Good Morning Charles,
There has been a lot of new products that have hit the market recently (less
than 6 months) which rival the Metcal soldering irons.
I would check out JBC, Pace and Hakko.
All of these have tips that are half the cost of the Metcal tips and are
rated for a longer life, supposedly of course.
I, like Bob, dislike the Metcal tip cost and the subpar life.  I currently
have about 75 MX systems in-house ranging in age from 5 to 18 years and
would nothing better than to find a more cost effective system with similar
performance and reliability traits.

Steve Sauer
Mfg Engineer
Northrop Grumman, Xetron

-----Original Message-----
From: Barr, Bob [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 4:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Metcal SP200 soldering Iron


My only gripe with the Metcals is the cost of tips vs. their
life expectancy.

-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Caswell [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 4:02 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Metcal SP200 soldering Iron


We currently use older MX systems. My boss wants me to check out the SP200.

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