The Handyman Club of America magazine did a " Which mig welder is right for you" article in their July/August 2005 issue.
They wrote: "We're not professional welders; we want a machine we can use in the garage or anywhere we can find a typical 115-volt, 20-amp home outlet. To satisfy our needs, a welder must be easy to set up, and it must produce good-quality welds. It should be portable,easy to load with wire and simple to adjust for wire-feed speed and voltage. It should have a duty cycle that allows us to accomplish a reasonable amount of work during a typical welding session. And because we're budget-conscious, it should be as easy on the wallet as possible." They had the owner of Tin Man Fabrications and a couple of editors evaluate these seven welders: Campbell Hausfeld Flux 95, $299; Hobart Handler125 EZ, $435, Craftsman 20569, $299, Lincoln Electric SP-135 Plus, $499, Hobart Handler 140, $590, Miller Millermatic 135, $700 and Miller Millermatic DVI, $1250. The $700 Millermatic was their "Top Tool" choice and the Craftsman was chosen as the "Best Value." The craftsman had erratic wire-speed and it comes without a gas regulator (another $30 to $50). I am not a welder and I don't play one on TV so I don't know what any of this means, however, this is why they picked the Millermatic 135: A quick change drive-wheel swapping system. A cast aluminum drive head (others use resin-composite). A unique gun design with faster to use push-on tips (others used screw-on tips). Continuously variable voltage control. A unique wire-feed speed-tracking system that automatically makes adjustments to the wire-feed rate as you adjust the voltage and some other kind words about comfort and plenty of power. I hope you welders will chime in let us know what really counts when we go to make a purchase. Google found a couple of the Millermatic 135 for under $600. Harry Watkins Newton, MS 86 SDL Silver 85 300D Euro 86 SDL Gold 81 240D manual trans
