Hi,

A little back ground.... I used to have a ProWave 185, which I sold to "upgrade" to a Miller Dynasty (big mistake!!). The Miller Dynasty is now gone and I was looking to replace it with another Thermal Arc 185 unit, but came across a HTP 201 at very good price.

I was wondering if anybody could give me any information about the HTP 201 TIG welders and how they compare to the ProWave 185 units. How reliable are they? What's it like to deal with their customer service/tech support?

Thanks in advance!

 

why was the miller a mistake? what didn't you like about it?

 

this is confusing. how was the dynasty bad? wierd...

 

You need to hit up Seb from NLR. He has an HTP machine and it seems as though he likes it very much. I will dig up a few shots he posted when using his HTP.

 

The last time I talked to Seb he said he only uses the HTP for his aluminum work and he uses a Miller for everything else.
If I ever decide to get into an inverter I think that the HTP will be near the top of my list.

 

I paid $1500 more for essentially the same welder. The Dynasty didn't do one thing that the ProWave didn't do. The Thermal Arc unit was a better value, at least to me.

The Dynasty wasn't bad. Upgrading to the Dynasty from a ProWave and paying $1500 more was the mistake.

Thanks for the information. The welds look great. Do you know what keeps him from doing everything with the HTP?

 

I ended up buying the welder since it was such a good deal. I figured I could sell it and get my money back if I didn't like it. I ended up paying $1400 for an essentially brand new welder (less than 2 hours of use), a 250 c.f. tank of Argon, extra regulator for back purging, 100' of 10 AWG extension cord, extra tungstens, filler rods and other miscellaneous crap. I kind of felt bad for the guy since he took such a loss. Oh well....

I haven't had the time to play around with it much, but so far it's been great. I tried it on some aluminum and stainless and it was great. I haven't used it enough to give a solid opinion, but so far, so good!

 

i still have my thermal arc! nice purchase, i would pick up a htp unit for that price!

 

I was just talking to a guy at my local weld shop the other day, and he was very strong on the Thermal Arc 185. He said he'd put it up against miller any day. Its probably what I will be picking up myself.

 

Haha, I remember it! We bought our ProWaves around the same time. They're excellent machines. I think back then they were only $1600. Now they're about $2200. It's still a great value!

The little Thermal Arc 185 tig welders are great. If I recall correctly, my Dynasty had a broader AC frequency adjustability. That was the only difference. I think the ProWave stopped at 150 or 200 Hz and the Dynasty went up to 250 Hz. It's not worth paying $1500 more.

Miller makes excellent products. I just think some of their competitors in this area offer better value.