Looking to buy a wire feed welder

alloy

alloy

Dan, Retired old fart
H-M Supporter Gold Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2014
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For the last 7 month or so I've been taking a welding class learning to tig. I'm at about the best I can get and decided to try mig last night.

It was so easy. After about 10 minutes I did vertical down and the welds looked better than my flat welds. The instructor told me I didn't need to sit there and waste time running beads, make something. I really think learning tig taught me to watch the puddle and that really helped with mig.

Anyway. I have a tig but am now looking for a mig welder. I've looked at the primeweld brand and it has mostly good reviews and its about $550 from amazon and includes a spool gun. I'd love to have a miller, lincoln, hobart but the are double the price.


Anyone have experience with the inverter lower cost migs? I realize these have a lower duty cycle than the big name more expensive welders, but I wouldn't be using it much.
 
I don't have any personal experience with them, but I've followed a lot of "buying a welder threads" and the less expensive imports get pretty favorable reviews.

I bought a Miller multi-process welder in 2019, very happy with it, even happier that I bought it 3 years ago when it was $1200 cheaper (40% price increase in 3 years).

At that time you were saving maybe 25-50% buying a comparable import over a Lincoln or Miller, and there were still a lot of questions on the quality of many imports (or even inverter technology at all). Now a lot of the import brands Everlast, AHP, Primeweld, HF Titanium and Vulcan have some decent user loyalty and the price difference is significant.

Most of these companies now offer a 200A MIG welder for $700-900, Miller 211 and Lincoln 180 both sell for around $1900. Lincoln does offer a 211i for $1300, but I assume more amps at a cheaper price it gives up something to the 180. I was looking at the Miller 211 in 2019 but it was only $1200 at that time with a rebate, not almost $2000.

For some reason Hobart prices haven't gone crazy despite being owned by the same parent as Miller (ITW), the 210MVP runs about $1100, and can be found on sale closer to $900. Tractor Supply often has some decent Black Friday sales and they stock Hobart welders.

HTP is another popular brand, I think they are Italian. General Zod (member here), is a fan of HTP. Similar price to Hobart, their MIG200 runs about $1300.


I'm really happy with my Miller, and it was a great choice 3 years ago. If I were buying today, I couldn't afford the current price and I'd have a real hard time spending 2-3x as much on a Miller vs one of these other brands. There is a good chance I'd have gone with one of the Harbor Fright options or the Hobart 210 and saved a ton of money. I have no regrets buying the Miller, but things are very different than 3 years ago, so don't think I'd make that choice today.

I know there are several happy Primeweld TIG owners on the forum, but haven't heard much about their MIG welders.
 
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Boy that welder sure has some very nice features! That’s about the same price I paid for my Hobart 170 220v 20 years ago! Looking forward to see what others have to say about those cheap welders
 

Eastwood 140 Amp Elite MP140i Multi Process Welder MIG - TIG -Stick​


I have this welder and I'm very happy with it
 
I recommend looking into Everlast. I picked up an Everlast TIG a couple years ago as an upgrade to my Miller Synchrowave 180 and it was an upgrade in nearly every sense.* I am very impressed and it was about 25% of the cost of an equivalent (power, features) Miller. I already have a good MIG that I bought before I discovered Everlast or I'd have probably gone that route. They're imports, but they have US support offices and the reviews say support has been good. (I've never had to use support myself.)
GsT

*The Everlast TIG has a lot of fan noise - that's the only real downside to it. It came with better torches and a better pedal than my Miller, and makes a beautiful arc. On my 'roundtuit list is trying to find some quieter fans, but it bothers me less than it did at first.
 
I have to agree that gas and tig welding do a much better job of forcing you to learn about working with the weld puddle. I have a craftsman branded transformer based MIG, been thinking about upgrading to an inverter based one with burnback features. Let me know what you decide. My TIG and plasma are Everlast, they've been decent but I don't have experience on other machines as comparison.
 
I'll second for Everlast. I don't have their MIG but I have their Plasma Cutter and I really like it, top notch quality and features for half the price of the name-brands. I'm even thinking of selling off my Miller TIG and MIG welders and getting a top of the line Everlast Multi-Process to replace them, mainly for saving space.
 
Don't know if you would be interest in used, but I picked up a Lincon 170 on FBMP for $150. It had almost no time on it, and It's a nice little machine, 220V only. The Prime Weld model you mentioned seems to have a lot of nice feature for the money. Rabler, what is the burn back feature you mentioned? Thanks, Mike

rabler said:
been thinking about upgrading to an inverter based one with burnback features.
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FOMOGO said:
Don't know if you would be interest in used, but I picked up a Lincon 170 on FBMP for $150. It had almost no time on it, and It's a nice little machine, 220V only. The Prime Weld model you mentioned seems to have a lot of nice feature for the money. Rabler, what is the burn back feature you mentioned? Thanks, Mike
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Burnback is when stopping the wire burns back to the tip of the gun and sticks. Usually caused by wire stuttering or other feed problems. Sometimes too much current for wire dia. At least that’s what my research shows. Strickly amateur welder myself.

Many of the inverters have an adjustable delay on stopping the feed vs arc. I’ve replace my gun and line and still having problems across multiple wire spools. Changed feed rollers too. It has gotten worse relatively suddenly and is annoying to have to deal with repeatedly.
 
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I've experienced that same issue. Often wonder if a slightly longer nozzle might not help, but haven't tried it yet. Mike
 
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