Helping Hands

I bought it but was skeptical. Got it in the other day, and it really is nice, well thought out, engineered. I haven’t use the light and magnifying glass, but this is just such a genius solution I can put the printed circuit board in almost any position, and have it be solid. The clamps are well done, they won’t bite (though I think I can remove the plastic or rubber pieces that make them just clamp if I need for some reason alligator clips) and also I think they fit the standard so you can change them out for specific reasons on some jobs.It’s solid, and if you attach the rubber feet, it doesn’t slip. Gooseneck clips, as well as four pointed ones where you can align them so a circuit board with four holes can sit in it, only improvement I can think of is to somehow make it so if you use the pointed pieces you can secure it down. But it’s not a complaint, just a suggestion. Well worth the money!

I purchased the version that included the light:For some reason the size of the very heavy duty base plate is incorrect (as of 7/21) in the description and product photos, you can easily see the dimensions vs. proportion are off. The actual base plate size is exactly 6"X9". A very nice size for soldering PC boards, wire leads, etc.. It's thick heavy powder coated ferrous metal, not stainless as in the description and the magnetic bases stick to it quite well.Some reviewers complained the clips have a hollow core and are hard to tighten securely.. well, take some 8 or 10awg wire- solder it into the clip... then cut it off flush at the end. You then have a solid core clip that you can tighten as much as you need to without damaging it.FWIW- the light is really nice to have with a good quality lens, spend the couple of extra bucks now vs much more in the future to buy one separately.

Was soldering a lot of wires and looked for some extra hands. This magnetic helping hands nailed this need! It is solid, lots of arms, the arms stay where you put them, has a light and the magnets are strong. I absolutely love this and it made my soldering job sooooo much easier. But, a couple of improvements are needed.A. The light needs to be brighter. On full bright, it needs a little more.B. The alligator clips covered in shrink tube really don’t have much strength, and they either the shrink tube removed or need to be stronger. (I’ll probably remove them)All-in-All, great tool to add to my tool set! Happy with my purchase.

You can just tell that a lot of thought and design went into this product. It's heavy, sturdy and the magnetic bases on everything make it really easy to reconfigure the helping hands to position exactly the way you want. This isn't really commercial lab quality but then the price isn't either. I use this in my home electronics lab and it has surpassed my expectations. If I could give it 6 stars I would!REVISED: Everything about my review is true EXCEPT, the alligator clips are weak, thin, and not sturdy. I've already broken two even with light use.

I recently bought a cheap set of "helping hands" from Harbor Freight because I needed something for an immediate job I was doing (repairing a gaming console controller). Never used any of these before but realized how necessary they are for these sorts of jobs, especially with poor eyesight. Love the ease of use by moving around the "arms" (they are on magnets) you can either use two long or short ones or all of them stuck to the iron baseplate. And the magnifier light is the same...it's also on a magnetic gooseneck so you can take it off the mount if you don't wan to use it. But the magnifier and USB powered light is terrific-nice and bright, you can even change the color! Definitely worth the extra $5 buy it!

They are sturdy and work well. The magnifying lens is small but that also helps by not taking up a lot of space. It is a little harder to look through compared to my desk magnifier, but it seems to magnify better. Because these are magnetic it is much easier to use them on a metal work surface that is larger than the one it comes with. I use a steel sheet that I bought at a local hardware store.

I use it to refurbish console controllers. The magnetic arms are great. I can hold a PCB with out damaging it and keep it steady. It's an excellent tool to have. It's worth the purchase.

Overall pretty good. I didn't know I needed one of these before, but they are very helpful for getting the job done much easier. The grips have enough strength from having the object slip out. The arms are easy to manipulate, just don't press down on the object you're working on too hard. The base of the arms definitely do not move anywhere during work because the magnets are extremely strong. I like the light. Not too bright or too dark.

As a newbie to the RC world I had started soldering with increasingly better and more satisfying results HOWEVER....not having helping hands when soldering is like not having milk when you make custard.This station is fantastic. the magnets are string and yes, the clips are a bit weak when screwed to the arms but as someone mentioned, find something solid the same diameter and shove it in the clip . Then you can crank them right up and voila....no movement.Solidly made and worth the money