I have begun looking at new welders and am finding some confusion making a
competitive comparison between the lincoln 215, miller 210, and hobart 210
machines. Pricing of these three (on ebay) is within $150 of each other.
Wondering the importance of such features as Lincoln's "tachometer"
regulated drive system, diamond core technology & 115v aux output, Miller's
Gun-On-Demand & spoolgun ready (are the others?), etc.
Someone had recommended HTP as a more affordable alternative. Could anyone
comment on HTP mig welders? I find nothing but good comments regarding HTP
when I google prior NG posts. Anyone have pricing information for their 200
and 2400 models?
I'm sure I would be happy with either of the three welders, but I'm just
interested in hearing other people's opinions, personal experiences, etc.
Thank you
-Tom
HTP , I m sure it is a good welder, and has great customer support,
however it is an imported welding machine,
made with German parts assembled in Hungary, shipped to the US.(it may
not necesarrely bad)
there is only one outfit that sells it in the US.
any thing you need have to be shiped to you (you pay shipping ),
delivery is not chep on a large MIG welder.
should it ever need repair they can diagnose it over the phone, and
send you parts. .....but if iti needs to go back you pay shipping.
how ever you may not ever need any repair.
are consumables readily available ???? guns, liners, tips?
Miller, HObart, Lincoln are the top maunfacturers in the US. and been
around for a while.
miller and hobart merged.
you can get pats for any of those just about around every corner if
you live in the city.
same thing for service or warranty issues.
lincoln miller hobarts are all around where ever you look where there
is welding going on.
must be good, don't you think?
however there people who wants to be unique, and don't want to have
the same thing as every body else, they buy the triumps , and MGs and
other rare cars and motorcycles. same true for welders .
other like to experiment and just be different.
some people swear by HTP, I am sure it is great.
I tried Thermal arc TIG this year will see how it turns out.
I already feel the effect of not having a local dealer and parts
readily available around to service it if something goes bad.
My gas solonoid leaks , andI don't want to take it to a shop and wait
and wait for parts to arrive and get fixed.
the local guys can get parts for miller over night if not stocked at
the shop.
i did alot of research before i bought my ESAB 161 heliarc machine. it was
Miller or ESAB for me. although some nice folks down in SC at ESAB took care
of me the 2nd time i had a problem with my 161, Miller and Lincoln will have
many more local shops and parts readily available when that time comes.
didn't ThermalArc go chapter-11 ??
i would highly recommend a Miller MIG.
"acrobat-ants" <acr...@ant.com> wrote in message
news:5rfc0156repgksp2m...@4ax.com...
Thermal Arc's parent company - Thermadyne - filed Chapter 11 but has been
out of that for over a year now.
"Kryptoknight" <krypto...@att.net> wrote in message
news:eZsNd.161775$w62....@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
Phil Thomas wrote:
--
Martin Eastburn, Barbara Eastburn
@ home at Lion's Lair with our computer old...@pacbell.net
NRA LOH, NRA Life
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
I visited with the Miller Factory Reps at an annual Area Farm Show in
Abilene, Texas last year. They were demoing Miller Welders on steel and
aluminum..
I asked about the differences between Miller and Hobart wire welders.
Please allow for my lack of proper terms with regards to the wire welders. I
am not very familiar with those types of welders.
The machines are just about the same internally. The main differences are
that the Millers are the top of the line units and the Hobart's are the
cheaper lower priced units.
Here are some of the differences that I can remember at the moment.
The Hobarts have cheaper plastic parts used instead of the higher priced
steel parts. The Hobarts have step type adjustments instead of infinite
adjustments.
The Plastic VS Steel is, I think it was the wire feeder unit on the front
inside of the unit. Plastic housing VS Steel housing and maybe plastic gears
instead of metal gears.
Adjustments were being limited to several clicks or notches in the fine
adjustment on the Hobart VS unlimited precise fine adjustment on the Miller.
Lincoln?? I do not know anything about them other than I think that they do
build cheaper and lighter duty units for larger chains such as Lowes. Looks
the same as the regular units, they have less features than the regular
units. The duty cycle might be lower also.
I suggest checking the product info on their websites to determine the exact
specs and differences betwen the manufactures and the product lines.
Linolnand Miller have been around a long time and have plenty of dealers for
service and etc.
Hope this helps some.
Harvey
message news:4viNd.80$53.41@lakeread07...
usualy the hobart machines seems to have less taps on the heat setting
than the same miller unit.
the hobart 210 has 6 tap and miller 210 has 7 tap setting for heat
as far as lincoln,
once I asked the local lincoln dealer about the lowes and Home depo
units,
he pointed to 135plus and said it has been sitting here for a few
years now, nobody buys it because of lowes 135T, and its matching
price.
he also said that the lincoln 135T from lincoln , and the Promig 135
that you get at lowes is the same , except it has different name.
Lowes buys it at a huge volume and gets it cheaper than any dealer
that buy 10 at a time,
and yes lincoln will print a different model number (pro mig ) on it
once a large store chain stats buing it.
I don't think they would setup a different line of manufacturing just
for LOwes, to make it cheaper, since they offer the same warranty on
it.
To me a price difference on a lowes tap machine vs. Lincolns plus is
not really worth having on a hobby machine.
back to miller vs. lincoln.
miller rep. said that miller units duty cycles are tested rated at 10
minutes at 100 F ambiant temp. whie lincoln and other test at 70 F
degrees. at 10 minutes., some imports rate their machine in a 3 minute
rated duty cycle.
which company tells the truth is hard to tell, look at their web site
.....in their comparasion chart they all say the other companies
machine is sh*t. ours is better.
its all marketing.......... but both are good machines.
I know Jeff Noland (President of HTP) and he's about the nicest guy you'll
deal with...customer service is excellent.
"TT" <mr...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:4viNd.80$53.41@lakeread07...