My old portasol was not working after manybyears of ownership. The cost to repair was too high.

Ok, so this isn’t anywhere near as powerful as an electric soldering iron or hot air gun or even, I imagine, the 125W alternative, but it’s very good. It heats up quickly and the lack of wires means it’s much easier to use. The choice of hot air, flame, cutting and soldering tips means this is a perfect device for occasional and field use. I find the tips are a little tricky to swap, especially if they’re still a little warm, but this is a great addition to my toolbox, and I’m sure it will serve me well…

Wonderful product. Has lasted longer than expected. Very easy to use and keep up with.

Works will happy with it

Great product, works as described

Very nice unit, works very well for small circuit board touch up's. Heat control is great!

This is a GREAT tool!I've used a lot of soldering tools over the years, and i expected this to be a reasonable gadget (kind of like a Swiss Army Knife) for small soldering jobs where electric power wasn't easy to come by - OK in a pinch, but not a serious tool.But was I surprised when i looked my new Portasol kit over!First - the feel and balance are really good. It's as comfortable to hold as the best bench soldering irons - better, because there is no cord.Second, The materials used to make it are top-notch. As an engineer, i can appreciate the difference between cheap, low cost plastic and premium stuff. This will hold up.Third, The design is the result of a lot of thought by people who know their business. Tips are easy to change, and solidly attached, and are plated for durability. Fueling is clean and easy. The controls are simple and effective. I wouldn't change anything.Using the tool was very satisfactory. The heat range is quite good for anything on a circuit board. I found that a mid-way setting was perfect for soldering thru-hole components, and a little lower temp worked on surface-mount parts. I used the high setting to solder some terminal lugs to #8 wire. The temperature holds steady once set, and heats up quickly.The Open-Flame torch attachment worked quite well for about ten minutes, then the flame got short and wouldn't adjust much. I shut the torch off for a minute or so, restarted it, and all was good again for another ten minutes. I have no idea what this is about.The Hot-Air attachment works fine for heat-shrink, but my 1200W electric hot-air tool is faster.I've read a lot on-line about butane purity being crucial for long life in mini-torches. People say that trace impurities in the butane will quickly clog up the valve and orifice - rendering the torch useless. I've had more than one butane torch fail over the years, so I found "7X" refined and filtered "ultra-pure" butane, which I will use to try to keep this torch going as long as possible.At least one reviewer mentioned that the soldering tip wouldn't tin after a while. This happens (on my electric irons) if the tip is over-heated, or is left hot for a long time unused. I keep a small can of plumber's paste flux handy to fix this - just dip the hot iron in the flux and wipe off on a damp sponge a few times to clean it before re-tinning. Tough cases may require a little (careful) scraping with a screwdriver to free the scale. You can prevent this problem by turning the heat down or off during idle periods.The wire stand in the kit is not much use, but the iron lays flat with the tip off the table, and won't roll, so the stand is not an issue.The replacement tips are a little pricey, but that's not a problem if they last. The nickel plating will help there. I have no idea if the catalytic heater in each tip has any longevity issues, but I'm assuming they will last about as long as the plating.I think I'll buy one of these for each of my sons.

I whitewater kayak, and I needed a portable heat-tool that would let me do emergency plastic welding in the event of a boat crack or hole. This little Portasol is absolutely perfect, and it works for many different applications.When this first arrived I was very skeptical that it was going to be able to melt plastic as I needed. It's hard to describe just how small and light this tool is. I had an old kayak with a hole that I was going be my test, so I grabbed some plastic rods and got to work. I was amazed at how well everything went! The heat-gun attachment did a great job of softening the plastic rods and the boat itself, allowing them to be melded together efficiently. I also tried out the "hot knife" attachment and scraped it along the new welds, smoothing them out. I actually turned the settings down partway through because the portasol was putting out too much heat.I haven't worked with the other attachments yet, but I can tell you that this little tool is extremely portable and puts out tons of heat. It's also pretty fuel efficient. I loaded it with butane and welded for about 45 minutes straight without running out of gas. Overall I highly recommend this if you're looking for a heat-tool that is easy to use and serves multiple functions.

The brand name says it all, portable sun. Easy to use, adjustable heat, multiple tips, many uses. I bought this to work on automotive and motorcycle electric's, but it has become my primary iron. No wires to get in the way, and it has enough fuel on-board to get through the project without interruption. And if you were to run out of fuel, a couple of seconds and it's full and ready to go. I have a couple of rechargeable irons that are now on the shelf. No worries about static, just adjust to the necessary heat and go. The heat gun tip and reflection shield are perfect for shrink fit tubing and the heat knife works for cutting plastics, including pipe where you can't get a pipe cutter into the workspace.More tips are available at reasonable prices. And a big plus is the catalyst is contained in each tip, so it is replaced with the tip. The gives a much longer life to the tool.

I bought this soldering iron because I did not want an electric one that limited me with a chord or took forever to heat up. My actual purpose for this item was to fix my girlfriends laptop that she was going to throw away. Well lucky for her it is now fixed and she saved hundreds of dollars not having to buy a new laptop. So it's about 4-5 months that I have had this and filled it up maybe 5 times now and it's still working like new. I have used it for soldering and as a torch (which was another neat feature that brought me to buy this) and I am very pleased. The build quality feels very good and it starts on the first click every time. If I had to do it over I would buy the same thing. Easy to start, has a storage case with included tips, easy to adjust flame/heat, handle does not get hot, etc. This is a great item

I bought both this and the bigger version. Will review thje big one here. Heats like crazy and really solders the big wiring in a way that is difficult with an electric gun. Like the fact that it is portable. Will use it on my boat for wiring projects and in the shop when I won't want to get the electric cords out. I use the straight flame to do creme brulee and help justify the puurchase with the better half. Tried the heat shrink tubing attachment and have to say that didn't work too well. Didn't seem to create enuf heat. Also, flame went out a few times when doing the creme brulee before the torch seemed to settle down and stay on. Still, the multiple tips are great andd make this a very versatile tool