MIG Welders, Hobart or Miller

I've had a Miller-matic 200 I bought new over 20 yrs ago, and except for a liner every few years its never missed a beat. Go Miller if at all possible

 

Exactly right on the money banjorear.

Pretty amazing that even though they aren't made by the same company, the parts interchange.... hmmm.

Saying hobart isn't made by Miller is like saying Buick isn't/wasn't made by GM. Yeah the big name on the side of the building says Buick.... nevermind, not worth the debate.

 

Hobart and Miller are both owned by Illinois Tool Works, but they are two separate companies. ITW owns hunderds of individual companies and probably a dozen or more that make some kind of welding equipment (like Weldcraft torches, which are now included with Miller TiG welders instead of the Diamondback torches). Like GM and other big companies, they share technology and parts, mainly to cut costs. But with respect to Miller and Hobart, there are differences, as banjorear pointed out. Overall, the Miller is a more durable machine, and combined with stepless wire speed adjustment, seems worth the extra money.

 

I GOT A LINCOLN 125 PLUS IN 97 ITS BEEN through hell and i run through a 12 pound spoll of wire every other week its never missed a beat.

 

I am currently using a cart with a 110v Miller 135 on top and a 220v Hobart 175 on the bottom sharing the same bottle. The Miller for light stuff and sheetmetal, and the Hobart for the heavyer stuff. I think they are both great!

J.

 

Well, rustynewyorker If ya want to just ship it to Texas, I'll save ya all that trouble! I'm kinda thinkin the general run of opinions here is that H.F. and the "chinese p.o.s." Are pretty frowned on, but damn I can get a 220 volt mig/flux rig at hf for under $275.00. Gets really tempting for us "Iwant it NOW!" guys! Yes, I've burned my own **** buying too quick before. My real dilemma as that this is my first welder and I'll be learning / teaching myself with it. I don't want to have to fight with the rig as well as my ignorance. Any guidance based on that???

 

I think it cost around $140 shipped. At that time you could watch eBay and there'd be a pattern to anything like that - usually about every 4th one would go cheap. I got the deal on it. I don't even remember where it claims it's made... I had a regular job and blew some money on it and have never used it. So it probably wouldn't have made sense to buy a really nice one.

 

IT'S MILLER TIME! I DONT SEE ANY BIG DECIDING FACTORS ON BRAND NAME. THE WELDER WILL ONLY WORK AS GOOD AS YOU MAKE IT. LIKE SAID ON THIS POST BEFORE, FIND ONE WITH GAS, AND ONE THAT HAS A DIAL TO ADJUST THE WIRESPEED AND OR HEAT RANGE. IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE IT EVERY DAY, BUY A GOOD ONE. IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE IT TWICE A YEAR, BUY USED.

 

I bought a Miller 135 last July....a couple days later I walked into the local Farm And Barn store and the equivalant Hobart was $30.00 less....

 

This is true to some extent. I have a cheap-o Century 90 amp that I used for a lot of tubing and sheetmetal stuff. I've had it for 12 years and it's a piece of ****! BUT... I've done some awesome work with it too. The problem is you can make a good looking bead with about anything, it's what's undernieth that you have to worry about. I remember one day when I was at my neighbors using his Lincoln... well, that's when I REALLY realized what a piece of **** I have!

Just do yourself a favor and DON'T buy the HF POS!!! You WILL regret if you weld anymore than a couple times a week for any extended period of time. Besides, get good with an "expensive" welder and you may have a chance to do some side work to recoup the cost. Just an idea.

Time brings me to another point about some of the cheap welders out there... DUTY CYCLE! That's pretty much all I need to say! You may be able to make your little cheap welder "weld" 1/4" structural steel, but for how long?? You may end up spending more time letting it cool down at max output than actually welding. Just something to think about.

SERIOUSLY think about getting yourself something that will do everything you need it to. Once you get good there should be no reason to farm anything out to your neighbor or local welding shop. You don't want to drag your hot rod frame down to your local welder to do all the finish welds on your frame, do you?

Just my $.02. I'm not a professional, but I sure as hell know what it's like to be limited by a "cheap" welder and also how dangerous of a situation you can put yourself in when doing REAL structural work that your life depends on. If you're doing frame work, it shouldn't be an argument over $600. Your life is worth more than that.

Good luck and keep us posted!! BUY A GOOD WELDER!!! BLUE OR RED!! JUST BUY SMART!! "I want it now and don't want to wait so I'm buying cheap..." is not smart!

 

Alright, it's been a while since I started this post, so I thought I'd do a little following up. I went down to the local welding supply and checked out the Hobart and the Miller side by side. There are a lot of similarities between the two. The biggest difference I found was in the drive mechanism. THe Hobart was all plastic, and the Miller is alloy. For what I'll be using it for, I'm sure the Hobart would work just fine. But for the difference in price, it was an easy decission. So I saved up the scratch and went back to talk turkey- CASH in hand. I walked out with a Miller model 135, a Miller auto darkening helmet, and a five year lease for my argon/ CO2 tank. Because I paid cash, I was able to wheel and deal a bit. I'll put it this way, I didn't walk out feeling like I'd gotten railed. Sure, a 110V isn't the greatest for everything, but it fits my needs right now. I can always upgrade to a 220V later on. And as far as the auto darkening hoods go, I'm sold. I'll never go back to the old "flip it up, flip it down" hoods again. The one that I bought lists for about $170-$180, but you really get what you pay for.
So, right now, I'm knee deep in rust repair/ sheetmetal fab. on the Chev, and this little Miller works great.