Milwaukee’s M12 cordless soldering iron kit, with the tool, (1) 1.5Ah battery, charger, and hard carrying case, is currently on sale over at Tool Nut for $99 with free shipping.
This kit is regularly $149, and the next lowest price I could find is $109 “special buy” pricing at Home Depot.
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Benjamen reviewed the Milwaukee M12 cordless soldering iron here.
Milwaukee Cordless Soldering Iron Specs
- 90W output
- Max Temp 750°F
- 18 second heat up time
- 3-stop pivoting head
- LED status indicator
- LED worklight
- 45 min runtime under no load with a 1.5Ah battery
- 11.6″ long
- 0.9 lbs with 1.5Ah battery
Milwaukee’s cordless soldering iron has a 3-stop pivoting head, 18 second heat-up time, and it’s compact enough to work in some tight spaces.
$99 for the kit that’s regularly priced at $149? Sounds like a good deal. If you are already an M12 tool user and want to spend a little less, the bare tool is $79.
Buy Now: Kit via Tool Nut
Compare: Kit via Home Depot
Compare: Kit via Acme Tools
Compare: Bare Tool via Acme Tools
Note: Checking on user reviews at Milwaukee’s website, there are some complaints of the tool suffering heat damage with prolonged use, but this issue isn’t mentioned in retailers’ reviews. Just something to be aware of.
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Tim E.
I have one, and love it for everything from soldering 10g wires for robotics applications, down to occasional on-board electronics work. That said, this iron has it’s place. It’s squarely intended at people that really need the cordless aspect, such as folks that maybe have been using butane irons in the past. Pro A/V folks, maybe car audio installers, people where the convenience of cordless is a big draw, or absolutely necessary.
It also shouldn’t be your only soldering iron. It’s heavy if you’re having to lift it up to do circuit board work. It’s 90W, and while it has been reasonable with temperature control in my experience, it’s a little heavy duty for some finer work. For some of the “extra heavy” work, it makes it through, but doesn’t replace the ancient craftsman soldering gun. If you don’t absolutely need the cordless aspect, you’re almost universally better off getting a corded soldering station, and you’ll save a good chunk of change to boot. A decent Weller soldering station is not as expensive as this iron. A couple pencil irons like a 15W and a 45W can be had for even less. Doing mostly electronics work, I reach for my 15W pencil iron most of the time for shorter jobs, or break out the hakko station for longer jobs (if I had space to leave it out, I’d just use the hakko all the time).
My absolute favorite aspect of this milwaukee soldering iron though is I can slap one of the XC batteries in it, tilt the tip forward, and it’ll stand up and be fairly stable. Makes it easier than a pencil iron stand to do wire connections or similar, and not have to use a “third hand” type tool. I also like it for at robotics competitions where plugs are at a premium (and we usually aren’t soldering a ton of stuff). Easy to pull out, use real quick, then put it aside to cool and not have to worry about getting a plug for it, getting the work close enough to the plug, or getting out an extension cord. But it is admittedly a hefty price to pay for that convenience, and that’s really what you’re paying for here.
Eric
I mostly agree. It’s nice for quick jobs, especially those away from wall power. especially like being able to stand it up on an XC battery and using both of my hands to hold whatever I’m working on. It is big and heavy though. It makes it awkward to hold, and it’s not something your going to want to hold for long periods of time.
If I was buying today after having used the M12 for a while I would have to at least seriously consider the Ryobi soldering station instead. Being able to hold a more traditional pencil style iron would be nice.
Koko The Talking Ape
Yep. My hand gets tired just looking at this thing.
I wonder if anybody has tried moving the battery to a belt clip or something like that. You’d have a short wire to deal with (maybe run it down your arm?) but you could still move around car interiors and the like. And it would be much lighter.
Erick
I have one and love it. It came in very handy when upgrading the audio system in both of my vehicles. Also used it to field repair a loose relay connection in my dad’s car – he was about to call a tow truck!
King duck
Hopefully they are clearing them out for a new m18 station model like Ryobi
Mike
I like mine also, heats up fast and stands by itself which makes things easier. Been very satisfied with my M12 stuff so far.