Same brand recommendation .
These aren't the cheapest units out there, not by a long shot, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet if you expect to get a quality tool, and unless you drop it off a truck or it gets stolen, or you use it in an industrial setting, and do welding every day, you may not have to buy a replacement unit. Ever. Check out how long their warranty is-it was 3 years when I got mine and I believe the same unit now has a 5 or 6 year warranty.
Whatever brand you decide to go with, I'd get the highest amperage unit that you can run on 110V as a first unit, you may never need a bigger one.
I've had my Hobart Handler 135(amps) for over 6 years and have had no equipment complaints yet. It's rated to weld up to about 3/16" steel in a single pass With good weld penetration, and I can verify that this is an accurate rating. The duty cycle for actual continuous welding time is fairly low, as it is on all of the 110V machines (about 20%max. usable time at the highest amperage setting) but for most smaller and thinner work, the higher duty cycle should be sufficient to weld nearly continuously, which honestly for most work is not something that you are liable to be doing. I've welded from under 1/16" to over 1/2" thick steel several times when repairing farm implements (with the 135A unit), using prepared joints and multiple passes.
Most hobby welding people will never need to weld steel this thick.
I use mine with 75/25 Argon/CO2 mixed gas exclusively because with mild steel it yields a much cleaner weld (compared to NOT using gas), with less splatter, so grinding and clean up are minimized, but some poeple are happy enough with the beads' appearance without using gas, especially if they have only been accustomed to stick welding. For some purposes (like outdoor welding), you are liable to use flux core wire without gas anyway, due to the difficulty in protecting the joint from wind.
One thing that I've noticed with the 135 unit is that the weld penetration is significantly deeper when using the .023 wire at the highest amperage setting, as compared to the .030 wire that the unit can also use.
I think that they now have a 140(amps) unit that will still run on 110V.
P.S. Don't cheap out.
Now that the price has dropped, get a self-darkening helmet right away if you can afford it. (I found one mail order for under $50.00.) If you have even average talent, you'll be amazed at how quickly your welding will improve (and it will be better) when using one of these, as well as how much less fiddling you do compared with a standard helmet, even if it's a flip face or flip view model.
Dragon Wagon:
One thing that I've repeatedly noticed with the 135 amp unit is that the weld penetration is significantly deeper when using the .023 wire at the highest amperage setting, as compared to the .030 wire that the unit can also use. Probably along the lines of: the thinner wire heats up more than the thicker wire with the same current, then transfers the heat to the metal being welded in a slightly smaller spot, so IT heats up more.
Anyway, you have to speed up the wire feed rate (due to the smaller cross sectional area of the wire) to get the same rate of deposition, and it may seem strange but when I'm welding at the thick end of the range of the units' rating, the thin wire seems to work out better for penetration and it also CAN give a flatter bead, (which may be more useful in certain situations, such as when multiple passes are required) although the bead appearance can often be made similar between the 2 diameters when varying wire feed speed and amperage settings.
