Equipment for Soldering

[pootas]

I've just ordered an Antex 18w iron with a .12 and .5 tip. Now just looking at getting a desk magnifying lamp off ebay so I can actually see what I'm doing!

What magnification do you need? It seems to be either 3x or 5x with the 5x being about £15 more expensive! Do I actually need 5x?

 

[xbc]

If you can afford it go for the max magnication you can alldepends on how much you are going to be using it.
I now use a stereo microscope which is 10 x and 30 X
it will take some getting use to soldering under it as you hands dont seem to go where you want them to under the lamp, but just practise with some older pcb
you coulld also do with a fux Pen and a tin of flux