which tig would be better?

I was pretty well set on the Miller maxstar 150 stl, but now i'm thinking the miller syncrowave 180 sd would be a little nicer. I am tired of settling for the lower priced stuff (i'm not getting any younger!) so i decided when i buy something new (especially a piece of equipment), it will be what i really want. Portability isn't important to me so i believe the edge goes to the syncrowave. Is the roughly $400. between the two worth it? Ernie, feel free to chime in, can't really say i've seen any bad advice out of you about anything. thanks, walt

Ernie, that would get me booted out of the house. I can buy the syncrowave for $1475. and the maxstar for $1095 (with hose remote) if i add another $300. (too the syncrowave), i'm a dead man.(the Mrs. just doesn't understand my welding needs, lol) My question is with what i want to do,(mild steel tubing for frames, parts...) would the syncrowave be overkill, or would i regret buying the maxstar later on? (limitations?) I want to buy a machine that i will have for a while. Since you talk to so many welding students, your opinion is based on what people do after buying their first tig machines. Thanks in advance, walt

The big advantage of the 180SD over the Maxstar 150 is that the

180SD can do AC with HF stabilization, the Maxstar can't. That means you can weld aluminum with the 180SD. The 180SD is also a hell of a nice stick welder. I'd think that's worth the $$ difference between the two.

Now Ernie is going to say that the Prowave can do all that, and more. He's right, but if it is out of your budget, it is out of your budget. I don't think you'll be disappointed with the 180SD. I've had mine for several years now, and I like it a lot.

Gary

I think the syncrowave 180SD is a very nice machine. If it is the most you can afford, go for it.

You might want to check around the used markets. People often sell off their smaller TIGs when they move up to a bigger one. Syncrowave 180's and Squarewave 175's often get sold used after only a year or two when a shop needs to upgrade.

eBay has many welders listed. Do a simple ebay search for syncrowave or squarewave and see if you snag any good deals.

Who knows there may be one near you.

eBay searches are becoming an art form in themselves. With so many vendors using it as their default online store, it is getting harder to find the good used stuff.

I start by reducing the time period to thiose auctions ending today.

It will be easier if you search for a specific machine brand or model number.

Another way to search is to start by setting your location in the prefs and then searching for machines near you.

I was wondering about this myself just a day or so ago, and then I noticed the "Auctions" tab at the top of the search results. If you hit that, you eliminate all the "buy it now" items, which are mostly new stuff being hawked by ebay businesses. Then you need to specify a minimum price that's high enough to eliminate all the *books* about welding! Checking on "TIG welder" right now, the basic search shows

250 items, hitting "Auctions" cuts that down to 123, and specifying a price range of $50 to $3000 leaves 31 items, most (but not all) of which are actually used TIG welders that are being auctioned.

Bert