I'm going to go ahead and sling mud at iFixit for using a Battery pack instead of individual cells and springs. It also doesn't seem that this expensive power supply supports power pass-through. A soldering iron shouldn't have a shelf life. Easily replaceable commodity batteries with spring terminals are massively superior to packs. What a gross product that makes me think significantly less of iFixit.
They seem to have gotten so caught up in the "things should be repairable" that they've forgotten the true thing most people care about is, "I shouldn't have to replace my stuff". They are acting like parts salesmen, not consumer advocates.
$200(? looks like you get the iron when you buy the power supply) would be a fair price for the base if it allowed me to charge and use any 6 18650s(bonus points if it can accept a variety of cell sizes) as a power bank and had circuitry to do pass through as well as charging. It would also be nice if you could use it charge batteries to a specified amount, and use custom charge patterns. Considering this is iFixit, it should also have a way to use it as a DC power supply as well. $250 for a glorified power brick is pathetic.
They seem to have gotten so caught up in the "things should be repairable" that they've forgotten the true thing most people care about is, "I shouldn't have to replace my stuff". They are acting like parts salesmen, not consumer advocates.
$200(? looks like you get the iron when you buy the power supply) would be a fair price for the base if it allowed me to charge and use any 6 18650s(bonus points if it can accept a variety of cell sizes) as a power bank and had circuitry to do pass through as well as charging. It would also be nice if you could use it charge batteries to a specified amount, and use custom charge patterns. Considering this is iFixit, it should also have a way to use it as a DC power supply as well. $250 for a glorified power brick is pathetic.