SDG #275 Pinecil V2 PINE64 Open Source Soldering Iron - Test with PCBs from JLCPCB

The Pinecil V2 is PINE64’s second generation portable soldering iron, and the appeal is not raw power but openness. Both the hardware design and the IronOS firmware running on it are open source, which means firmware updates, community feature requests and long term support are far less dependent on a single vendor than they are with typical marketplace portable irons.

This review examines the physical build first: the slim handle, the tip retention arrangement, the DC barrel jack and USB-C Power Delivery inputs, and how the choice of power supply directly determines the heating performance actually obtained. Voltage matters more than most buyers expect with these small irons, so a PD supply capable of 20V will behave very differently from a low wattage adapter or a 12V DC supply.

The IronOS menu system is walked through in detail, including the button driven navigation, temperature presets, sleep and motion detection behaviour, and the tip temperature calibration routine, which is worth running before trusting the displayed figure. Calibration and cold junction compensation are areas where cheap irons often quietly disappoint.

Soldering tests are carried out on real boards rather than scrap, covering through hole joints and larger thermal masses to see how quickly the tip recovers under load. That is the honest measure of whether a compact iron can serve as a main bench tool or is better treated as a travel and field repair iron.

For buyers weighing the Pinecil V2 against the TS101 and TS100, the deciding factors come down to firmware freedom, tip availability and cost per performance, all of which are addressed in the conclusions.