seconds, until it reaches the operating screen on top, unless there is another button press. There are only two buttons on the unit, so I guess there was no way to manually back out of the menus and still be able to navigate and edit the values.A PDF operation manual is available for download from their website that explains setup and the menus. I think it could have been better (but then I used to write training manuals), but it is better than most that come out of China and it does show the intire menu system.The plate is 55mm (2-3/8") square, which is fine for mobile phone and other small circuit boards. It could also be used for spot reflowing on larger PCBs. It could also be used for reballing the PCB grid for BGA ICs.All in all not bad, considering it is 25%-30% the cost of the original mini hot plate.The wall wart that comes with the hot plate works fine. The fact that it doesn't heat up as fast as two other, higher current models (available as options), is actually a plus as this keeps from thermally shocking the circuit board by heating it up too quickly. You do have to use their wall wart as it provides multiple voltages to the hot plate.The supplied "USB" cable has some smarts built in too, along with an idicator showing that power is applied.If you want to see a third-party demo of this unit, check out 'IMSAI Guy' on YouTube.

Needs a USB-PD power supply that can do 20V 3A. Several of my smaller power supplies just go into overcurrent shutoff when it tries to heat. A 100W laptop supply works well.The user interface is a bit awkward, but it works. I wish I could program in a temperature profile with precise timing.Smells like feet. Weird, but okay.

Worked pretty well, while it lasted. Hot plate randomly ceased working after simply unplugging it one day, about 3 months after purchasing. The next time I went to use it, it would power on, but when trying to start the hot plate, it refused to heat up no matter what I did. I factory reset it several times to no avail. This could be a one off issue and YMMV, but my experience has led me to leave this one star review. May want to be cautious of this one.

I've not used it for reflow yet but it certainly gets hot enough. The indicated temperature compared to a thermocouple placed on the hotplate is about 60c high, so verifying the actual temperatures is probably worth while.

If you have to do small package soldering this is a god-send. I did 10 various tssop packages in like 10 minutes using this (I can never get the dragging a soldering iron method to work). NOTE that even though it's USB-C you'll need higher than 5V output; I use a USB-C laptop dock I have laying around.

This along with hot tweezers are mandatory for small project or (hobby) repair work.