Esab, Lincoln or Miller

[dragoneggs]

At this point in my life, I figure I am going to buy a tool once, probably more capability than I need, and buy quality. I'm blessed to be able to splurge a bit so Miller and Hypertherm have gotten my dollars. Yes expensive but no regrets. Someday I will buy a TIG before/when I retire and when I have time to play with that process. Everlast is on my list.

 

[metalbender]

Bought my Dynasty 200dx before I retired. Good thing too, sure as heXX wouldn't be able to on pension.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Why not look at Everlast...seeing that we pioneered the compact multi-process MIG TIG Stick unit back in 2009? And we are far ahead of anyone else still in the game. And we offer a 5 year warranty to boot. No one else has HF start for TIG or comes with a complete MIG, TIG and Stick setup with a foot pedal and all plumbing (with a built in gas control solenoid valve and even pulse).

 

[tommy49]

I have a Miller 180 Auto-set mig and a Miller Diversion 180 tig and the tig expanded my capabilities 10 fold. You might not be interested in welding aluminum now, but having that capability at hand is great. :thumbsup:

 

[johncanfield]

I have a Miller 180 Auto-set mig and a Miller Diversion 180 tig and the tig expanded my capabilities 10 fold. You might not be interested in welding aluminum now, but having that capability at hand is great. :thumbsup:...

As someone previously mentioned, I'm at a point in life where I can afford to buy high quality stuff. Anyway, I wanted give a thumb's up for the Miller Diversion 180 as a good entry level very easy to use TIG box. For my hobby and ranch use it's completely suitable and there's no fiddling with six or eight settings. It does a good all around job and the fan only runs when it needs to run. (My only issue with it is the torch lineset isn't removable but people have hacked it to make it removable.)

I also spent the bucks on a Hypertherm 45 plasma torch after a bad experience with an inexpensive Northern Tool plasma torch. The Hypertherm 45 is a really great product - it's an "earn a living with" tool. I've had mine for maybe five years.

Whatever you buy, make sure you can get it easily serviced.

 

[Cat_Driver]

I went with the Miller lunchbox size welder that does mig, stick, tig. WOW a lot of welder in a tiny box.

But let me digress. When I called Miller when I was"searching" they spend an enormous amount of time helping me select what I needed. The second time I called for service one of my workers destroyed the Spool Gun I use for aluminum. He told me which wires went where and I was back up and running in no time.

Lastly, I paid for the unit in three days of welding and actually put a few K in my pocket. I was quoted all over town and out of town 8K for an Aluminum welding job. I bought all the metal, PLUS THE WELDER and materials, and still charged my customer the 8K I was quoted for the job, but I did it myself. Never welded a day in my life before that day.

 

[dragoneggs]

I went with the Miller lunchbox size welder that does mig, stick, tig. WOW a lot of welder in a tiny box.

But let me digress. When I called Miller when I was"searching" they spend an enormous amount of time helping me select what I needed. The second time I called for service one of my workers destroyed the Spool Gun I use for aluminum. He told me which wires went where and I was back up and running in no time.

Lastly, I paid for the unit in three days of welding and actually put a few K in my pocket. I was quoted all over town and out of town 8K for an Aluminum welding job. I bought all the metal, PLUS THE WELDER and materials, and still charged my customer the 8K I was quoted for the job, but I did it myself. Never welded a day in my life before that day.

Were you the end customer? :confused3: And you never welded anything before this first aluminum job? Any pics?

 

[Code54]

I agree on buying once and getting something of quality. I think all 3 are pretty equal in terms of reliability and quality from my research. I also checked a Local welding supply and they said pick a color, they are all good and just get the features you want.

I ended up ordering a Esab EMP 215 Rebel - should be here tomorrow so I look forward to trying it out his weekend. With the TIG included I was able to get some extra discounts that made it the same as the Lincoln without the TIG and 100 cheaper than the Miller. Guess time will tell but most people seem to say the SmartMig is a great feature not offered by the others.

 

[tommy49]

My Diversion came with 3/32" tungsten, but it was too big for the small steel parts work I mainly do. I invested in 1/16" and .040" tungsten kits and what an improvement! I'm able to control the weld better and by using .030" mig wire, I have less clean-up to do.

 

[john reeder]

In the fall of 2017 I bought both a Lincoln 210MP and a Squarewave Tig 200. This was was after thirty five years of using a cheap Sears cracker box and twenty five years of using a cheap Sears flux core mig. Both of the new Lincoln machines are wonders to behold compared to the old Sears rigs. However I have used only the mig function on the 210mp and both dc and ac/dc tig on the squarewave 200, and used them on both 110 and 220 volts. I cannot comment on the Miller or Esab machines but can recommend both Lincolns.