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Written by [t0rc]
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Just when you thought that something in the tech industry was stable,
ColdHeat shatters the soldering fields norm. Introducing the ColdHeat
Soldering Tool, an innovation that will make both electricians and
modders lives easier and open a lot of new doors in the heating field.
Utilizing new patented technology, the soldering iron is able to
generate 800°F in 1.2 seconds and cool down to the touch in 3 seconds.
With minute flaws, the ColdHeat Soldering Tool makes it possible to
take your soldering anywhere, not to mention decreasing annoyance from
power cords.
As soon as I read about the ColdHeat Soldering Tool on ThinkGeek
I was immediately skeptical. How can something that runs on 4AA
batteries heat up to 800°F in 1.2 seconds, cool down in 3 seconds,
solder 700+ joints before needing new batteries, introduce brand new
technology to the market, and still cost only $19.95? I assumed it was
just going to be a poor performing product due to the low price with
such high expectations and hype. Well I will put it plainly, I was
absolutely wrong. Possibly the best tool I've seen since the Dremel,
the ColdHeat Soldering Tool lives up to it's expectations in nearly
every way with outstanding performance. Lets get to the good stuff.
| Product: | Cold Heat Soldering Tool |  | | Submitted By: | ColdHeat | | Manufacturer: | ColdHeat | | MSRP: | 19.95 USD | | Where to Buy: | ColdHeat.com | | Power Requirements: | 4x AA Batteries | | Claim To Fame: | Portable, Cordless, Instant heat soldering. Red-Dot Design Award | | Verdict: | Pure genius. w00t. | | Warranty: | 90 Day Money Back Guarantee |
At first when I opened the box I didn't think it was a soldering tool.
If anything, I thought it might've been something glass or extremely
fragile judging from the case it comes in. With plenty of padding both
inside the case and inside the box, the soldering tool arrived
undamaged.
Upon opening the case I was greeted with a few more items than I
expected. ColdHeat includes a breadboard, thin solder, wires for
tinning, and of course instructions, all to help you adjust to using
this new tool. Also included was a DVD that had the SVC debut and
another excerpt about the item. Then of course the soldering tool was
in the black case on the right.
The soldering iron itself is a nice tone of silver with parallel dark
blue-gray rubber pads for grip. It appears a bit different at first,
especially to hold and use because its like an extremely fat pen
instead of conventional soldering irons. It does take a few minutes to
really get used to the hand position and weight of the tool, but it
shouldn't take past 15 minutes before your soldering with very close to
the same precision as you do with other soldering tools. ColdHeat even
includes a practice breadboard for soldering circuits along with a
practice set of wires for tinning, and to top it off, plenty of helpful
hints and instructions to hone your skills quickly with your new
soldering tool. Also available with the soldering tool: easy changing
Split-Tip's.
No more screws. Just slip the tip out, push in the new one, and your
ready to solder the world. A large part of the essential ColdHeat
Technology, is the material these tips are forged from: Athalite. In an
excerpt from the ColdHeat Technology FAQ, athalite is described as:
"Athalite is a patented, revolutionary composite material and an
essential ingredient in ColdHeat. The unique chemical and physical
properties of Athalite deliver unparalleled heating potential." "In
addition, Athalite is a highly malleable material and can be milled
into multiple form factors, thus permitting the innovative design of a
broad array of everyday products." All the tips are "split". I did find
the tips a little wide for very close soldering, but in most cases it's
not a big deal. The heating element relies on the completion of the
circuit by touching both of the sides of the tip to the same conductor,
mainly wire and/or solder. The added safety of requiring a completed
circuit is that the chance of it lighting your pocket on fire, if you
accidentally forget to turn it off, is very low. My first thoughts
about these tips were that because they require a completed circuit,
it'd limit your maneuverability to do different joints. ColdHeat solved
this problem with the different shaped tips that are available. You'd
figure the use of this new composite material along with the new
instant heat/cool technology would increase the price higher than $20
USD but since the raw materials that go into Athalite are very cheap,
the prices are predicted to stay close, if not lower, than their common
wall-socket counterparts.
The ability of the ColdHeat Soldering Tool, in unison with the
resistive Athalite creates the unique ability of nearly instant heat.
Taking a mere 1.2 seconds to go from room temperature to 800 degrees
fahrenheit and cooling down to the touch in roughly 3 seconds is
something a conventional soldering iron cannot even begin to compete
with.
The battery life is quite impressive, as I've been using this soldering
tool for at least 30 minutes each day for the past 3 weeks and it shows
no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Above you can see the battery
compartment for the 4 AA alkaline batteries required to power the
soldering tool.
There are two LED's on the ColdHeat Soldering Tool. A red one, which is
only lit up when the tool is working, thus the tip is hot. The other is
a pure white LED mounted under the top attachment to further illuminate
your work, activated once you slide the power switch forward.
Unfortunately, here's where one of my two gripes appears. The white LED
stays extremely bright like it should when you're not soldering. But
once the circuit is completed and you begin to solder something, the
white LED dims significantly (roughly 1/3 of it's normal brightness)
due to the draw of power. Whats the point in having such a bright LED
if it's just going dim right when you need it?
The soldering tool is said to work best with solder of 18 AWG to 20
AWG. It's also intended for "light-duty soldering projects". While you
may not be soldering a ton when you mod your computer, or repair things
around your house, if your an electrician or for some other reason,
need to use a larger solder gauge and/or for an extended period of
time, you should be using a conventional soldering iron, not this tool.
I tried some larger gauges and I noticed it made a slight mess, but
also naturally took longer to heat up and solder. Thankfully, 18-20 AWG
is more than adequate for most computer modding projects that require soldering.
The Conclusion
The ColdHeat Soldering Tool is one of the purest forms of creativity
and design that I've seen in a while. Providing enough heat to solder
in an instant, cooling down just as fast, and being portable is a
winning combination. Scoring nearly a perfect, the ColdHeat Soldering
Tool will be found in the dictionary next to the word: ingenious. Easy
to work with, in both hand position and soldering. Having a few
shortcomings, such as the white LED dimming, the tips being slightly
too wide for a few close soldering joints, and the fact that it cannot
handle solder lower 18 AWG barely tarnish this revolutionary product.
If you do any soldering at all, I highly recommend the ColdHeat
Soldering Tool. It's a great buy for only $19.95 USD. The ColdHeat
Soldering Tool is worthy of the Moditory Mandatory Award, the Editors
Choice Award, and our Bleeding Edge Tech award with a rating of 94%.
This highly anticipated product hasn't fallen short of anything but
perfection.
Thank you to ColdHeat for submitting this product for review.
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