Hobby Creek Helping Hands Third Hand Soldering Tool

This product is amazing! Before this, I used to use a $10 metal helping hand from China, but it rusted, didn't hold the circuit boards well, and broke easily. I got this to replace it, and it works perfectly. The arms are really stable and can hold basically any position. My only negative feedback is that the alligator clips do not rotate, but I understand that you can buy ones that do as an upgrade. The price is a bit high compared to some other models, but the high quality durable materials make it worth it. I received mine in really good packaging with a thank-you note and a small surprise (you'll have to buy one to find out what it is!). Overall, a great item provided by a super nice company.

Here's the deal... I would not have reviewed this without the postcard and the Starburst included in the package. It makes me feel like I'm supporting smaller manufacturers, which I think is great.It's a $50 third hand, and I have a half dozen third hands. So why buy this one? The goosenecks seem to be straight up adapted from CNC liquid cooling fittings, but the nuts between the base and and the arms are injection molded. They work well enough. The base seems to be molded from tooling, but the finishing details are all CNC from what I can see (read: the threads). The anodization is most likely hand done, as the threads didn't grab all of it, but it's still a pretty ridiculously good finish. This is a real tool, especially at the price point.The alligator grips are kinda whatever (it would be nicer if they were copper with contact threading so you could build dynamic circuits with them), but they're so much better than the average third hand. A real benefit to the current setup would be a neodymium magnet in the "part wells" to keep smaller parts there, but it's already so great to have 2 extra hands to hold a component that needs SM work or whatever else that I'm not going to be mad about that.There are things this could do better, but it's dope as eff just by itself. If you're a maker, you want this one. Do it.

I bought this on the recommendation of an engineer friend who thought it was great. After using mine, I wholeheartedly agree. The machined base is heavy enough to stay in one place but not overly heavy or awkward. The arms hold tightly and can be configured for virtually any conceivable position; even in tight spaces. Bending the arms into exactly the position you want is somewhat finicky since the joints are tight, but the overall versatility and strong hold is definitely worth the bit of extra effort. Once you've used one of these, you'll never want to use an old-style helping hand again. No screws to fiddle with, no awkward straight-line angles, four arms instead of two. (Some have said more arms can be added after-market, but officially the limit is four.) I'm 100% satisfied and can definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a better helping hand.

I've used this for a bit now. Previously I use the traditional third-hand and hated them. With the little screws you had to adjust all the time, they just were more trouble than benefitI was a bit skeptical with the plastic arms, as I'm doing soldering and using a hot gun for shrink wrap, but so far no damage. Having the four hands is nice, they stay in place nicely after you get them adjusted. They are a bit awkward to adjust, but not any worse than anything else. You have to play with things a bit to get them to stay where you want them and not spring back.I have successfully built a couple boards with them, so overall I like the better than any of the others I've tried over the last 30 years.Definitely would recommend them.Now the holy grail would be something that held exactly, and never sprung back after adjusting them, but I don't think those exist . . . yet.

I ended up returning this and purchasing the  QuadHands Four Armed Helping Hands Third Hand Soldering Station  instead. This kit is well-made but had a few flaws that made it annoying to use. The heat shrink on the claws might be nice for gripping circuit boards, but it promptly melted and made a mess while soldering uninsulated wires. I also ran into this problem with the arms themselves since I use a high-wattage soldering iron that can easily melt the plastic if accidentally bumped. The Alphidia version is all-metal and so avoids this problem. I also found the Alphidia version to easier to adjust. The plastic joints on this third-hand tend to internally bind just enough to make adjustments abrupt, and they also don't allow for claw rotation. You have to either rotate the entire arm, or adjust the workpiece, neither of which I found to be convenient. The Alphidia kit has thumbscrews on the claws which allow for in-place adjustment.This Hobby Creek kit does have some unique advantages, however, which might be more important for you than they were for me. The aluminum base is solid and well-made, and the ability to store small pieces and the capacity for extra hands are both useful features. The additional arms cost extra, however, and in my case I never needed more than the included four. The aluminum and plastic should combine to make this kit extremely corrosion resistant, which is why I originally purchased this kit, but seeing as how the Alphidia version is easier to use for everyday soldering and also has a corrosion-resistant high-quality paint-job, it ended up being more practical for me in the end. At the time of writing the cost was also slightly lower, although they're roughly equivalent and that didn't really factor into my comparison.This kit also came with a free Jolly Rancher in one of its claws, which may sway your opinion.