Lincoln 215 vs Miller 210 vs Hobart 210 (also HTP)

good questions...... but where are you located? are you in the US? I am not trying to be favor a brand , but think of following.

HTP , I m sure it is a good welder, and has great customer support, however it is an imported welding machine, made with German parts assembled in Hungary, shipped to the US.(it may not necesarrely bad) there is only one outfit that sells it in the US. any thing you need have to be shiped to you (you pay shipping ), delivery is not chep on a large MIG welder. should it ever need repair they can diagnose it over the phone, and send you parts. .....but if iti needs to go back you pay shipping. how ever you may not ever need any repair. are consumables readily available ???? guns, liners, tips?

Miller, HObart, Lincoln are the top maunfacturers in the US. and been around for a while. miller and hobart merged. you can get pats for any of those just about around every corner if you live in the city. same thing for service or warranty issues. lincoln miller hobarts are all around where ever you look where there is welding going on. must be good, don't you think?

however there people who wants to be unique, and don't want to have the same thing as every body else, they buy the triumps , and MGs and other rare cars and motorcycles. same true for welders . other like to experiment and just be different.

some people swear by HTP, I am sure it is great.

I tried Thermal arc TIG this year will see how it turns out. I already feel the effect of not having a local dealer and parts readily available around to service it if something goes bad. My gas solonoid leaks , andI don't want to take it to a shop and wait and wait for parts to arrive and get fixed. the local guys can get parts for miller over night if not stocked at the shop.

Miller is a Hobart owned company and many of the Miller parts come from Hobart (this is a good thing)

i did alot of research before i bought my ESAB 161 heliarc machine. it was Miller or ESAB for me. although some nice folks down in SC at ESAB took care of me the 2nd time i had a problem with my 161, Miller and Lincoln will have many more local shops and parts readily available when that time comes.

didn't ThermalArc go chapter-11 ??

i would highly recommend a Miller MIG.

Actually, Miller and Hobart are ITW owned companies.

Thermal Arc's parent company - Thermadyne - filed Chapter 11 but has been out of that for over a year now.

Hello,

I visited with the Miller Factory Reps at an annual Area Farm Show in Abilene, Texas last year. They were demoing Miller Welders on steel and aluminum..

I asked about the differences between Miller and Hobart wire welders.

Please allow for my lack of proper terms with regards to the wire welders. I am not very familiar with those types of welders.

The machines are just about the same internally. The main differences are that the Millers are the top of the line units and the Hobart's are the cheaper lower priced units.

Here are some of the differences that I can remember at the moment.

The Hobarts have cheaper plastic parts used instead of the higher priced steel parts. The Hobarts have step type adjustments instead of infinite adjustments.

The Plastic VS Steel is, I think it was the wire feeder unit on the front inside of the unit. Plastic housing VS Steel housing and maybe plastic gears instead of metal gears.

Adjustments were being limited to several clicks or notches in the fine adjustment on the Hobart VS unlimited precise fine adjustment on the Miller.

Lincoln?? I do not know anything about them other than I think that they do build cheaper and lighter duty units for larger chains such as Lowes. Looks the same as the regular units, they have less features than the regular units. The duty cycle might be lower also.

I suggest checking the product info on their websites to determine the exact specs and differences betwen the manufactures and the product lines.

Linolnand Miller have been around a long time and have plenty of dealers for service and etc.

Hope this helps some.

Harvey

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usualy the hobart machines seems to have less taps on the heat setting than the same miller unit. the hobart 210 has 6 tap and miller 210 has 7 tap setting for heat

as far as lincoln, once I asked the local lincoln dealer about the lowes and Home depo units, he pointed to 135plus and said it has been sitting here for a few years now, nobody buys it because of lowes 135T, and its matching price.

he also said that the lincoln 135T from lincoln , and the Promig 135 that you get at lowes is the same , except it has different name. Lowes buys it at a huge volume and gets it cheaper than any dealer that buy 10 at a time, and yes lincoln will print a different model number (pro mig ) on it once a large store chain stats buing it. I don't think they would setup a different line of manufacturing just for LOwes, to make it cheaper, since they offer the same warranty on it. To me a price difference on a lowes tap machine vs. Lincolns plus is not really worth having on a hobby machine.

back to miller vs. lincoln. miller rep. said that miller units duty cycles are tested rated at 10 minutes at 100 F ambiant temp. whie lincoln and other test at 70 F degrees. at 10 minutes., some imports rate their machine in a 3 minute rated duty cycle.

which company tells the truth is hard to tell, look at their web site .....in their comparasion chart they all say the other companies machine is sh*t. ours is better. its all marketing.......... but both are good machines.

I've had HTP and 2 friends have their migs. They love them. One is a 110 and the other is a 220 unit. I was impressed by the drive mechanism and stable arc on both units. Much nicere arc than on my Hobart 110 unit. My Invertig was a wonderful unit. I have been unable (in 3 years of looking) to find anyone that has anything bad to say about them.

I know Jeff Noland (President of HTP) and he's about the nicest guy you'll deal with...customer service is excellent.