Regulator advice needed

[Kenny_88]

Hi folks,
I'm new to the forum, been learning to weld at a night class at college and I'm looking to get my welder set up at home. I currently have an old Fronius Variostar 157 mig which I plan to use with hobbyweld 5. Possibly going to get something a bit newer / smaller like a Bester 190c at some point.
I've gone down a bit of a rabbits hole with all the information on this forum and now I'm really not sure what regulator set up to go for. Looks like there are a few options:
Single stage
Single stage + flowmeter
Multi stage
Multi stage + flowmeter
+ probably a load more...
Ideally I would like to try and not waste gas, so is there a 'best' regulator set up to go for?
And is a cheap Multi stage regulator any better than a single stage + flowmeter set up?
If anyone can also recommend any specific regulators to go for that would be appreciated.
Cheers

 

[Parm]

Welcome to the forum, some one will be along shortly to answer your question

 

[mike os]

Single stage is find, you will want a flow meter with either

 

[maroon]

Multistage will keep a consistent pressure as the pressure from the bottle decreases.
So the smaller the bottles Multistage probably would be best. As they empty faster.

If you're using a low pressure a slight fluctuation makes a big difference. Is where Multistage benefits. You have more consistency,

can you get away with the marginal difference in application. A little off a little is a lot, a little of a lot is a little.

Think of a big butt of water with a 1mm hole in. Empty it. (one stage)
Then put a 10mm hole in it. Flows Into a bucket. With a 1mm hole in the bucket. (multi stage)
Think of the Weight of the water and the flow