Pro Digital Vacuum Desoldering Station, Anesty Professional Removal Rework Station ZD-915 Iron Gun Built-in Vacuum Pump

I've been using this for a couple months now and it's great. It's my first vacuum powered desoldering device so I can't directly compare it to anything, but it does the job and does it well. It heats up quickly, has strong vacuum and pulls away the solder easily.Update: May 2019I've been using this de-soldering station for just about a year now and I'm still very happy with it. I've probably collectively removed about half a pound of solder with it. I haven't exactly been treating it with kit gloves either. (Honestly I've been much harder on it than I should). There were a couple of spots where I let it go too long before cleaning the catch tube and allowed the filter pad to clog, and a couple of mishaps where the shaft was clogged at the catch tube with skunky half-century old solder because I didn't swab it out with the provided cleaning rods in time - this is really my fault. The shaft can't (and shouldn't) get hot enough to melt solder at the catch tube end, but its entirely fixable. If this happens to you just shut the gun off, remove the catch tube, push one of the cleaning rods into the shaft and press while you heat the catch tube end with another soldering iron - after a few seconds the stuck solder should loosen and push out the old solder.Replacement tips and filter pads have been easy to get.After a year the gun still heats up quickly, the vacuum is still strong (despite the fact that I allowed it to get clogged numerous times). It DOES get clogged sometimes but not if you make a point to clean the catch tube after heavy use and use the cleaning rods each time before you put the gun back in its holder.

I know varying reviews on this but from my experience, it works well. It is loud as the fan spins fast. There are youtube videos to fix this. I feel it is acceptable. Suction wise, it works well for my purpose, PCB board repair. I use the larger tip which fits well over the top better. I have not had the clogging issue mentioned, but I use the provided cleaner brushes often and while using. No real usable instructions come with this and that is disappointing. But it is pretty straightforward.To clean, there is a small button on the back of the wand that you push down and the top black piece pulls back. this releases the clear cylinder tube, but not all the way. You have to force it out some with the back of the tube coming out first. Then to reinsert, start with the front of the tube first.All in all, this really makes a difference for if you need to remove many parts.

I restored one vintage audio receiver with a solder sucker and that was not fun. I broke down and paid up for this station and it makes a difficult job easy and fun. I'm on my third vintage receiver restoration in 3 months and so far so good. So satisfying to see the solder disappear and pull the capacitor out in a matter of seconds. heat is set at 765F for 50 year old solder. work quickly and you wont pull up any traces. Suction is good, better than I expected, no complaints about that. The Ceramic filter in the gun gets pretty dirty quickly. It comes with some, but you will need to get extras. Not sure how long the tip will last, I use the largest one. Need to find a back up for that, I haven't seen a replacement advertised. Now my criticisms, It takes a little time to warm up, It starts and stops a couple time on a cold start-up, hope this is not an indication of a problem developing, once it gets going it seem fine. the glass vial is difficult to remove, It's fine for now but you have to apply a lot of force to squeeze it out of the handle. All in all I'm very happy with this, hopefully it lasts a long time

I really don't see how you can go wrong for the price of this station. The quality and performance is well beyond what I expected to receive. I have used production level professional desoldering stations, and fully understood this was not made for that kind of rigorous use when I got it. It is a hobby level machine and works perfectly in that application. Basically what this means is you have to keep up on cleaning and maintaining it . But I was able to easily remove several DIP IC's and even components with thick leads the very first time I used this. You should clean up the filter and spring after every use, and that is super simple to do. I have not had any clogs, but I run the cleaning wire through it every now and then while using it just to prevent any. Even the professional grade desoldering tools clog now and then. The main unit is heavier than what you would expect, and stays firmly put on the bench. I'm not sure why everyone points out that the front panel is plastic as the fronts are plastic on nearly every soldering/desoldering station today. The gun sight tube is actual glass, and lets you see when the filter is getting full. The LCD display is excellent, the pushbuttons a little stiff but not a problem. It will display in degrees C or F, and has non-volatile memory that retains all the settings at power off. In all, no complaints at all for $129.00, I'm very satisfied with this.