180 or 250

[BrokenBiker]

right. I need a new mig, my mightymig has gone pop, its not beyond repair but its a pathetic little unit in all fairness. it has done ok for what I needed it for, but it really does struggle sometimes.

so been looking at inverter migs. mostly r-tech mig250. however, its pricey at £750. so do I really need a 250 amp mig, or would the 180 be enough considering it will still run a 4mm 6013 in stick mode?

I am aware that @doubleboost has done a full review of the 250 and is now doing the 180 so would be interested to hear your opinions and comparison of the 2 units.

is there any advantage to having the 250 over the 180? the mma side of things will do well over the heaviest I will ever need, my 160 xti has only been maxed once, and that was only so I could see how quickly I could burn a 4mm rod. usually I sit at around 120amps with a 3.2 or 90-110 with a 2.5

I am aware the 180 is a lot cheaper than the 250 and the 180 comes up as shop soiled a lot more for some reason too so a bargain is there if I keep my eyes open.

I know most people will say bigger is better, but is it really? I love how easy mig is for tacking and off the top of your head fabrication, and know that mma is where the thicker stuff will lie, especially if I ever went over say 10mm, I wouldn't even consider the mig for it.

 

[Spark plug]

When I first started welding I bought a 185a mig I thort that would be more than enough for me, now I have a 380a and I wouldn't like to go back.

 

[BrokenBiker]

When I first started welding I bought a 185a mig I thort that would be more than enough for me, now I have a 380a and I wouldn't like to go back.

that was originally why I was thinking about the 250, but after some more thinking now that I need a new unit, the mma portion of the 180 will see me clear of anything I need really. the only welding I do is on cars, light framework so about 3-4mm max and a bit of tig here and there with my parweld inverter, which again will save me in a situation where a mig wont cope

 

[Spark plug]

that was originally why I was thinking about the 250, but after some more thinking now that I need a new unit, the mma portion of the 180 will see me clear of anything I need really. the only welding I do is on cars, light framework so about 3-4mm max and a bit of tig here and there with my parweld inverter, which again will save me in a situation where a mig wont cope

If that's the case the 180 should be ok, I can find myself welding anything form 1mm to 50mm+

 

[BrokenBiker]

the thickest I have ever attempted to weld was 13mm, and that was a one off for a mate

 

[cumbriasteve]

I think 'shop soiled' is another word for returned and repaired, although they probably will have some demo models to clear now and again.

That does not really mean anything because they still come with the normal warranty.

I bought an MMA off them that blew a cap within 5 minutes, a new one was delivered next day and mine was collected at same time, so no arguments from me.

The replacements working fine, lovely machine to use but being old fashioned I remain nervous of these little boxes full of electronics, certainly easy to carry around though, even compared to a buzz box never mind an oil cooled unit.

 

[BrokenBiker]

yeah, most of the shop soiled ones I have seen are either damaged in the box i.e. scratch on the side, or faulty/repaired. either way as you say they have full warranty and brilliant aftersales

 

[Maker]

I would go for the 180 if I where you. Usually, I think bigger is better but as you said, you never need to go that high. The 250 would probably have a better duty cycle at the currents you do use, but you can always use that cooling time to some other quick jobs if you ever do max out the 180s duty cycle.

 

[ben8vgte]

I've not hit the duty cycle on my 180 yet, but with car stuff you wont. I did melt the torch neck a little on some longer runs on 3mm box made of sheet. Mostly I've used mine for welding 3-4mm thick box section and a good bit of 6mm plate. I'm well into my 2nd 5kg spool of 0.8mm in 3 months, really nice machine for £400 or so it was delivered and lays down a nice weld.

Must admit I was tempted by the 250 as well, but like you for the odd bit of thicker stuff I just burn rods instead. For the extra money I could not justify the 250, I think it would only be worth it if you needed to do a lot of thicker stuff or mig aluminium.

 

[BrokenBiker]

yeah, i cant see the need for me to mig Ali, never wanted to try it before. It would be mice to mig stainless but that would only be a once in a while job. Mostly mild steel below 4mm

 

[Ed.]

My 2 cents worth on this would depend on what the majority of your work involved, if for car repairs and the odd bit of 10mm then the specs on the 180 should be adequate, if you anticipate or intend to do a lot of 10mm stuff in the near future then I would go for the bigger 250 unit, but having said that, if you anticipate welding a lot of 10mm thick steel in mind for the future then I would use the 250 on MIG rather than MMA, and while there is nothing wrong with MMA it is considerably slower to weld up a large structure with it than doing the same with MIG, also the 250 unit takes up to 15kg spools so the cost of the wire is considerably cheaper than buying smaller spools, plus better duty cycles ect.

From what I gather, there is about 250 pound difference in price, so split amoungst the 7 to 10 years that you would probably keep it, the annual cost difference per year isn't that much between the two, but it is when you first purchase it. So as others have said, in the end, if you don't think that you will weld a lot of thicker steel then save yourself the 250 pound.