You mean the OLED display on the TS100? Mine stopped working not too long ago as well.

@@KerryWongBlog Yes, apparently it's a known thing and it dosent have much correlation with time powered up just seems random :)

The price is for the combo (iron+PS), for just the iron the price is similar.

@@KerryWongBlog True.

Competing product, similar form factor and that takes T12 tips with barrel jack or USB-C PD power?

I have very good luck with generic, cheap T12 tips.

And now if you count the time invested you are way outside of the price range. Realistically speaking this offers TS100-esque performance at half the price. Personally I will always stick to a reliable brand, heavy duty desk iron (JBC in my case) for most soldering, but this is a great little thing to have just to throw in a bag in case you need to do soldering on the go. Additionally it lowers the barrier to entry for newcomers to electronics, which is always great. I remember many years ago when I was starting out, that the options for soldering irons were either grandpas beaten down, straight in the wall plugged massive iron, or shell out big bucks for a weller (not affordable for most kids). I am glad with irons like this opening up possibilities.

@@tHaH4x0r Pace is an older and more reputable brand than JBC. Read Dave Jones on the EEVblog forum or watch his videos in the last 4 years.. He has both JBC and Pace and in almost every video one's used, it's the Pace. He reports the tip iron durability is better than JBC and if you really know electronics, PWMing a MOSFET is not hard.

@@kwpctek9190 What exactly does pace vs jbc have anything to do with my comment? I have used both as well (among other brands) and I prefer JBC. In the end its a question of personal preference, not better or worse. This is not as simple as 'just PWMing a mosfet', as the heat in the element corresponds to current, not voltage. Hence you want to do current control with feedback from the thermocouple in the tip. If you dont have feedback, you will suffer from tremendously reduced performance, and negate all the advantages that such an integrated sensor/heater tip unit has. The close thermal coupling between sensor heater and contact zone makes the control able to regulate things much more tightly. If you want to hack something together, and only have it working in feedforward or substandard feedback, sure its doable (but will still cost you quite a lot of time to make it usable and robust for every day usage). If you want to do it properly, you have to put in even more effort. And that is exactly my point. If you buy a reputable big brand tip, and a handle, and the electronics required to drive it, and add up the time to get that working, you are far, far out of the budget range of the iron presented in the video, nor will it be as compact and portable.