Tig Welder Advice?

Anyone have any experience with either the Miller Synchrowave 200 or the Lincoln 185 tig welders. They compare pretty similarily and are the same price, and if Brian decides to not sell me his Lincoln setup I'm going to buy my own. Thanks.

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Grant Hughes

Okay, so now since I'm not talking on the phone, I'll retype this.
Here's a link to some specs.
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/syncrowave_200/
Compared to the ST-185 in the competitive comparison. Most of the items seem kind of trivial to me.

http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/equipmentdatasheet.asp?p=12813

The Lincoln Competitive Comparison is to the older Synchrowave 180. Just figured I'd ask here where there seems to be a higher level of intelligence and use of products than other places or at any store I've ever been in.

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Grant Hughes

When I was window shopping for these last year, the biggest difference I saw was that the pulser on the Lincoln only lets you adjust the frequency and none of the other pulse parameters. I believe the miller lets you adjust pulse width as well, and had a higher peak output and better duty cycle.

I ended up with a Miller for my mig welder and couldn't be happier. Thing gets beat to shit and keeps going, and when something was missing from my box I simply called and had the part in my hands two days later - Hard to beat their customer service.

Also, the Thermal Arc 185TSW is a full featured inverter welder with more programmability/control than either of those two units, with a similar output and price. Nice that it's also about 175lbs lighter...

We've been using the Mig 175 from Miller (or something like that) and it kicks ass!

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Grant Hughes

Go with the Miller. I sell these for a living, and Miller is marginally better, but has much better support when problems arise. I've used both, the Miller welds nicer. Never consider Thermal Arc, sub-par and good luck with support when you need it. Inverters are nice, but if it's too affordable to be true, it is not true, and you will not be able to afford the repairs.

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Cable Rhodes
Boise, Idaho
'87 Mazda RX-7 Turbo

cablerhodes Wrote:
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> Never consider Thermal Arc,
> sub-par and good luck with support when you need
> it. Inverters are nice, but if it's too affordable
> to be true, it is not true, and you will not be
> able to afford the repairs.

I would love to hear your reasoning for saying this. Not some anecdotal evidence like "oh I knew a guy whos brother had a bad board back in the 70's which they wouldn't replace" or anything, a real experience you've had. There are a LOT of people who own this unit and have been nothing but happy with it, and when there have been problems TA has stood behind it every time I've heard of.

See:

http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/

I like the Miller better on ali. Udder then that both are pretty much the same. We get Lincolns for free so I use a Lincoln. I really like the little portable job we have in the truck. Used it to weld a ali bellhousing this season. Werked great. No H20 cooler on it though. Ouch hands hot!

Take it easy
Rich

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Rich Howard
Indianapolis, Indiana
1967

I bought a Miller Dynasty when we did the T45 cage in our Subaru:

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/dynasty_200_series/

I also have a Lincoln MIG unit as well.

The Miller has been a great TIG unit. Amazing how small and lightweight it is.

Cheers! John

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