craig588 posted:

Hakko iron and a generic multimeter? I would have gone the other way with a 10 dollar radioshack iron and a 100 dollar name brand multimeter. I'm more of the mindset of buying stuff as you need it, not just buying things because they sound good. It'd suck to spend 300$ on a cheap scope and it turns out he really needed one that was 350$ and you're stuck frusturated wishing you only spent 50$ more. Arduino shields and kits are very gimmicky, but maybe they have a use from an educational standpoint. I've never had a job that an Arduino would be the best option for. I've mostly used them for throwing together something quickly for a proof of concept before going forward with a more specialized and much cheaper design.

Get a solder sucker, they're cheap and I like them more than wick for a lot of tasks.