Cold heat?

[Andy A.]

I've used one.

It does work- it heats up quickly and cools down quickly. You can even solder with it.

The problem is that it's pretty useless for doing more then quick fixes. It heats up quick, but it has so little thermal energy that youd be sitting there for an hour trying to heat up a large joint enough to get solder to flow properly. So don't even bother trying to solder up a crimp connector. For small PCB stuff, it's pretty snazzy. I wouldn't want to do more then a few joints with it though. An electric iron may take a few minutes to heat up, but once it does it will stay hot for as long as you want. It may seem silly, but waiting those few seconds for the coldheat to warm up is annoying.

I'd say its not overly useful for FIRST, but it could be handy for the average joe. It certaintly is a lot faster and easier then a butane powered iron and more portable then a corded. There is more concern with keeping it clean, as solder stuck on the tip fouls it up right quick.

-Andy A.