#Boys' toys

On the left, from the second-hand market (Xianyu), ¥180 and no charger, you sort your own; on the right, from the Douyin store, ¥500, and there’s a difference: this lead (Xianyu machine) is thinner than my life, pitiful, and the tips aren’t even one piece; (the AWithZ’s) are so rounded, they say it handles 0.4 nickel strip, seriously strong, and it has a button, aluminium-alloy shell (nameplate UF20B 6.0V / 1750A / 10.5kW / 100–240V, Juequi Technology); I can’t really read power ratings, I just buy the pricey one, the pricey one’s stronger, that one’s low power. The Xianyu machine throws sparks on every weld; this one is different, the pen has a switch underneath so you don’t need to hold anything, just go bang-bang-bang rapid-fire, so much fun, burnt the tablecloth, the genuine AWithZ; and this isn’t even the top gear, it’s on 31, 99 is harsher; big thumbs-up for that switch, so convenient. Switch to gear 99 and weld a utility-knife blade: whoa, a stainless blade this thick nearly welded on, welded through, how’s that for strong; don’t recommend welding like this, too hard on the machine; blew right through the blade. 613 comments: the bought one wins, AWithZ is reliable (is this brand that big a deal?); Duokerui and AWithZ are about the same, which is stronger (they say they may well be the same company); bought a P120 for ¥2600 on promotion, ribbon cable loose, returned, don’t trust the QC (let me try one too); good enough, fairly strong, easy to use (it really is strong, the pen button is super handy, the lead’s just short); at ¥180 back then there wasn’t even a pen, better to buy Kekaike; both of the desk-top ones are toys (how big does it have to be to not be a toy); a hand-built microwave-transformer one has far more current and sits gathering dust; a ¥400 one off Xianyu does 0.4 aluminium-nickel easily; supercapacitor + LTO builds are cheap and powerful.