This gonna be a short post. I got asked by my friend a lot. If it is worthwhile to score a Hakko Clone, Personally, I would not recommend. Lot of them are cheap knockoff. If you are dealing delicate soldering, if the components are very sensitive to temperature, Hakko or Weller generic stations are the way to go. It is difficult for me to imagine that the knock will have good temperature regulation characteristic. An overshoot at temperature will be a killer to the part...