Comment by zamalek

The FX-888D is known to have a significant time delay between tip temperature and reported temperature, which is a newbie landmine.

https://www.reddit.com/r/soldering/comments/1le2y4l/comment/...

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/is-the-hakko-fx-888d... (#7)

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/comments/qcofiq/comm...

https://www.reddit.com/r/soldering/comments/1282gci/comment/...

It was maybe the best at the price tier 10 years ago, but smart tips make things much more predictable. The FX-888D is dated and suggesting it is bad advice; you overcame its shortcomings while learning and years later are left with "the good parts." Try do something with it when it reports that it's at temperature, bonus points for changing the calibration by mistake or straight into a large copper pour. Smart tips have a much more forgiving learning curve, and then the user might subsequently have more success with something like the FX-888D.

I personally ran into this when starting out, not knowing what I was doing wrong for literal months - until I got the Pinecil, which was night and day.

I just don't know why anyone would suggest something that's "good enough" over something that's genuinely good.