I can't believe Weller could make something this poor :-(
When I decided to upgrade my Electronics gear, Weller was at the top of the list when it came to buying a soldering iron. I'm not sure it's actually much of an improvement over the £15 Chinese marvel, I was using before :-(
Strictly speaking, I'm reviewing the complete WHS40D soldering station here - but this is the iron for it. (I had to buy a replacement :-( )
Good Points:
1) It's a very lightweight and therefore, manoeuvrable iron.
2) It's powerful and warms up very quickly.
Bad Points:
1) It's a low voltage iron, driven by an olde-worlde iron-cored transformer. How very 1970's! No switched-mode power supplies here...
2) The Temperature control is exceedingly annoying to use - requiring long winded button presses. A dial would have be so much better. True, you can alter the temperature by 1c, but when are you going to use 387c instead of 386c ?!?)
3)The temperature control appears to be nothing of the sort - I'm pretty sure it's a simple power control, with no feedback at all. It will say it's up to temperature, but the solder won't melt. Wait a few moments - and despite the temperature display not changing - the solder will now melt.
4) The 3 Pin DIN plug used to connect the iron to the base station does not make a very secure connection.
4)Last and by no means least - it has that stupid, stupid, stupid, grub screw method of retaining the bit. Again, all the rage in the 1970's!
Mine lasted 3 years, before it simultaneously, came slack, snapped and then got stuck (half in, half out).
I found a reviewer on the web, who had this problem after 4 hours of use!