SE Soldering Station with Helping Hand, 4x Magnification - MZ109

This is actually a really useful little product. I hesitated to buy it because I wasn't sure if it'd be worth the cost, but it works really well for placing/securing objects for detailed work and I'm glad I bought it.However, I did run into 2 small issues:1) As has been stated by other reviewers, the base isn't really ideal for preventing tip-over. It's decently heavy, but it's rather small and cannot stay upright while holding my Xacto brand pencil-style soldering iron. That being said, the coil holder is largely useless and just gets in the way.2) The alligator clips are super strong. Their clamping force is far more than is necessary for smaller wires and will often leave "teeth marks" on your wire or even cut, fray, or damage it. This is easily resolvable, though. I had some self-adhesive gasket material sitting around, and simply applied it to the teeth of the clips. Problem solved. You could also use shrink tube or electrical tape.On the positive side, the magnifying glass (A part I was expecting to remove since my eyesight is fine) is VERY strong. It's not something I expected to use a lot, but I love it! ProTip: Be careful where you place it. I left it on my desk in direct sunlight and returned to find a black burn spot. Be careful!In conclusion, this model has nice flexibility and some features that others do not. However, some of those features are not particularly functional, so if you find a cheaper model that will do what you want/need, you may want to choose that one over this one.

Love this thing, it really helps make soldering easy. And the parts on it seem like they are high quality especially for the price, however, it has a few problems worth docking 1 star.1) The base is not heavy enough to hold a soldering iron, so you may have to get some hot glue and glue it to a board, otherwise it will tip over.2) The clamps are a little strong, so if you put them over the insulation on a wire they will cut through the wire. What I did to remedy this was put small pieces of heat shrink on the tips of the clamps to give them 'padding'3) The system used to hold everything together is a little flimsy, albeit sturdy, the little metal peaces that sit over the ball joints can bend if you screw them in too hard and it's difficult to know how hard to screw them. Nonetheless, if you apply the right amount of pressure it will work great.

This arrived sooner than the delivery date estimated. It is inexpensively well made. By this, I mean it is not machine grade high carbon steel, but for the price, it is very useful. I like the combination of a good magnifying lens, heavy stable bass, two reasonable clamps, a solder tip cleaning sponge (left out of my delivery, gave it 4 stars or this reason) and holder for the hot soldering iron. It can be used as a regular third hand, but the extras for soldering make it much more useful. I just bought a sponge and cut it out with scissors to fit the slot. I bought this one Sold by Think Fast Toys. I have found most products, not just this, seam to very according to seller. It would helpful if people told which vender they bought from. Hence, the disparity you get in in reviews.

I have yet to attach the magnifying glass nor do I intend to as I have been using this to solder quadcopter circuits but the alligator clips and the rather heavy base for such a small soldering station have been perfect for what I am using it for. As I am new to soldering I was resting the iron on an old ashtray I found and placing the circuit boards in between two heavy objects when I needed to and it was a pain. For the price it has saved me tons of time, stress and energy and I will not solder without it for sure!!!

I need to solder a contact on my car remote. I bought a soldering iron, but when I used it, I realized that I needed a stand to put down the hot soldering iron without burning down the house. I also needed something the hold the car remote in place while I soldered it. This soldering station was the ideal solution. The magnifying glass may be useful for some people, but it disoriented me when I tried to solder looking through it. The clamps are adjustable in many positions, but you have to really tighten them so they don't keep falling. Otherwise a very good product. I highly recommend it!

Decent but the base is a little light if you have that stupid lens in place. I don't understand why it's included as it makes things harder to see because all binocular vision is lost while using it and it has a narrow focal range. Easy enough to disconnect though so only one star lost for: not including a little sponge, the slightly light base, and magnifying lens of poor optical quality.

I find I've had to tighten all the wing nuts often, but I may just have to really crank on them once and see if they stay tight then. The base could stand to be a little bigger, but if you balance it well it does stay up just fine. The glass has good magnification and has just enough length on the adjuster to be able to position it just right.Overall, this is good stuff, but if you want the ultimate soldering station, there's definitely things that could be improved.

I was hoping these wouldn't be as bad as the ones I had ten years ago. I can't believe a better solution does not exist. The way the solder iron holder is set is with a large screw, that barely holds it. it is so close to anything you'd be working on with the magnifying glass you'd be burning the wires. Say I'm using it wrong, fine, but I would look elsewhere tor a soldering jig.

This would be a great help if the grips on each side didn't losen everytime they're moved. I am constanly taking them off and tightening them with my pliers only to have to do it again a few minutes later. When I'm trying to do intricate work they're sometimes too loose and they move too much. It gets frustrating at times

I bought this stand to fix a computer board and have used it so much since. When you are soldering there are just never enough hands. It assembles quite quickly and I find it stays together quite well. I have actually recommended this item to family and friends looking for a stand to do the odd soldering. The magnifying glass is perfect to be able to see smaller parts you are soldering

Bought this for my husband as he complained about how small some stuff was that he tried to solder, and he can't thank me enough for finding this for him.He uses it for working on soldering switches and plugs. The clamps hold nicely and are the perfect size for holding wiring or board pieces while he solders.

Annoying how the iron holding coil never actually stays tight no matter how much you tighten it. Just freely swivels around in the base and will fall out if you look at it funny, which is a HUGE safety hazard considering it's supposed to hold a super hot iron!

Really cool to look at but there isn't enough weight on the bottom and nothing to give it even a little bit of traction on the bottom so it tips over alot and slides all over the place. Not impressed.