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I wanted to chime in with personal experience, as someone who bought mkawa's first test round of these kits.
Every couple of years I've dabbled in soldering--doing like many people here and picking up a cheap set of equipment since I didn't want to make a big investment. Every time, I've lost interest pretty quickly. I didn't take to enjoying it and it seemed difficult to get right.
The difference in using well-made, quality tools is like night and day. I found it much easier to make good-looking solder joints. The solder flowed perfectly compared to what I was used to. The tip wasn't getting burned out of the soldering iron right away. Desoldering was honestly like magic compared to my previous experiences.
I was shocked by the difference (figuratively ;) ) I can't wait to start on new soldering projects now, and I'm satisfied to know I will be able to rely on these tools for a long time.
Learning a skill using substandard equipment--just because you're hesistant to shell out for something you may not turn out to pursue--can set you up for failure. Especially when you're not being taught in person, it's hard to tell whether you're making mistakes, or whether it's something beyond your control bogging you down that you--as a beginner--can't identify. That's personally why I bought mkawa's kit and why I continue to be very happy I did :)
patrain
182
Nov 3, 2014
nokosleatherNoko makes a really good point here. MD drove me to learn how to solder with the ErgoDox drop. I tried to practice at first with a horrible plug-right-into-the-wall iron from the dwindlingly important RadioShack. It went horribly. Nothing beats a temperature regulated high wattage iron. With that, I was able to successfully build a working keyboard on the first try with zero experience. I assume the components in this drop are of high-enough quality to get you into the hobby and skill of soldering, and eventually drive you to get a professional grade iron that fits your needs. I can't emphasize enough how good it feels to work with a really good iron compared to a crappy one.