Multi Process Welders - Worth it?

[LEVEL]

I've been looking into buying a Mig welder for a little while now and keep coming across Welders which do both Mig and Tig.

They are a bit over my budget but are they worth considering as it opens up my options? I will only be welding very occasionally and thats why I'm looking for a Mig as its straight forward with good results and not much of a learning curve, but Tig could be interesting to learn...

The welder I've been looking into is a Cemont MX 201 SG, its an older model and I was wondering if anyone has any information on this brand of welder, or this particular model? Its also known as a Precisa 201...

Any info would be helpful, are multi-purpose welders like multi-tools, they do lots of things but not as well as a dedicated tool....? or are they are great investment?

Thanks for your help!

 

[gordon stephenson]

If it does DC tig it most likely do stick welding too,

 

[daleyd]

I've got the Rtech MTS210 one, and like you I'm not a pro welder, but wanted to try my hand at all 3 types.

For the bits of welding I've done its been great. You don't get HF start for the TIG, which makes things a bit more difficult but it's perfectly useable.

The MIG and ARC functions work great, I had never used an inverter welder before and the general ease of use compared to a cheap buzzbox is excellent.

I'd say that you wont get the same functionality as a dedicated tig set, but the arc and mig functions compare favourably with standalone units. Of course there will be some compromise, but I'm sticking bits of metal together in my garage, not welding a nuclear reactor.

So far it's welded a load of pens for a stable at a farm, a land rover rollcage and a few other home projects. Never missed a beat, and the farm job it got used on was on the end of a lengthy extension lead - my mates big transformer mig wouldn't lay down decent welds for some reason (Voltage drop??), however this ran faultlessly and did the job.