Helping Hands Soldering Station Magnifier Tool Third Hand for Desoldering, Electronics Repair, Jewelry Making, Magnifying Lamps for Fine Work, Solder Fan to Eliminate Welder Fumes

This helping hand set is pretty sturdy, but tips over in many configurations. I think the Idea is to put your solder in the middle of the stand to weigh it down, but I suppose the manufacturer could have used steel or have a wider base. You can definitely drive some screws to adhere this thing to plywood, or the surface of your bench through the holes under each of the arms where the little rubber feet go to permanently solve that problem. The little fan to suck the solder fumes away is a great feature. For the price, this is a great product, and the price is definitely right with this one.

Well, this product was a pain to use. To keep the entire octopus looking system from falling over, the ideal solution is to have it physically attached to the table, with all the USB connectors you need nearby. I do not have a permanent place for my electronics work, and therefore cannot attach it to my table. This created so much hassle just to try to keep the helping hand standing! In addition, despite only working with small/medium breadboards, the weight of the little board it self was too much for the helping hands: Once i got them in the position i needed them in, a slight movement made the hands fall due to weight of what they were holding. Along the same lines, the magnifying glass is close to useless due to it being heavier than the arms/base can hold in comfortable positions to the user! Finally the light and the fan connections are on two separate USBs. In other words, if i want to turn the light on and have the fan working, i need, at minimum, 2 free nearby USB connectors, plus figuring out how to make the wires coming off each not interfere with soldering.I went back and forth on whether i should return this item, but decided to try to make it work for me. I mainly just use the helping hands in whatever position it allows me to.Product could be a lot better. The quality is mediocre at best, but it will eventually hold up a circuit board... If i had a dedicated electronics workspace many of these issues could be resolved, but, as i don't, this product is just a headache which does the minimum possible to say it met it's expectation (e.g: it holds up a board, just not in angle you need...)

Soldering wires can be such a pain sometimes simply because you really need more than 2 hands to do it properly. 2 hands just to hold the 2 wire ends together and then another to hold the soldering iron and a 4th to feed the solder. Then you also need proper lighting and potentially a magnifying glass if you're soldering tiny surface mount components. It's just a hassle but you do what you have to do to get things fixed rather than throwing it out and replacing it. Well, I've been working with a 2 helping hands unit for several years and I found it to be lacking. The clips weren't strong enough and the arms weren't flexible. They didn't have a wide range of motion. So a lot of times I'd just have to put things "close enough" and pray that it worked. More often than not it was a frustrating experience when it didn't. The slightest touch of the soldering iron would move things out of place. The wires themselves would shift and I'd end up wasting more time setting up than actually soldering.I finally decided to splurge and buy this unit. No regrets. It works well. The arms are stiff allowing it to hold heavier gauge wire without shifting. If I needed additional support I can actually use 2 clamps/arms per wire! That's definitely a bonus. For once I actually have more clamps than necessary. The rubberized tip allows for non marking of the wiring (especially when it gets hot). Finally the light is plenty bright. With it being longer than the rest I can position it better to either use the magnifying glass or simply have the light shining on my components without glare. The multiple LEDs allow for the lighting to be more diffused and the adjustable color temperature and intensity works well for different situations. The base itself is heavy enough to prevent it from tipping over and the built-in trays is a nice touch to hold all the various components together. My only gripe is that I wish it came with it's own USB adapter. I had a spare lying around from an old disused cellphone but I think something so simple should be included. The LED wire length is plenty long though which is great. I usually use an extension cord with it anyway for the soldering iron so having an equally long if not longer cord for the light is a must. The actual arm lengths are also quite generous. I'm very satisfied.

Just got this in last night and when I assembled it I found that the base is so small that you have to be very careful to keep the center of gravity in the middle of the base. That includes the fan and light must be kept low and near the center. The cord on the fan is less than half the length of the light and they both need to plug into a usb power plug, I have several that are dual output but then I end up having to keep this very close to the outlet to be able to power the fan, the cord on the fan needs to be nearly the same length as the light.On the plus side, the arms are difficult to move but they don't appear to bounce back from the position that you move them to, that helps when you're trying to position a pc board into a specific location or use one of the arms to hold a component while you solder. The light is excellent for both the color changes but also for the variety of brightness levels, I'm finding that I actually prefer a lower brightness so that I don't get a lot of glare. The one problem with this is that the magnifying lens is rather small and it can be awkward to get positioned so that you can see the correct portion of your board through the lens.Based on the pieces that are included in this set I feel that the price is way out of line, the only piece with any real value is the light, the arms are cheap plastic, I hope they will hold up to use without getting too loose to use.My biggest complaint is the size and weight of the base plate, I may try adding some lead into a couple of the top compartments, that should help some. As it is, I wouldn't recommend this tool.

for the value it is not bad...Functionality...ouch.. plastic do not expect much.Ease of use...terrible the lamp falls down a lot already...the joins is held by friction of plastic.in time it will be much worse as the joints all losen up cause its plastic..( more you use it).The Alligator clips should have been 90* turnable. on each arm...to make it far better for 4 stars.Stability it will fall over...base not heavy enough...DIY better base or connec it to another metal blockDIY..wooden board..bigger wider..for bigger CBs.LOVE the brightness........BUT only good for 1 EYE...not both eyes :(.. overall 1 star..cause you cant use both eyes.which is important..that is what this device is for precision CLOSE work.You lose depth perception for tiny soldering with only one eye.The worst part is the lamp constantly needing to be adjust cause it falls down a lottt.Get yourself a 3D printer..make better arms for 3000.00 lmaoooooooooooooooooWhat would be awesome is 5 metal arms with special joints...but expect to pay 200.00But you buy it once..which is worth it for peace of mind and EASE of use

Concept is great! But made of plastic and metal. Not good for soldering! The clamps heat up and soften the plastic inserts that fit into the flexible arms and cause them to crack and break! I have two arms that the inserts have now cracked . I am not happy with this product and think if it’s not too late, I will return!

I had a problem with the arms being broken but this was quickly addressed by the seller. I was impressed with how responsive they were.Aside from that, the arms are stiff but that's a good thing in my estimation. It allows you to be very precise with the alignment of the arms and I have found it quick useful. The base is steady and solid so I'm not concerned that the arms are going to shift on me.I haven't really used the light/LEDs except to plug them in and make sure that they function but they seemed decent and provide good lighting

Wonderful product little issue when I received it tho I got a version without the fan. 😭When I message Amazon they weren't able to give me a great solution but did suggest to contact the supplier directly.The supplier was actually quick to respond and help me with a solution that worked out best for me. 😁 I love this product because it's really hard for me to hold my hand still when soldering but this product does what it suggests.I highly recommend this product and if you have any issues, this supplier is pretty amazing and will help you with a response in a timely manner. 🤩

The arms are very sturdy and it was very hard to adjust when new. After using it for a few weeks, it's not hard to adjust anymore but it was still very stiff. Light gets hot on maximum settings so I had to turn down the brightness a bit. The base is weighted but still not enough as it still tip over when not balanced. That's the only reason why It's not perfect, I have to clamp the base to the table to securely place it.