Does anyone have any experience with the FNIRSI®︎ SAG-55 Intelligent 550W Hot Air Gun?

Question

I have a few tools from the FNIRSI product line (including the DSO-TC2, FNB58 and recently the LCR-ST1). I have generally found these devices to be pretty good and very affordable. Recently I have been teased on Facebook with a new product, the FNIRSI SAG-55, an Intelligent 550W Hot Air Gun. They are currently offering this item for $44.99 (USD) which seems very affordable. While the cost is great, I would hate to buy it and have it melt down in my hand or just end up in the trash, so I thought I would hit pause and ask my friends here if they have any experience with this item. 
 Any thoughts? Thank you in advance for your opinions.

shabaz · Accepted Answer

Hi Gene, 
 Nice find! I've no knowledge of it, but like you say, FNIRSI stuff can be of decent quality. I purchased a FNIRSI meter which I've yet to use, but build quality was great. 
 
 Hard to know if 550W will be sufficient for your needs, but even if you need to purchase a higher power device in the future, that doesn't mean the older one is useless, because I bet it would be excellent for heatshrink tubing and other similar purposes. I have a very low power (120W) hot air gun that I solely use for heatshrink. 
 At that low price and with that brand, it does seem attractive (and with any hot air gun, it would never be left alone powered up unattended anyway I hope!). 
 Also, regardless of power output, maybe it's also worth considering a preheater too, so that you can warm up the board a certain amount, and then let the hot air gun just provide the remainder heat to perform the reflow. To me it feels a more reliable way to do successful reflow, but I've no solid reasoning for it, it's just what I feel comfortable with. 
 Some pre-heaters provide quite localized heat, which might be ideal for reflowing just a specific part on a larger board. When I was trying to reflow whole boards without a hot air gun, I got this unit; it turned out to be underpowered for reflow by itself (which is fair enough; it was after all only marketed as a pre-heater), but it's great for combining with the hot air gun. 
 
 A downside of the particular pre-heater in the photo above is that it toasts your face a little bit; good to wear eye protection at least!

Does anyone have any experience with the FNIRSI®︎ SAG-55 Intelligent 550W Hot Air Gun?

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