Me and my lil bro are planning to buy our first welder soon. I am not the welder but he is, and hes been learning good and fast in class over the last year or so. But school is out, and he doesnt have a welder to use or practice on anymore. The one hes been using at school is the PT 275. Hes been tigging both steel and aluminum.

My question is, for price and quality, whats the best bet? I know there are other brands, but hes been familiar with this one. Stuff that he will be making is intercooling piping, exhaust welding and manifolds, and other miscellaneous stuff. I just dont want to go way over my head on a welder on options we wont use.

My bro likes the quality of how the 275 puts out, but not sure how the 225 will perform. Please any feedback will be very helpful. Thanks!

Also if you have any other brands or suggestions, please feel free to share

 

my dad has the PT 275 and as you know it has the power to handle just about anything. but i cant hept you out on a comparison

 

I'm in the same boat, except I'm pretty set on a miller syncrowave 200.....I priced the stuff i want out and new a bottle full of argon, a miller elite helmet, and a sync 200 is about 2300 shipped from cyberweld.....

 

the 225 is going to run you about $2000. with the car package. the 275 loaded is about $4500. now unless your going to be doing some heavy duty ****. im going with the 225. its also a hole lot smaller.

 

I got a 275 I like it cost me over $4000 loaded, display went bad and they fixed it under warranty. but Ive been using more miller equipment and most likely will switch to a miller inverter unit if I find a good price on one not thats theres anything wrong with lincoln I just try to keep all the welding equipment one brand

 

Howitt, your meaning of "good price" is like $225 for a dynasty 300, right? lol j/k man.

 

Well i was looking into the syncrowave 200 and comparing it to the pt 225...both cost the same with good equipment package. I heard somewhere that the Lincoln can do alot better on aluminum then the miller... Someone correct me if im wrong...

But thats where im stuck b/w...my lil bro is leaning towards the PT 225, since thats what he learned off of...but what do i know..haha i never used the dam things..

 

Well, I'm gonna have to give some props to the Lincoln PT185. For the price, I just don't think there is a welder that can match it. Mine has been 100% reliable, has enough amperage to do most work, AC/DC for all jobs, and has super good low amp capability...both in arc control and having a basic pulser built in.

I would maybe consider that inverter that's going around, but in my opinion Miller and Lincoln are both trusted and proven names in the industry, and have good U.S. support. For me it came down to the Lincoln PT185 and the Miller SD180...the Miller cost more and had less features and amperage.

I've heard Miller has a 200 as a replacement for the 180SD, but like I said, for the price I still think the PT185 is hard to beat.

 

Try looking into the Thermal Arc Arc Master 185. Inverter machine. Great unit.

 

I have the syncrowave 200...wish I had a LITTLE more power.

 

Good Price is when an antique auctioneer does an industrial auction and you buy an entire quality control lab with a CMM machine for $1000 took a full size chevy truck to jus ttake home themitutoyo inspection gauges.

Back to the welder, if you can afford go with the higher amp unit, it never hurts to have more than you think you will need and when you actually need it your not out buying a new machine

 

I weld on a 275 all day. It's pretty damn decent. The only thing I break constantly is the peddle and the high freq start.

I still prefer my miller though.

edit: Oh yeah and something inside the case is trying to arc out during the high freq start now. Kickass! related to high freq start probs but this is a new one so hell...