Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I have worked with every soldering tool out there, even the large torches. I design jewelry on the side and found this tool did what I needed it to do. Remember, it is not a heavy duty tool; you get what you pay for. I had no problems using it. I do however recommend using rechargeable batteries; it uses a lot of power out of those little batteries.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This piece of junk is a major liability. You'll get a cleaner solder from a hot salad fork.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This does not solder, at best, it will arc weld melt a tiny solder bead. It does not 'heat' the solder and especially does not apply any heat at all to the component or wires you are trying to solder. So at best, which by the way I was never able to do, not even once, you can hopefully get a melted cold solder bead to stick to whatever you are soldering. This is a text book cold solder joint. If you do not know what that is, look it up. So at this things absolute best, it will produce a very substanderd poor cold solder joint. At worst, it will not even do that, or short out delicate components with its 2v high current type of soldering. I absolutely do not believe any of the positive reviewers as this item is a complete absolute waste of time and money.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

The best way to use this product is to hold the end to the wires, and see smoke rise up and nothing happens... This product is great if you like to see smoke. I saw lots of smoke. Nothing was soldered, but the smoke was awesome, I even think I saw a spark or two. If you have some extra money to waste, buy this tool! Peace.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Needed to have fresh batteries to solder the flyback on the bigscreen.

Dropped unit, tip broke, The Shack replaced it no charge, bought an extra just in case.

Not in stock @ all Radio Shack stores.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

well this was the worse [$] i have ever spent, yeah it is "ready to solder" when you hit the switch, and dose not need time to heat up... well the thing is you cant get the 2 sections of the tip to make an electrical connection using the metal to start the soldering proses. so you end up spending more time messing with this thing that it would to heat up a regular soldering iron.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Do Not Buy, this is a piece of junk, doesn't work, very poor quality. I can not beleive they sell this in their store

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This think is a joke. I got one for Christmas.

Basically it works by generating an electric arc between a split tip. The tip never actually gets hot enough to hold solder. You basically have to try to melt the solder with the arc while passing the arc through the piece you are soldering. 90% of the time the piece you are soldering keeps the arc from even forming and thus doesn't get hot enough to melt the solder. The rest of the time it melts the solder but the part doesn't get hot enough to hold the solder so you get a cold joint.

Not only that but using an electric arc on static-sensitive electronic equipment will most likely end up frying the part.

This is a complete waste of money.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

No instructions how to install batteries. Pretty arc from the carbon tip but no heat. Wouldn't heat a stranded wire up enough to flow solder but would make individual strands glow white hot. Included a microscopic piece of solder. Not enough to solder more than a few connections. All and all a scam to take your money. Tip broke when tried to get decent connection on a stranded wire. they include no spare tips. tips unavailable. Major rip off.Its a battery holder, 1 led flashlight, and a brittle carbon probe worth [$].Not a soldering tool.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I am a jewelry hobbyist and this tool is perfect for working with craft and plated jewelry wire to close jump rings and do chain maille Perhaps I haven't experienced too much difficulty with it because I've never used any other soldering tool so I don't have any previous soldering habits. I suspect it would not be good for more heavy duty uses.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Within the first 100 solders the tip broke. The generater is weak and some times it didn't even heat the solder enought to solder. Put in an extra $10 and buy a better tool!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I bought this product because of the tv add. I was very dissapointed when I fired it up. It does not get hot enough for most projects and after about an hour of use the batteries are worthless. Don't waste your money on this. A cheap butane iron works better.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I had no luck using it.It just frustrated me.Wasted my money.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

My son needed to solder for robotics team at residential high school but not allowed to have conventional solder iron in his possession. Thought this was a great idea. Doesn't work well. More frustrating was when he said the tips break easily. Thought it was being careless teen until I went to RS and bought some new tips. When I got home, one was broken already! Tried to use it myself and with no pressure at all another tip broke! JUNK!!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

On the third solder just after purchasing, the unit's tip broke on the contact side creating a short, causing the iron to burn up and melt as I was holding it. Mass amounts of smoke poured from the end as the internal electronics blew, rendering it useless. Had to return to store on same day of purchase to complete my project with a normal iron.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Please do not buy this product, im not even gonna classify it as a soldering iron because its not
first of all
tip is outrageously fragile, i chiped it off the first time with a scrape of the finger nail
batteries heat up way too much
barely ever melts the solder
and the only thing that is interesting about it is that it wont burn you if you touch the tip thats about all im impressed with
so do not waste your money unless you want to get your little kid one to get started on, even they will tell you it sucks

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I would barely melt solder

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Couldn't even get it to stay on. Touching it directly to the work surface created the spark, melted solder but not hot enough to stick. Red LED wouldn't turn off and tip was cold.

Paperwork inconsistent, saying 4 AA batteries good for "1000 uses" and then "100 uses" and finally "750 uses." I got 3 'uses' before it drained brand-new alkaline batteries below useful levels. Shouldn't require expensive batteries and should include power cord.

Outside package doesn't say it but the inside paperwork says it is too hot for heat sensitive components, and the sparking current it creates will damage static-sensitive components. In other words it's useless for what it's marketed as.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Hands down a the biggest waste of money I've made in a while. Buy a small butane soldering iron, trust me.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Can not get replacement tips. Why make the **** thing?

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I bought this when I was installing new pick ups on my bass guitar. Didn't heat the solder at all and the tip broke after 15 minutes of use, so I returned it for a full refund. Don't ever buy this item.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

this product is only good for large projects, and you need a better tip than the one they give you. the tip is hard to heat up. but it is small, portable, and has a good working light.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Great tool, i like the fact that it is battery powered.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This is a great tool for soldering small stuff. The tip does not heat up until there is a piece of your solder creating a short across the two halves of the tip. That will almost instantly melt the solder. Then keep your tip in the melted solder for a few seconds on your work and the heat will travel throughout, creating a good hot solder. I use rechargeable batteries and put a freshly charged set in each time I use the tool. I think a lot of the bad reviews are by people who 1) expect too much from the little tool, and 2) don't read the instructions. I have used mine for three years on a variety of projects - automotive, electronic, household wiring - and it works great.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I got this for my husband. He loves it. He has used it on about 40 projects. It took a couple of tries to get famillar with it but after that there was no stopping him. The plus side is that it is light weight, no burning of items you don't want to burn, no cords and easy to manuver. The down side is battery life, however of the 40 projects he has done the batteries lasted through 30 of them. The replacement tips are in expensive. The key is to now push down. it's not necessary. I have even found it easy to use and I have never soldered anything before.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

useless

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

THIS IS SUCKS NEVER BUY IT !

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Found no good use for this item.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Nice to have for minor projects. Not to good for small projects. Dose not seem to heat good after some use. Works best with new batters.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

i dont know why everyone is saying its a bad product, i think it cool. I rarely use it. The bad thing is is that you have to position it right so that it starts to heat up.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Don't EVER buy anything while watching late night TV! Advertisers know that's when you're most vulnerable. Looked fast and easy when they did it. The tip of mine broke off within minutes. I even purchased a second one. I'm used to nudging the tip slightly with a conventional iron. I was a lot easier on this one, and still it was way too fragile. Unless you're a surgeon, I recommend you go back to old school.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Alright, I had to sit back and laugh at a large number of these 'reviews'. Especially the one where they waited and waited for the tip to heat up, [*] First off this is a great tool... if you have the base intelligence to use it. If you've been using a standard soldering iron and switch to this thing without reading the directions you are in for a very hard and expensive lesson.First, and let me use large letters for all of you previous reviwers, THE TIP DOES NOT HEAT UP. This is a resistance soldering tool. Electricity is passed through the two tip prongs in to the solder which then melts. The solder will heat up your two connecting ends, not the tool. You don't need to apply strong pressure, just enough to make contact. How many of you have broken your tips? That's because you're use to using archaic soldering tools that have steel tips.The Cold Heat tip is a delicate graphite-like composite. This tool should be used for small projects such as wiring model railroad lights, LED work, repairing wires busted in your blender. Not making seals, plumbing work, or welding cables together. So in short, use your brain! Read up on how this tool works, read the directions, and be gentle. This is a delicate tool for delicate work. Sure you may get a defective one now and again or a tip that's been damaged durning shipping, but I've worked on 90+ projects without my tip breaking and my tool hasn't failed me yet.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Whoever designed this came across a neat technology but it is not implemented correctly. In order to solder you must heat the solder and the items you are soldering. This does not and can not do that. It uses an arc to melt the solder but can't heat what you are joining. The result...a cold solder joint that pops right off.

It is obvious to me why this is called ColdHeat. Your solder gets hot, project stays cold.

This item is garbage. It doesn't work.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Call me stupid, but I purchased three and could not make any work. For only a few seconds, the tips did get very hot. It did melt the solder but did not heat the wires enough to solder them. Maybe my tiny projects are too big for it.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This is a terrible product and should not be purchased by anyone. [...] it broke the tip off within an hour. I went to the local radio shack and purchased a replacement tip and that broke within the hour. I probably could have purchased a nice Weller with the money spent on this piece of turd.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Received as a christmas gift last year. Never got it to work, wouldn't heat up, mjuch like any others had experienced. It's still sitting in a drawer.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

this product is good for minor projects i got this as my first solder and the service at the store was excellent the clerk even showed me how to use it he even gave me a set of batteries for free and told me the pros and cons like you cant smell the fumes and it can break on huge projects and the pros were it can heat fast and cool slowly he touched the tip after using it and it did not burn him recommend for beginners

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I wouldn't use this on anything like rc cars, little toys, etc. the voltage that is present on the tips will damage the chips. After a use of this (a very small solder job) the device was malfunctioning like crazy! I had to end up using a Radio Shack 40watt soldering iron, which just a few days later started on fire! this product is a waste of money. This product involves short-circuiting the batteries, which produces heat. The tips have a positive and negative poles sometimes you will have the positive side touching the metal, pushing over 2 volts into your circut. I would recommend 15 watt soldering irons for little jobs and 40+watts for even bigger jobs. Please do not buy this product! or even a Radio Shack soldering iron!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

THIS IS TRASH! MIGHT BE OK FOR SMD,S
IT GETS HOT TO THE TOUCH UNLIKE THE BOX SAYS
DOES NOT HEAT UP EVEN IF YOU GAVE IT 1,000 YEARS TO HEAT UP, BUT IT STIL CAN GIVE A NASTY BURN!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This is not a good soldering tool at all, the tip is weak, theres poor heating, takes a long time to heat up, cant really do anything with this one, i dont recommend this product at all, its not worth the money

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Worked good when I first got it. For some reason it got hot on the inside and it lost the contact with the tip... the whole thing melted on the inside around the tip.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I have been soldering for nearly 30 year and consider myself extremely capable and knowledgeable of the process.I received this item as a Christmas gift; wouldn't have bought one on my own, since I didn't believe it would work. Turns out that I was right. It has never worked from day one! The tip quickly broke after several attempts to heat up a small piece of solder.[...]

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I bought this item the first week it was for sale, after reading about the designer and manufacturer in a major metro daily paper. With sales through Radio Shack, the company must be laughing all the way to the bank!

The product is frustrating to use, and produces frequent "cold" solder joints. I hold an aerospace-grade soldering certificate, so I know how to solder. This product is NOT a substitute for tried-and-true soldering tools and experience. Spend your money elsewhere!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I bought this P.O.S, thinking that it would get the job done. About 10-20 minutes of use, it stopped working. The flashlight would flicker on and off erratically. I tried letting it cool down for a few minutes, and still nothing. I removed the tip, and smelled something that was burning. I don't know if it was supposed to be like that. Anyway, this thing belongs in the trash. Also the on/off switched got messed up. I'll switch it to off, and the light is still on.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I bought this thing, thinking it would work for soldering deans connectors to rc batteries. This thing never worked from day one. Do not buy this product, I promise you that you will regret it and wish you had bought a REAL Soldering iron...

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I am a regional field service tech for a major national corp (I cover 4 states). While with modern equipment there isn't very much soldering anymore, however from time to time, I do need to solder a wire or two together. When this first came out, thought it would be perfect. Easy to carry and instant heat, would mean no more clumsy plug in iron, find an outlet, and waiting for iron to heat up. I received 2 for xmas, 1 from my company to all the techs. Well, it makes a great flashlight, but soldering? It has a very hard time trying to melt a bead of thin diameter solder, with new duracell batteries, new tip and any amount of pressure or manuvering. It is just a fad or toy, good luck trying to solder any size joint or wire. Everyone of us at the company had the same issues with it. Most threw them away. I sold mine [...]. Don't buy it. Who said that there's a sucker born every minute? For this thing to be still selling, then that must be true. Total waste of money and shame on major vendors like Radio Shack for still selling this item. [...]

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I wish I hadn't wasted my time and money on this. I have a hard time getting it to melt even the tinniest bits of solder. The first one I got didn't even turn one, and the second one just didn't have the power to melt solder. Mine is collecting dust somewhere now.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

1st~3rd try was very frustrating. When you
'finally' realize you have to complete an electrical circuit to solder, this thing works great. Remove it from the case & start soldering in 10 seconds. You can do pin head size soldering, & I have. It is delicate & I'm not sure I'd recommend it for heavy use. Probably best suited for small field work in some electronics & modeling. 24~28 guage type wiring. Will work with SolderWick as well. I'd never go above .032 guage solder with this.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Great little cordless tool.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I bought this soldering iron (or what they CALL a soldering iron) for use with soldering components and wires together, on PCB's (resistors, capacitors, IC's, microcontrollers). I could not imagine why the makers were able to successfully market such a thing. The design is horrible. The 'tips' don't contact with the solder often, and you often have to wiggle the coil of solder around in between the tip to get it to contact, and melt the solder. If you push too hard, the delicate tip (which is ridiculously expensive, at least when I bought it) will break. The concept behind it is great, but I can't imagine anyone successfully creating much of anything with this tool, be it an electronic circuit, welding disconnected electrical contacts for, say, sparkplugs in automotive applications, or anything for that matter. I can't believe I wasted my money in it.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Excellent!!!!!Will buy it over and over and over for all my family and friends and anyone and everyone!!!!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

My first impression of this device was that it would work good for most things, upon usage I realized that nothing could be farther from the truth. It is not good for work with small electronics, which basically makes it useless for any projects I may have in the near and long-term future.

Another thing to note is it is not good to keep it in the glove compartment of your car, it can, and will, melt.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

The learning curve on this product might exasperate the impatient hobbyist. The original tip broke quite easily, but the product does what it says and makes it difficult for you to burn yourself. Excellent for projects that might suffer from excess heat from other irons.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This is THE WORST product I have ever owned. Take [$]out of your wallet and feed it to your dog. You'll get better "RESULTS"!!!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

The heat is so cold it doesn't melt solder! I played with this thing for an hour and couldn't get it to heat at all. Don't waste your time or your money. Just buy a cheap soldering iron and don't be [*] about burning your fingers.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

If you are able to use your psychokinetic powers to melt solder, you may have some use for this iron. If not, as its name implys be aware that it produces huge amounts of coldheat. Unfortunately, it takes hot heat to melt solder.It could be used as poor quality flash light. If it has four good batteries keep the batteries and give the Coldheat iron away as a white elephant gift at the next company party.[...]

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

[...]This is the worst. I've been soldering since the age of 8. This thing works as well as rubbing 2 sticks together.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

a complete rip-off The replacement tips are half the cost of the Cold Heat nonsoldering iron, and they break extremely easy.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

works great when you are out in the field.
good for minor repairs

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

the coldheat has a very fast warm up time and melts solder almost instantly, leave it for 10 seconds, and its warm but not harmful. Great for small projects like electronic boards

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Just save your money. Even with fresh batteries, the smallest solder recommended and patience it did not create anything more than a few small solder balls, which immediately solidified where you don't want them and could not be remelted.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This iron will not melt any type of solder with out having it placed between the prongs for five minutes, four with fresh duracells. This is not practical for electronic applications, you can occasionally get better results if you heat the solder with a ligter first then try to sustain the heat for a few seconds with the iron, good luck.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Because the Cold Heat soldering tool requires a different technique it may take a little practice to learn to use properly. The tool does exactly what it claims to do and is quickly mastered. This tool is not for all situations but is an excellent device when used properly.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I have used this product extensively for one project. it works great if you make sure you place the whatever you need to solder in between the two teeth of the tip; however, do not twitst or bend because you will break the tip off. It worked great until the tip breaks. The replacement tips are far too expensive to keep buy. The company that makes this item if the intend to keep making they should include a bag full of tips. For this item to take off the manufacturer should not try and make their money in selling the replacement tips. Again if used properly it works great but the tips will break and you will have to buy a new tip if you want to continue to use it. Because the tips are so expensive my cold solder is stored in the garage drawer for antiquity. I am now back to using the conventional device.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

The biggest problem with this product is that most users trying to use it like and compare it to a conventional soldering iron. It is'nt one. It uses an entirely different concept to do soldering. Whatever gets in between the split tip is what gets hot. The tip itself does not conduct heat. Being an "old-timer" I still prefer a conventional soldering iron. This unit is also not very rugged.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This is the worst product out on the market. A true peice of junk. And heaven forbid you need to contact cutomer service at the company that makes it.. they blame YOU for the problem. They don't respond to emails. This thing couldnt melt butter. It takes forever to get anything to solder and by the time you DO get anything done, the batteries are worn out. Dont buy this trash. Save your money and get an electric one!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I have had two of these so far, both of which have shorted out on the first joint. The first became completely useless, and while the second still warmed up, it wasn't enough to melt through a piece of solder. I'm thinking I'll go for something metal next, whether it be battery powered or butane.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Radio Shack should remove it from their stock. Don't buy, it is truly a piece of junk.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Cold heat?, more like cold joint. This has got to be the worst product I have ever purchased.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I knew it was junk 5 minutes after I removed it from the box...Radio Shack should be ashamed to have this in their stores

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I got mine with a $10 off coupon. This makes it priced about right for the product. The tip broke and rendered it useless. The tips are overpriced for what you get. It now makes a pretty good flashlight.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

JUNK spelled with a capital J. Tips last no time at all and even then very unreliable for soldering.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

What a waste of money. The tips are EXTREMELY fragile, and are only good for very light use. Also, it's hard to solder small electronics boards with this thing. I am very disappointed, and I think I could have purchased a better soldering iron for 1/4 of the price. DO NOT BUY!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Simply the WORST soldering iron. DO NOT get fooled by its claims. You'll spend much more money by buying its delicate and SUPER easy to break tips than you would by buying a good iron to begin with. Soldering connections can be really hard to make at times. You'll frustrate yourself with this product. I have 30+ years of soldering, I know a gimmick and this is one!! I gave it one star because I HAD to. It doesn't even deserve that.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Doesn't get hot enough, tip breaks very easily.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

JUST WHAT I WANTED! WORKS GREAT ON SMALL ELECTRONIC ITEMS & MOST OF ALL.....CORDLESS & EASY TO MANIPULATE!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

For soldering small wires/connections this unit is great. If you need to solder thicker wire, best plug-in your regular soldering iron. I was warned that this unit eats batteries, so I ran NiMh. They worked great.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Having first used this waste-of-plastic too late to return it, I am forced to agree with all the other one-star ratings; mine has every defect mentioned. RadioShack, you should be ashamed selling a sucker-item like this. I would suggest that the (very) few 'high ratings' on this thing were made and paid for by employees of Cold Heat corporation, itself.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Did not like this product. You have to touch the two leads together perfect and the heads break very easy. Also wouldn't recommend touching right after soldering (HOT). I do ,however, like that this product is cordless.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Worst soldering iron not useful at all.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Does not work well. The second time I used this, the tip broke. It is made out of Graphite, and breaks easily. It is not easy to learn how to use it. It is so sensitive to where ou place it.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This device is a total money waster. I bought it because I saw someone else using it perfectly, and was amazed to find out how difficult it is to use. It seems to only work with a specific size of solder that is too small to do anything. The idea of it heating up and cooling instantly is WONDERFUL, but there should be a manual override button to make it heat up, because when doing the soldering I am doing, there is no connector large enough to create a bridge to tell it to heat up, and the second the solder touches it, it begins to cool. You wind up with a thin peice of solder in disconfigured, partially-melted balls of solder on your circuit board. Then, the tip won't heat up, so, unlike with a normal soldering iron, where you can remelt these balls into a flat, propper solder, the balls melt to the silicon board and have to be desoldered or torn off. Plus, the tip's names, whether "Heavy Duty" or "Percision Soldering," are derisory at BEST. The heavy duty tip's strange shape caused solder to get stuck within it, which, of course, is a large problem because the tip will never heat up when you want it to, so you can't get the solder out without breaking the tip. But that's not a problem, because the tip will EASILY break and allow you to remove the solder (but then you still have a broken tip). The percision soldering tip has fragile pointed tips that will always have ONE tip break, and leave you with a tip that is impossible to connect and therefore never heats up for more than half a second. This device fails to solder and doesn't heat up ENOUGH to desolder. I found it more effective to tear the horrid solder balls off of the circuit board with needle nose pliars. This thing is a WONDERFUL idea, and if the tips would be NORMAL and there was a BUTTON to heat it up, rather than it relying on there being a large metal peice for it to conduct through, I would buy it, but since that's not the case: NOT RECOMMENDED FOR USE BY ANYONE! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This device is useless, don't waste your time or money. The tip is so fragil that it will break as soon as you try your first job. That will be its end. I got one and I returned it after 4 days... Although the idea is good, the overall product is really bad. You need to get an standard soldering tool instead. By the way the wire stripper that comes with it broke apart while I was trying to use it the first time. It is a little pice of junk.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

A "gadget"- Good to use if AC power not available-If so ,use regular soldering iron-also be gentle-not for the "industrial" jobs!!!If this is the only solding tool you will have,do not buy it alone!!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Absolute garbage, won't heat unless the tip is just right, with full batteries runs out after a session or two.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

this thing is junk it does not solder anything i have had 3 now and the tips break and the batters last like 10min. its junk get a cord and a 30watt solder iron. you will be much happer.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

One big mistake all the way around. DON'T BUY THIS!!!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Overall it's not too bad. It can be tricky to get it to heat both the PCB surface and the lead you are soldering, or even to heat anything at all. One thing that may help is cleaning the tip by stripping about 1/2" of insulation off a solid wire, and running it slowly (and gently) over the tip to burn off excess flux residue. To increase power I used NiMh batteries. They worked great at first. I could burn the traces off a PCB, and solder melted instantly (more instantly than normal). Small pieces of copper would glow red if placed in the tip for a few seconds. Then I was soldering a large blob (I wanted to make a connection across 3 parallel traces with components in each hole (a grid of 9 holes)) and it took a while to heat up. By the time I was almost done it stopped working. The tip was extremely hot, so I pulled it off with pliers. I saw that the little white plastic part just below the tip (between the contacts) had melted. It would not turn on any more (the white LED wouldn't even come on). NiMh batteries help a lot (if you are careful), but they still don't last very long. After about 10 joints and 4 blobs they seemed to need a charge. (lesson: Don't solder blobs with a Cold Heat.) Unfortunately the tips cost half as much as the tool, and I don't think it is worth it to replace one. Mine is slowly eroding and had a deposit between the halves, but it still works. It is handy to have, but it can't replace a regular soldering iron. I would not recommend this to beginners.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

One word description: gimmick. This device broke on me the first time I used it, it wouldn't get hot enough to melt the joint I was attempting. I held it there for 20 seconds and the tip cracked (not even putting pressure ont it). I emailed the company to see if they would send me a new tip; they declined and said the tips aren't under warranty. The tips cost half the price of the device. What a joke; especially in light of how fragile the tips are. I replied to the email stating that whenever given the chance to review this product whether online or in conversation - I would strongly express my opinion of their product, marketing, and customer service. Piece of garbage.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I have tried to use mine twice, and neither time would it get hot enough to solder. It's going back to the store today. I hope I can get my $ back or exchange for another type.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

-Broke the first time I used it. -uses a lot of battries. -DONT GET IT!!!!!!!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

IT IS GREAT! I love it! I do a lot of work with electronics and i have tried a bunch of other soldering tools, but this is, without a doubt, the best one. It is very easy to use and a great deal! Some of the other soldering tools i tried were up to $60. The only bad thing that is that the tips will break if you're not careful. I would recommend this product to any "do-it-yorselfer"!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Tip broke, but my fault. I didn't read the instructions. I enjoyed the process with smaller devices. It was simple and clean. I am a novice when it comes to soldering. Not sure who to recommend this product to.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Horrible, it broke the first time I used it, and at $10 a replacement tip this is a huge waste of money.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Cool new tehcnology , but very fragile in implementation.Tip broke first time I used it. A bit of solder had solidified between the tip halves. rendering tip useless. Tried to remove the solder and the tip crumbled. Because of the way the tool generates heat, and the way you must position it to get it to heat, it can't be used for PC boards. It barely will solder fine wires together. Not even sturdy enough for light duty use. Really disapointed. Had hoped to use it for emergency fixes at gigs for my band, but I can't even rely on it to do that. Save your money and buy a butane iron, or the Weller battery iron instead, if you need cordless.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

When I first got this, I was a little bit worried because of the reviews I read. I see now that they were right. I needed to get the tip in exactly the right position for the light to turn on. Even when the light came on, it did not always solder. I applied a little bit of force to make a solid connection, and the tip chipped. It is virtually impossible to tin wires like one can with a traditional iron, because both sides of the tip need to make contact. Unusable for PCB or small hobby soldering. My success rate: 5-10%. Although it takes longer to heat up, the traditional iron is much more dependable. The traditional iron is worth the extra money. The ColdHeat iron's tip replacements alone would overbalance the traditional iron's cost.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

terrible, just absolutley terrible. buy yourself a soldering gun for $10 more. cools the same and much, much more reliable.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

The soldering iron was working fine for about a month but when I took the top covering the tip off, I found the tip's right side had broken off. So I had to throw it away and buy another one.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Very easy to use one you get use to it. Practice with it a few time and you may toss out your old iron. Wish the light was mounted to shine on the working part of the tip.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

OMG I hate this thing with a passion. I bought it and the tip was broken on arrival, so I took it back to radioshack and got another tip, tried soldering and that one broke. This thing won't even melt the solder I was using!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I hope '1' means poor. This thing is JUNK! Tip broke the very first time I tried to use it.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

when doing a test the tip broke off, i took it back and got another one to try, i have never seen a soldering tool so worthless!!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Worst thing I ever bought from radio shack. It's hard to use and when you get used to it it's still doesn't do a good solder job. Also barely touching the tip to project and tip broke, now I got to spend half the price of the whole tool to get a new tip. Needless to say I'm very unhappy with it.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

after 5 minutes the tip broken

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Well, it's a great idea but, the product stinks. Within 10 minutes of purchasing the unit the tip broke while doing a test solder joint. The tip is way too soft and breaks easily. Also appeared not to generate enough heat for certain joints. Not worth buying until they make some modifications.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I should have read reviews, it immediately split the tip and no useful purpose after trying it!!!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

tip is way to delicate

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Huge disappointment. The tip is split, and you must make contact with both sides for this to work. However, even when making contact, it's hard to make solid contact as the iron constantly is burning away fragments of it's tip. For the very first solder joint it was ok. After that it was hard to make a good connection. I planned on using this to solder into audio connections, but this iron can't even heat up a small 1/4" plug enough for me to melt solder over the hole. I honestly can't think of one application for this device. It's only useful for very small joints, but the tip is split too far to be able to solder anything small. This device could be greatly improved with a pointed tip, and maybe a button on it to turn on the power.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I think that this is a very good item. I read all of the reviews and am very dissapointed that they were unsatisfied. Although, this item works perfectly for me. Thank you Radioshack. Perfect item for anyone! Buy it dont hesitate.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

I read the reviews before I bought this unit and they were mixed. I should have paid attention to only the bad reviews. To sum it up, the unit is worthless. It will not even tin wire much less solder an item. Do not waste your money or time. Stick with the traditional iron.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Total disappointment... first of all, most people have to be really passionate about a product to write a review. I'm certainly no exception. Yes, I believed the TV commercials and thought this would be the perfect soldering iron for light work around the house. Turned out to be a big disappointment to me. First of all the tip doesn't cool down immediately, I got burnt several times with it. As a matter of fact the tip got so hot that it melted the plastic contact spacers that the tips connects to. Now the tip no longer stays attached to the iron. If all of the bugs could get worked out, this would probably be a pretty useful product...

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

It is a shame i did not read other customers reviews before buying it. It is like the user has to adapt to the way the unit works, turn the tip, avoid semiconductor legs across the sloted tip, etc. What really gets me is that the TV advertisement never tells you about the sloted tip. Do not waste your time and money buying it unless you've never done any soldering before.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

This iron is awesome. I don't have to wait for the old corded irons to heat up. Everyone says it isn't worth buying. I decided to give it a try. It works like a charm. Just make sure you read the instructions how to use it. The only problem the tips are expensive.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Wow, if someone had to go into the field and make an emergency solder job, this would definately let them down. Sure its innovative and all, but it is not something a professional would use. It's not even fit for a begginner. Please save your money and buy a trusty and reliable 15 watt grounded one and save the time that you would waste going back and returning it. It doesn't work well at all, my solder jobs turn out with little beads of solder all over the place. It really is not connvenient at all whatsoever.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Not worth the 20 dollers. I already broke to heads because they are so fragile. You have to get the tip just right to get it to heat. Sometimes it is more of a hassle to get it to heat than it is to compleat your work.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

total disappointment. i work with audio and visual equipment and was not satistfied with the tool.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Great Idea!!! works fine but is kinda messy to solder with.. Maybe its because its my first time soldering. But other that That it is fine. well worth my $20.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

It works well enough for larger-gauge wire. It's great for doing light repairs in the field or on vehicle electrical system. The poor reviews this has received have probably been as a result of trying to use it on fine-gauge wire or on PCBs. It's more suited for electrical/audio/video wiring than electronics. All-in-all, for $20, it's a good addition to any field-repair kit.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Absolutely useless !!!! Will melt solder but wont solder fine wire. Should have known, started on TV Infomercial. Sure glad it was a gift.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

The best iron I've ever used, easy to use,fast to heat up and cool down.love it worth the money by far!!!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Was very disappointed in this item. Takes forever to get to solder melting point.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Look, this is a great concept, a cordless soldering iron, but this is garbage. Can't solder anything with it, can't tin wires, no joints at all, and when you do get a connection, its always a cold solder joint. Don't waste your money, I'm returning it..

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

What a let down ! I am dissapointed in the quality. I was using it on a PC board and the tip broke . New tips cost half as much as the whole thing . Doesn't seem right to me , i would rather use my 30 watt with a cord , knowing i can get the job done and not worry about breaking a tip that cost $10.00 .

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Find this product to be simple and effective (even when co-workers gave up on it). Requires heat up time (a few seconds) versus traditional irons and gives exceptional results when used with patience and care.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

The cordless part is good. Just as others have said, the tip gets messed up. To replace two tips you've paid for the whole thing, again.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Really dissapointed in the product and wished I had returned it. Very difficult to solder pc boards with..usually ends up with large globs of solder. Also, when doing several joints, the tip is NOT "cold" instantly, but does take about 30+ seconds. I've gone back to my 15watt iron...MUCH better performance even if it DOES have a cord on it!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

As an electronics professional, let me echo the sentiments of other users. This item doesn't work, simple as that. Don't buy under any circumstances.

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

It works well, but when I was soldering for the first time, I put the tip on the metal object I was soldering and the tip split in half. So I had to go back to Radio Shack and buy another tip for $10!

Comments about RadioShack Cordless Soldering Tool Powered By Cold Heat™:

Boy, you'd think that this would be a great thing. It is not. It barely heats the solder, and the tip eats itself to create heat. The batteries may last 500+ soldering jobs, but you are going to spend a fortune on tips to keep this thing going. Not recommended - find another way....