Mig welder shopping
 

In the market for a medium sized mig welder, have narrowed it down to a few choices, the htp2400 , hobart ironman 230, or the esab rebel em215ic. Welder will hopefully see pretty heavy usage in the future, anyone here have experience using these welders? Which one would yall pick?

Htp:20-240A Duty cycle 35%@240amps +spot weld timer
Hobo: 30-250A Duty cycle 60%@175amps
Esab: 5-240A Duty cycle 25%@205amps +mvp plug

Miller

I have the Ironman 230 and like it. I do not use it everyday but I do not have any complaints. I've had it for 2 years now and have had zero problems with it.

Miller as well

Heavy useage? Miller.

Duty cycle at amperage is important. I'm a Lincoln dude and I'm offended by all these Miller people. Why aren't you going with either of the two major brands?

Just bought a used Millermatic 252 for 1400 .

One of the best mig welders you can buy for the money.

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miller all the way.
Lincoln is junk.

I have no dog in this fight, but out of curiosity, why no licolns? I read these threads every few months and never really see anyone mention them. My buddy has one at his shop, and I use it quite frequently, and love it. Never had any issues with it. We weld anything from exhaust and sheet metal up to 1/2 and 3/4. Burns in and runs like a champ.

I tend to like millers on house power and Lincolns for engine drive stuff.

I ran an older esab and it wasn’t anything impressive. I know I few people that really like their Ironman.
Does the HTP still come with a 90 money back guarantee if you don’t like it?

I have Miller and Lincoln. Both brands work well and are used daily. Best I ever had was a Lincoln CV655. Worst I ever had was a 200 amp Miller. I have since had another 250A miller that works fine.

To the OP. It seems like you are limiting yourself with those three welders you have listed. All those duty cycles seem low except maybe the Hobart. If you are intending on heavy use in the future, look at something in the range of 60% @ 200 amps. Nothing's worse than having to wait for the unit to cool down when you're burning a long pass.

The 252 Millers seem to be solid machines. In my experience, Miller doesn't make a bad machine.

The htp does come with the 90 day money back guarantee, a miller 252 is pretty much out of the question buying new at ~$2500, and i dont really know of anywhere i could find a used one.

The welder i used at my last job was an esab migmaster 250 from the 90's and it seemed to weld a whole lot better than the multiple newer millers we had when i was in school. Im only 19 so $1500 is definentley the top of my budget, and i think id rather have a larger machine (hobo/htp) rather than a miller 211, unless yall would believe that the smaller 211 would be just as capable as the two larger machines?

The miller has a range of 30-230a with duty cycle 40%@150a

Lol you can't just say that. That is like arguing which brand of truck is better. I hate Ford's with Cummins in them. They are junk rah rah rah!

Read post #7 in your current thread.


Also, here a thread Howling had regarding the Esab and Miller.

Looking for a new welder Esab vs Miller

Looking for a new welder Esab vs Miller - Competition Diesel.Com - Bringing The BEST Together

Search Craigslist I found mine on Facebook marketplace.

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We have been thru 3 Lincoln welders at work they keep failing with the circuit boards.
The welding school I went to Had the same problem with the Lincolns.
They used all miller and not one problem.
Coworkers have all been to different schools all over the Country and all schools run miller for the same reasons The Circuit boards Failing.
I recently took my plasma cutter in for service in Nashville to a welder repair shop. Talking with the service manager he said Lincolns were the worst welders and are always having problems. Unless is was a SA200 or pipeliners DC rigs.
Hobart Is Made By miller
the Internals Of miller Are Copper wound and Hobart is aluminum wound.

We use a Miller 211 here but don't do production welding. It is a great all around machine for a shop.

For what it's worth, my son was in the district and then state competition for mig, tig, stick, and oxy, they use Miller 211's for the mig portion of the competition. Also the tech school here in town uses the Miller 211s.

Not sure if it's enough welder for what you want but may get you by and always a good back up.

We have a Lincoln 216. Been great to us. Done some big welding and done well. Have heard the worries about boards as mentioned. Another member here who is local had board issues with his Lincoln and went to a Miller. Was happy with both machines I believe. He may chime in at some point.

Millers are the sh!t for shop welders. we use 252's nonstop running dual shield. badass machines. Ive had a couple little hobarts and the duty cycle sucked balls