How to Distinguish the Original HAKKO Soldering Tips from the Counterfeits?

Asian online stores offer a wide range of HAKKO marked soldering tips at a very attractive price. They look very much like the genuine HAKKO T12, but their price is much lower. We should complement the falsifiers, though. If you are choosing the soldering tip exclusively by the picture of the original one from the internet, the chances to pick the genuine one is quite low. However, you can easily spot the differences when comparing the actual tips, not their pictures.

Packaging

You can see from the picture below that the difference in packaging of the original and counterfeit products is minor. However, it is quite easy to spot it: although the prints are almost identical, the colours on the original packaging are more prominent and much brighter.

Counterfeit soldering tip.
Low-quality dull prints.

Original soldering tip.
High-quality vivid prints.

Special Marking

The series of the soldering tip is indicated not only on the packaging but on the product itself, too. The tips are marked by the white stripes, wrapped across the central part of the tip. At first glance, the stripes on both original and counterfeit instruments are the same. However, on the genuine HAKKO T12 products, the stripes are very hard, and the inscription on them cannot be easily removed. The white stripes on the fake soldering tips can be easily damaged even with the fingernail. Once you scratch it, you will see a shiny silver base of the stripe.

Counterfeit soldering tip.
White stripe with the inscription can be easily damaged or removed.

The original HAKKO T12 soldering tip.
The stripe does not have a silver base. It is hard, monolithic, and almost impossible to damage.

Weight

Weighting is one of the most effective methods of identifying whether the T12 series branded soldering tip is genuine or fake. You can feel some difference even when holding two products in your hands. The weights of T12 series branded genuine and fake soldering tips can differ up to 0.5 g. The original product is heavier, and to confirm this, you can use the regular kitchen scales.

Counterfeit of the HAKKO T12-C1 soldering tip
Weight – 7.24 g.

Original HAKKO T12-C1 soldering tip
Weight – 7.7 g.

Operating temperature and service life

To be honest, some well-selected counterfeits of the soldering tips allow for a quality soldering. Their service life might be comparatively long, too. Nevertheless, most of them are more likely to have a short service life and significant temperature deviations: the real temperature of the instrument can differ from the set one by a few tens of degrees.

Price

When buying soldering tips with HAKKO T12 inscription from Aliexpress at the ridiculous 2 or 3 dollars, you should not be expecting the high-quality genuine product. For this cost, you can only get a counterfeit, the quality of which is most likely to be poor. The original HAKKO T12 series soldering tips will be 3 to 5 times more expensive, depending on the model.

For the high-quality soldering and best results, we recommend using only the original soldering tips. We also hope that our article will help you make the right choice every time you need to buy the new soldering tip. By the way, visit our website toolboom.com to buy 100% original HAKKO T12 soldering tips .

Toolboom Team