Imagine this. A young person comes to you wanting to get started in the electronic hobby. They ask what five things should they buy to get started. Make your list. We’ll wait. We bet we can guess at least two of your items: a multimeter, and a soldering iron. [LearnElectroncsRepair] recently showed us a review of the Zotek Zoyi ZT-N2 which is a soldering iron and a multimeter in one unit. You can watch the video review below.
Honestly, when we heard about this, we didn’t think much of the combination. It doesn’t seem like having your probe get red hot is a feature. However, the probe tip replaces the soldering iron tip, so you are either soldering or measuring, but not both at the same time.
The soldering iron part looks a lot like a T100 iron with a USB connector and a little LCD screen. The device is portable, so it has a little cheap soldering iron stand. As a multimeter, it does all the basic tests, but it is only usable for low-voltage applications under 36V.
The negative lead plugs into the USB connector, so the meter runs off an internal battery. While it looks like it is usable, we couldn’t really think of many cases where this would be handy unless you are really trying to pack a lot in a small space. We’d rather throw a small meter in the bag and call it a day.
In 2017, these little soldering irons were a fresh fad. Now, they are pretty common.
Looks actually really cool, aside from the lack of a capacitance and diode range.
At this point im surprised there’s no open source oscilloscope/iron/multimeter/PSU/power bank/solar charger/logic analyzer all in one. Some company could basically replace 100% of a hobbyists gear in a handheld package for like $100.
Just add a screwdriver!
With suitable tips it could be a screwdriver too!
And a toothbrush!