I WANT TO START LEARNING HOW TO WELD AND I WAS JUST WONDERING WHICH IS A BETTER WELDER TO SART OFF WITH? THEY ARE BOTH THE 350ISH PRICE RANGE...SORRY NO MODEL NUMBER


Modified by eKb20Vtec at 4:30 AM 8/10/2005

 

most people will recommend hobart welder for a starting welder (miller also). I have a lincoln that im learing with and have no complaints as of yet.

 

the Miller 135 is my first welder and its perfect.

 

Miller is my preferred brand, but I do keep money, function, utility, and other things in mind. therefore, if it were my money, I'd go with Hobart so that I'd get performance, function, quality, AND price!!

 

If I had to do it all over, Id also go with a Hobart. I do have the Lincoln 135 also and have no complaints at all.
Kyle

 

thank for all the fast replies.....

which model or series hobart would you guys recommend ?

 

between those 2, I'd go with the lincoln. The craftsman is actually a rebadged Century. In my experience, the quality and customer service(just in case you will need it) is better with teh lincoln

 

how does a lincoln sp135 with cart, tank, mask and wire sound for 450?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by eKb20Vtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I WANT TO START LEARNING HOW TO WELD AND I WAS JUST WONDERING WHICH IS A BETTER WELDER TO SART OFF WITH? THEY ARE BOTH THE 350ISH PRICE RANGE...SORRY NO MODEL NUMBER


Modified by eKb20Vtec at 4:30 AM 8/10/2005</TD></TR></TABLE>Nein!! Hobart for the budget (or a used miller)

 

miller 135 from the guy on ebay is the cheapest youll get from miller. awesome for what it is though.

 

some craftsman welders are mae by lincoln

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ecumatt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">some craftsman welders are mae by lincoln</TD></TR></TABLE>

The Chevette and Corvette were both made by Chevy. That doesn't mean that the Chevette is nearly the car a Corvette is.... or even a Camaro.

 

forget the craftsmans one.. lincoln is highly recommended.. so is miller.

i use lincoln mig, tig welding here for years and never had problem from starting learning tig to being a tig junkie ..

 

remember that hobart is a cheaper version of miller there for it has inferior parts on it, just look at the duty cycles on the two comparable models, personally i have had good experience with my shops lincoln machines but i have heard lots of rumors about them breaking down all the time, and i am pretty sure that lincoln makes some of the craftsman machines

 

the new craftsman 135 amp welder they sell for $350 is made by clarke now. you can get it from clarke for about $270 bux from weldingdepot.com. you can also get it complete with a gas flowmeter/regulator that you need for true mig for $312

 

I have a lincoln Pro mig 175 (lowes equivilent of a SP175). It's great; 220v and has PLENTY of amps and i've yet to have a problem with the wire feed mechanism or anything like that.

It wound up being ~ $600 with tax but i got the welder; about 4 spools of mig aluminum and flux wire; a cart; and a nice bosch grinder with it

 

THANX FOR ALL THE INFO