Hobart or Miller?

greg75vette

greg75vette

The Traffic Baron
Joined
Jun 9, 2009
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Location
Lindenhurst, LI, NY
Hey guys, I noticed there's a few welders on here :lol: I'm looking for a welder and two have caught my eye.

The Hobart 210MVP
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200479230_200479230

The Millermatic 211 Autoset with MVP:
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/mig/product.php?model=M00245

I tend to work on both thick and thin material and these seem to have a nice range. I've also never welded before, so the Autoset on the Miller might be worth the extra coin. Both have 3 year warranties.


What do guys think?
 
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Hobart and Miller are both reputable machines. Look for the price and features you want. It's a Chevy/Ford type question.:quote:
 
Hobart is owned by Miller. The Hobart is dual voltage, it's only needed if you plan it to be portable and you only have 110V at the location. Don't buy a 110V. I am now regretting it. Add Lincoln to your list and check Craigslist.
 
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Twin_Turbo said:
abbrevated links don't work
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Sorry. Not really sure how I did it, but fixed.

big2bird said:
Hobart and Miller are both reputable machines. Look for the price and features you want. It's a Chevy/Ford type question.:quote:
Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear it. I just didn't want to find out one has a terrible reputation, overpriced, etc.

Ralphy said:
Hobart is owned by Miller. The Hobart is dual voltage, it's only needed if you plan it to be portable and you only have 110V at the location. Don't buy a 110V. I am now regretting it. Add Lincoln to your list and check Craigslist.
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I had a funny feeling they are. They have the same MVP plug system and the Miller comes with a Hobart spool. And currently, I only have 110V at the house, but 220 plug will be added eventually.

I've heard from a few Lincoln is pretty good. I'll look into them. I've also been checking CL, but guys in my area think they own gold with just about everything I see for sale :bonkers:


Thanks fir the replies!
 
IMO a 110V welder is all the average garage warrior needs. My Lincoln weldpak 3200 was on sale when I got it, think I paid like $300 at HomeDepot... it has four settings (A,B,C,D) - for welding 16 gauge exhaust tubing I use .023" wire and set the welder to "B" and the wire feed to 4-5 ... for 18g material I set it to "A"
I just welded some 1/8" carbon steel with .030" wire and it works just fine on either "B" or "C" setting, I never used the "D" ..... I just don't see how I would benefit from a 220V unit - if you weld a lot of 1/4" or 3/8" plate then yes.... just saying for most garage/car projects the 110V will do fine.
If you're willing to spend close to $1000 then consider buying a TIG setup that can handle anything from thin sheetmetal to 1/2" plate.... TIG requires a lot of practice though, wire feed welding is a lot easier .... TIG requires Argon, MIG only needs Argon/CO2 mix which is a lot cheaper....
 
MYBAD,

I do agree, today's 110 would do. But a 220 will plug into a drier outlet. I have an older 110 and I have a hard time soaking enough heat into .187. I recently saw a newer used Hobart on CL for $500.00. Lincoln was running a special on the 180, 220V with auto dark shield for $699.00. The Lincoln 140 would do for a 110V.
 
I have a Hobart 187 mig and it is very nice. Auto settings would not be something I would want. It has 7 heat settings and infinite wire speed. I have been very happy with it.

I have a miller tig that I have only had time to use once, but it is a very well built machine.

When looking at machines the Hobart 187 mig was better IMO than the miller equivalent and the miller tig was better than the equivalent hobart tig.
 
I noticed that the 220V units can handle .045" wire size. Again, depending on what you want to weld this might be a big "plus" ...
the 110V units seem to run best with .030" or smaller wire so no, you're not getting enough heat to weld 1/4" plate material in one single run. You can however taper the gap between the parts and run a root path and 3-4 beads to fill....
If you never welded before then it's a good thing if the unit you buy comes with a 1lbs spool of .035" flux core wire... use that to practice on some scrapmetal before you use the more expensive wire and shielding gas.
 
I think TIG is out of the question for me. A little too much to learn considering the amount I plan to use this. I don't see myself using this every week, only really once in a while. Also, as far as the Autoset on the Miller goes, I'm not limited to it. I have full control over the feed and amperage, but the Autoset is a quick and dirty thing.

My budget is pretty much maxxed out on these two (I found the miller locally at $1k), but I am considering a less powerful machine. What I like about these and they can handle some pretty thick metal for the price. If I want to go much thicker, I'd really be breaking the bank. Having the ability to go up to 3/8" is very appealing for heavy duty bracketry. How often I would need this is questionable, so maybe that is overkill.

I took another look. I might get along just as well with something a little cheaper. Seems like a 180 machine might be enough, but being 230V only and only $200 cheaper, does it really save me anything at this point.

I plan on picking one up sometime I officially get a garage (long story), but that should be anytime between now and Feb. And if there's sales to be had, I don't mind waiting until Spring. In the meantime, I'll keep my eyes open to CL.
 
MYBAD,
When you say .045" wire do you mean solid or flux cored. Looks like all of the ones I'm looking at can handle 0.045" flux core wire, but say they can only handle up to 0.035" solid wire.

Good call on Flux core to start with. I'll make sure it come with it, or at least buy some with it. I'm already looking for potential scrap metal sources :D
 
When you look at the Hobart unit (Northerntool link) it doesn't say flux core or solid wire, with 210amps I would think it can handle .045" solid wire.

Have you considered a cheaper MIG welder for all the thin stuff and a stick welder for the heavy bracketry ?? A $150 stick welder can easily weld 3/8" plate, and it can weld outside even with wind (welds get really crappy if wind blows the shielding gas away from the puddle).

decisions...decisions....lol
 
Just had to complicate it, didn't you :lol:

I don't really have too much room to store that much junk, so a one multipurpose unit is more appealing. However, welders aren't the biggest thing in the shop either.

And you're right about the Hobart. I checked the wrong one (at my local dealer he doesn't have the 210). But regardless if it's solid or fluxcored, isn't 0.045" wire just 0.045" wire? I agree at 210A, it should be able to handle it.
 
greg75vette said:
Just had to complicate it, didn't you :lol:

I don't really have too much room to store that much junk, so a one multipurpose unit is more appealing. However, welders aren't the biggest thing in the shop either.

And you're right about the Hobart. I checked the wrong one (at my local dealer he doesn't have the 210). But regardless if it's solid or fluxcored, isn't 0.045" wire just 0.045" wire? I agree at 210A, it should be able to handle it.
Click to expand...

I have a Miller 180A MIG that I use for most of my welding but I also have a 200A Stick/ DC TIG for thicker materials and when I want to TIG mild/stainless steels. I also have an older 120 Volt MIG that I use to tack body patch panels.

0.045 wire comes in solid or flux core, solid needs gas flux core doesn't. On that note I personally don't like flux core wire.
 
i agree, flux core is gorilla welding, lots of splatter but it has its advantages like outdoor use..... it's also good for practice, like i said use the 1lbs spool that comes with th welder to get a feel for it, then step up to solid wire and shielding gas.
 
I have a 220V MIG, a 380V (now 400V here) 280 amp mig and a 320amp mig, I hardly ever use the 220V thing. Too few settings, junk. Wire remains hot for a while after releasing trigger, shitty feeder motor that doesn't have a very steady feed, a wire feed adjust knob that has no feel to it and adjusts like crap. Never again. Also have 2 380V AC/DC tig machines, an old Lincoln coil type and a fully controllable inverter. I prefer the inverter for most work but the other one is damn good on mild steel and stainless (and it has 50ft of torch and a thumb button) Also have some buzz boxes, never use thos. Would rather use my oxy/acet setup than that.

If your gas machine has too little oomph for that single project, run it with flux core inverted polarity (needed for flux), the penetration will be deeper w/ flux and the gas will minimize spatter
 
I was plugging into a 15 Amp outlet and having issues. So I bought a drier cord and used 1 leg. Works so much better having a higher Amp draw.
 
Twin_Turbo said:
If your gas machine has too little oomph for that single project, run it with flux core inverted polarity (needed for flux), the penetration will be deeper w/ flux and the gas will minimize spatter
Click to expand...

:bump:Never tried this, thanks for the tip.:bump:
 
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