I've been using an Aoyue 469 for the last couple of years to do surface mount assembly. The 469 is a nice entry level soldering station, but lacks some of the needed features when doing more complex projects. In searching for a soldering station with hot air capability, I found quite a few entries in this category, with only a few standouts.

I settled on the X-Tronic Model 4040-XTS because it had the features I was looking for, was priced well, and customers appeared to be pretty happy with the performance of the unit. And, on those occasions when service was needed, customers reported good experiences with X-Tronic service here in the US.

The main unit is sturdy and well built. The brushed aluminum front panel is attractive and the controls are well situated. The controls used for setting temperatures and air flow look nice and have a good, smooth feel. The temperature displays look nice and are easily read. Despite what you may have seen or read in other X-Tronic advertising materials, the unit uses blue 7-segment LED displays. The only change I would make on the front panel is to label the two rocker switches a little better. They do have on/off labeling, but not their function (the left rocker controls power to the hot air, and the right rocker controls power to the soldering iron). One other issue worth mentioning is the lack of a CE or UL label on the rear of the unit. The unit is fused, so this isn't a deal breaker.

The soldering iron is fairly light weight and has a comfortable feel, very similar to my Aoyue 469. The soldering iron stand I received is different than the one shown in the photos here on Amazon. The one I received is made of formed steel and feels very substantial. It also happens to be the one advertised with the X-Tronic 5040-XR3 here on Amazon.

The hot air gun uses a pump inside the main unit to generate the airflow rather than a fan inside the gun like some other units on the market. I noticed that when running hot air at low temperature, the air flow was very weak, even at the max setting. However, when running the hot air at a typical working temperature of 270 "“ 300 C, the air flow really picks up and is more than sufficient to do component installation or removal. I also noted that when turning the hot air rocker switch off, the air continues to run for a short time to cool the heating element. The pump then shuts off automatically.

I've been using the 4040-XTS for a couple of weeks now, soldering mostly small and some large surface mount components. With the right tip and the right temperature, the soldering iron works well. I've only used a couple of the many tips that came in the bundle, but can report that so far they are performing very well. I have not seen any tip plating problems; they stay tinned without any need to resort to the use of Tip Tinner type products. With respect to the hot air side of the unit, I have only used it to remove components. This is not a fast process, but works, and works well. I'm not going to say much about the lamp. Mine worked "“ it's OK.

Overall, I am very happy with my X-Tronic 4040-XTS purchase and would recommend it to anyone looking for a soldering iron and hot air unit. It's an excellent value, considering the addition of the spare heating elements. As good as this all sounds, I was prepared to give this unit 4 stars (due to the front panel rocker switch labeling and lack of CE or UL), but I ran into a minor issue and needed to contact customer support. I have to say that the X-Tronic customer support here in the US is absolutely the best. The problem was quickly addressed and solved. So, another happy customer, and another 5 star review.

Junk! At max, it takes forever to melt solder. I was so excited to get this thing, now I am returning it the very next day. Would be okay for very, very small jobs. I work on Drones and Quads and it wouldn't even melt the solder. I tried all the tips, turned the power all the way up and it doesn't have the power it should have. My 10 dollar iron busted its butt, which is what I had to finish the job with. Took me 3 hours to solder 3 contacts ... literally! They ended up being cold joints, which is why I had to use my cheap iron to finish.

I have Received this unit on July 5th 2017 , I Have used this unit now for about a month And it has performed very well .. I use it for long periods of time . The unit itself is a little bit larger than i expected.So if you're considering buying this unit Keep in mind that the main unit is fairly large . If you are wanting something a little smaller but still want the Hot air station I would recommend the Xtronic 6040 Model ,. The Magnifying glass stand that comes with was the only thing that i really don't like about the entire package , As it does not magnify enough for the really small PCB's I have to work on .. The extra Gadgets it comes with are very nice , So this unit will come complete and ready to go to work right out of the box .
I have not been disappointed with the Xtronic brand soldering stations ,. I have another Smaller unit the Xtronic 3020 Model , I use from time to time and both units have had very good performance And would recommend this unit 5 Stars * * * * *

I have Received this unit on July 5th 2017 , I Have used this unit now for about a month And it has performed very well .. I use it for long periods of time . The unit itself is a little bit larger than i expected.So if you're considering buying this unit Keep in mind that the main unit is fairly large . If you are wanting something a little smaller but still want the Hot air station I would recommend the Xtronic 6040 Model ,. The Magnifying glass stand that comes with was the only thing that i really don't like about the entire package , As it does not magnify enough for the really small PCB's I have to work on .. The extra Gadgets it comes with are very nice , So this unit will come complete and ready to go to work right out of the box .
I have not been disappointed with the Xtronic brand soldering stations ,. I have another Smaller unit the Xtronic 3020 Model , I use from time to time and both units have had very good performance And would recommend this unit 5 Stars * * * * *

Soldering iron and heat gun work well. I like the unit after a few uses.

The magnifier lamp did not work. The lamp would not stay on. Tapping the lamp caused it to go on and off. This seems very dangerous so I took the lamp apart to find it's poorly constructed. Just not safe to have mains powered stuff with intermittent unsoldered connections inside. I tossed it.

Even with the bad lamp, I'm giving 4 stars. I'm hoping the lamp was an "extra" that does not exemplify the quality of the X-Tronic unit.

Also, minor... The included warning slip about the shipping screws all but yells about three screws you must remove. But there are only two.