Beginner Recommendations: Hot Air Gun / SMD Rework

[djsheep]

Now that I have gotten down the basics of soldering and desoldering, I'm looking to get a Hot Air gun primarily for SMD stuff. Not trying to get too fancy, but just something to learn on and hopefully do a few bits and pieces. There really seem to be 2 entry level options, which seem to be the same gun just rebranded:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HOT-AIR...STATION-3-Nozzles-FOR-Yihua-858D/261803709239
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32818260663.html

Then the jump up is several hundred of dollars, until getting into the higher end Hakko model$$$. Was wondering if there's any advice or recommendations people on this forum can throw. In hindsight I was happy to spend some extra bucks on my Hakko soldering iron to get something good quality, and was wondering if I'm going to want an upgrade if I purchase one of these cheaper guns.

Cheers.

 

[Frank_fjs]

The Yihua will serve you fine.

I know you, I know you like to have the best, however a higher end unit won't benefit you in ratio to the price increase. There's not much to hot air guns.

Otherwise this is the one Jaycar stocks, but cheaper, and being the same brand you can easily buy spares from Jaycar. There's a 10% off coupon too.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10-Off-...664920&hash=item3b3c683e65:g:aacAAOSwkeZd02vl

 

[adgenet]

This is a very timely thread as I've also been considering buying an hot air rework station.
My budget is a little higher, and the Atten 862D looks pretty nice as I've learned over the years that you never come out ahead by going with the absolute basic or low end when it comes to tools, even if I anticipate infrequent use. I've found that shelling out a bit more to get the not-high end but also not low-end model is almost always worth it.

That said, it would be mostly for convenience for me. Unless you are working with BGA or QFN packages a lot, the vast majority of soldering and desoldering can be done easily with a good temperature controlled chisel tip iron, flux, and patience.

 

[evilsim]

I have the Yihau it has been great for its price. I've soldered so much stuff with it now ! Also love using it for heatshrink instead of a dirty ciggy lighter. I also use it on some packages (over packaging tape) to make the tape adhere better