I got this lovely Miniware TS80 solder iron about a year and a half ago as a gift, and it’s easily become one of my most loved items! You can view the products on the official Miniware site.
It’s quick to heat up to temperature and works like a charm. I’ve been using this almost exclusively and haven’t had any issues.
The beauty of it is the portability – you can pack it up and take it anywhere, even in your purse! You just need a battery pack and boom, solder on the fly! I use one similar to this solar pack, this one looks better than mine as you can charge your phone wirelessly on top of it.
A few things to note though is that it does have a need for energy to support this heat and quick heat up time. It can use a 9V source.
Change your firmware
The TS80 works fine as it is but I found it can struggle with the current firmware. There seemed to be an issue with different power sources. If you change the firmware, you can choose between a 12V or 9V source. It also has some nice little settings graphics and heating up / sleeping animations that are worth getting.
New software to change settings on the soldering iron. This is a super useful thing to do, you can find the files on GitHub. I highly recommend doing this. It added a lot more settings to the soldering iron. Who doesn’t love a lot of settings?
TS80 Details
Details of the solder iron are as follows:
- Power 18W
- USB C powered (requires QC 3.0); supply must provide 9v 2a
- Or off a static 9v supply
- Runs up to 100 – 400C active in 10C increments; with separate idle standby temp setting
- ~30 second warmup from cold
- wedge or conical tips; most kits you order have only one, but extra tips are easy to get
- OLED Screen
- Open Source
- Control part: length: 96mm, diameter: 16.5mm.
- Heating part: length: 72+33mm, diameter: 5.5mm.
- Weight: 200g
- Compliant with EU certification: CE FCC.
What’s in the Box?
Packages typically Included:
TS80 Soldering Controllor (Black color) ×1
D25 Soldering Tip ×1
UK Standard 9V/2.0A Power Supply Adapter ×1
Type C USB Cable ×1
Soldering iron stand ×1
User Manual ×1
Replacement tips are available or if you prefer a different tip for your soldering needs.
Resources
The manual for the TS80 is an ok starting point.
Note: Amazon links are associate links and I would get a % of any sales that happened.