For my graduation present, my family decided to spend $600 for a new welder for me, Hobart 180 for $619, or a Lincoln 175 (not the plus, unless you know where I can get one) for $599. I know... "Go blue", but like I said, the $600 is not my decision.
Go red. I like my Lincoln and I feel it is a better product than the Hobo uh bart. If you have a little cash you can get the extras you want too. Bottle, regulator, gauges, and hose WILL be extra.
Buy the PLUS even if you have to pich in, the infinately variable amperage is way worth the extra money.
I DO concur with 57 HEAP. Fact of the matter is that Licoln welders tend to actually be a little superior to other "big name" welders as of late... I'm was recently comparing the Millermatic 251 and the Lincoln PowerMig 255c. Once reading up on them, hands down, the Lincoln kicked the shit out of the Miller. Miller has a huuuuge name now because of those weenie drenchers on American Chopper, but they are by no means the end all, be all of welders. When you get down to it, buying a Hobart is like buying the knockoff applesauce at the grocery store... it's still applesauce, but you know it's made up of the leftovers from the premium stuff. (Don't ask why I used apple sauce as an analogy. I have no fucking clue. haha) Good luck!
I have used the Hobarts and Millers products. I own a Hobart 180. Hobart is now owned by Miller and you actually get a Miller gun on the new Hobarts. The Hobarts were on sale recently around $570 shipped and you can get all the little goodies at tractor supply instead of running to the welding store.
Before you decide- get on the phone and call your ass off. Call every welding house in your phonebook and ask them for prices on model numbers you are interested in. I got my Miller 175 for around that price with a bottle and a cart. I called the same chains at different locations and found price differences of more than $150.
Go to a welding suppy outfit and have a good look at both units......pay attention to the details (like drive roll mechanisms,guns,etc) THEN make up your mind.....IIRC, looking at the hobart, the drive roll setup was rather cheezy compared to any of the Millers or Lincolns I have looked at...... HTH James
Shop around, are you opposed to buying used? I got my Miller 175 with a cart in killer shape for $500. Been using it like crazy with no problems. I have used a Hobart 135, but never a Lincoln. I thought the Hobart worked great. I would just window shop your ass off and find the best deal.
I have owned a Hobart 180 for some time now. I have never had a problem withit and wire feed seems just fine. Before this machine I owned a Miller 110V maybe I should have stuck with Miller but the Hobart was cheaper and as I say, never a problem.
Throw in 79.95 out of your pocket and get a Millermatic 175..... http://cgi.ebay.com/MILLERMATIC-175-MIG-WELDER-NEW-FREE-SHIPPING_W0QQitemZ230046967036QQihZ013QQcategoryZ113743QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Mutt
Hobart.. They're Miller's entry-level machines now. Got a pretty good warranty on the x-former too IIRC. Miller doesn't have a huge name because of those goofs on TV. They have a huge name because they're one of the best in the business. Got to a production shop and see what they use. Most of the pro's use Miller. That being said, I currently have a Lincoln 225 stick welder and it works ok. I used to have an old Miller Thunderbolt 250 and it had a much more stable arc than the Lincoln does. Shawn
To change the course of your poll a bit, hobart has a new machine the hobart handler 187, sounds like a much better machine than the 180. It cost about 650$$ http://www.hobartwelders.com/products/handler187.html Here is a link to a welding messege board and some talk about the HH187 http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/showthread.php?referrerid=6157&t=21959
i'd save a little more and go for a 220V MIG. otherwise you'll be limited in what you can weld. -scott noteboom
I've had a lincoln for years.. bought a miller last year.. and just picked up a hobart at hershey.. (all 3 are 110 machines) the lincoln parts are available everywhere. but the gun feels "cheezy" compaired to the lincoln "piecemaker" I learned to weld on dads hobart so I made the $50.00 "impulse buy" based on previous exp.. I think both the lincoln and miller are equally good/ bad.. so I dont feel you can loose with either.. one things for sure.. as soon as you have one welder.. yOu'll want another..
Reguardless of what the american chopper douche bags are doing, I use Miller stuff. take a look at your local shops, and I gurauntee you 95 percent of them will be running miller equipment. they just do not break down. example? High freq card in a lincoln is HUGE and costs a lot of green to replace. high freq card in a miller- it only involves the parts that would fail, is about the size of a cassette, and is less than 100 bucks. but they don't fail, because they are bristiling with heat sinks, and usually have 1 or more fans blowing on them. miller "gun"- only the actual handle is made of plastic. it is like a sheath around a metal assembly. Lincoln- the brass threads into the plastic handle!
I'm a structural steel welder, so I think its safe to say I know what the "prros" use. Want to know what most use? ESAB. You go work at a few different shops and you'll likely see Esabs, Lincolns and Century (depending on how old the facility is) along with a few other smaller names in there just as much, if not more, than Millers...
Don't get me wrong... I'm not saying that Millers are BAD welders by any means. I really personally like the quality of the MM251 a lot. I'm just saying that there's this idea that everything else is inferior... which is fucking ridiculous. Comparitively, Lincolns welders DO outperform millers in most ranges.... Another thing to be careful of with a thread like this is that you will get a lot of people responding who know how to lay a weld and melt two parent panels together, but don't honestly know shit about welding from a technical standpoint. Want the best opinion possible on this? Go to the A.W.S. (American Welding Society) board and post up on there asking for the opinions. There you'll get responses based on technical information and know how and not blind "brand support" shit. *** Arguing that one is better than the other because of the gun is kinda stupid. I don't know a whole lot of people who stick with the guns that the machines come with anyhow, and I personally wouldn't. That's one place that almost ALL companies will cheap out on to save a buck.
Lincoln, and I'll tell you why. I learned to stick weld when I was 12, about 43 years ago and it was with a Lincoln as I recall. I'm certain that she wasn't a Hobart or Miller. I bought *my* first welder in 1972, a good old 225 Amp Lincoln Buzz Box stick welder. I used that welder constantly building race cars, fixng my car hauler, rusty frames and gawd knows what until '92 when I joined the mig welding revolution. I bought an SP 100 (110V) , built several circle burners, welded quarter inch with a steel single pass (takes a little prep) and never broke a weld. In '95, my garage burnt down and cooked my 100, I decided to move up to an SP 170 (not a Plus). With a little bit of playing with the wire speed, the non-infinite heat settings work fine. But the kicker of these little Lincoln migs is their reliability. I've had NO liner problems, no fan problems, overridden the duty cycle to hell and they run fine. Unless somebody steals it or I have a catastrophy, this 10 year old welder will run 20 more years. BTW, both of my migs have always been run on a 75/25 mix and no flux wire. Oh yeah, I still have my Buzz Box...just in case..
Forgot about Esab... I get to fix welders from Century, Lincoln and Miller for a living... Stay the hell away from century.. They can't even build a reliable battery charger. Shawn
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