Love Harbor Freight - shop there myself for some things.
That said. I absolutely would never buy a welder Harbor Freight as almost all of them are junk. I do not like any of their welding rods or flux core wire feeder wire either - total junk. So if you buy a HF welder; you not only end up with a worthless welder from a useability standpoint - you also end up with a worthless cash asset as you can not sell a used Harbor Freight welder either since everyone else knows they are junk.
If you buy a decent used buzzbox (Lincoln, Miller, Hobart) at a decent price, then it will still be worth what you paid for it 10 years from now if you ever decide to sell it and most importantly (to me anyway) it that will still be working decades from now as they are so durable. Are they the absolute best welder ever made? No, but they sure are hard to beat from their price-point and totally unmatched from a durability perspective.
The recommendation for the Lincoln Idealarc is not necessarily bad advice as they are great welders, but they do have some drawbacks for a homeowner. First they are not portable at all unless you have a nice shop with vast amounts of concrete in which to roll it around. In comparison, I have no issue moving my buzzbox around outside in the grass and dirt for portability- matter of fact I usually just carry it but it is not light. Secondly and Idealarc require serious input power and large wire gaugefor the input service. You can not run an Idealarc off 10 gauge extension cord and even use a dryer plug or a stove plug (in a pinch like when you go to a buddies to weld) like you can when using the smaller units. Again the Idealarcs are great welders just not for everybody.
