690D Digital Soldering Station from Antex

I've been using Antex soldering irons for the past thirty years. I started off with CS18's, an XS25, then a C15 miniature soldering iron. The C15 has been my main iron for about fifteen years, and is excellent for PCB work, both through-hole and surface-mount. Recently I decided to upgrade to something with more power and a controllable temperature, and having considered various soldering stations, eventually decided on the Antex 690D. I've never been that keen on the traditional irons, whereby the tip is held in position over the heater by a retaining barrel secured to the iron's handle by a nut. These barrel-type irons, despite performing perfectly well, seem kind of cumbersome to me. The Antex irons have a slim shaft which contains the heater element, and the tip simply slides over, held in place by an internal shim or external clip. This not only makes the shaft of the iron far easier to navigate around cables, connectors, or components on densely populated boards, but also easier when needing to swap tips. The Antex 690D comes with a 50 watt iron, the TC50. But also available for use with the 690D base unit is a 25 watt temperature controlled iron, the TC25. The lengths from tip to the yellow handle of the C15, TC25 and TC50 are 79mm, 73mm, and 84mm respectively. So I also use a TC25 as a secondary iron for finer work, which has an identically proportioned heater shaft to the C15, and also uses the same range of tips. The tips for Antex soldering irons are available from all the main electronics retailers, and are reasonably priced. The base unit is straightforward and easy to operate, although slightly large (W94 H138 D140mm) it is weighty enough to allow button presses without it sliding backwards. Powering up from room temperature, the iron reaches 350c in under a minute.

Antex support was very good. I know a lot of people who use these irons and I think they are pretty reliable and work well. I guess I was a little unlucky. I purchased the iron and didn't use it for nearly a year. When I did use it the shaft glowed red for a few seconds and then it stopped working. I called Antex support and they were pretty helpful. Returned the iron to Antex in the UK and a few days later they sent me a new replacement. I've used the new one a lot of many months now and its working really very well. I think my failure was probably unusual, but for modern electrical products, I think the support I was able to get was also unusual and good.

I have been using an antex irons for the past 30 years and never had a problem with them so the 690d was the logical step up. The reason for changing was because i had swapped to lead free solder and the xs25 was struggling with it, unfortunately the ts50 with the same size tip is even worse even at 450 degrees, the reason being the tips for the ts50 are much lighter weight than for the xs225 so heat retention is poor if soldering larger items. Antex inform me that i can use a xs25 tip as they are the same size internally, not quite, the shaft on my iron is undersized compared to the older iron and the tips are a loose fit, the 4.7mm tip heat retention is about the same as the 3mm tip on the xs25. Good points are it heats up much quicker although there is no indication of when it reaches the temperature you set it at.

I bought this to replace my 40 year old 18W Antex soldering iron and because I build models in brass which requires the use of different melting point solders. This soldering station is robust and well manufactured as I expected from Antex. It has proved easy to use with the added bonus of all my old and spare tips fitting it just fine.

Was recommended I am well pleased with its performance.

expensive but a quality product, perfect for an electronics workbench, having the adjustable heat output prevent over heating delicate components

I did my apprenticeship with this make iron and still have it 35 years on. I bought a cheap make temp controled iron and didn’t last very long. I bought this iron and decided to pay the extra money.... and proves you get what you pay for.. this is a quality iron and leaps and bounds better than what I had been using.

Good soldering station but sad to see they are now made in China. Not sure it is worth the premium price.