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Thanks for the reply. I'm definitely leaning away from harbor freight. The one ( MM175) that's about an hour from me does have a gas cylinder, cart, and a few other extras. Just from looking at photos online, I think it is the transformer generation. Case looks to be in really nice shape.
I guess that could be another excuse to head further south and visit a buddy of mine on the same trip.
Curious. I wonder about this notion that the big 2 (or 3) have lifelong support. Is that really true? Sure, the support will be better than a no-name chinese brand. I can believe that for sure. But can I buy parts for a 50 years old Miller? Will I be able to in the future, and especially so if the technology is changing drastically and very fast? And if available, will they be affordable? Not to mention that would we even want to fix a completely beyond the times welder with new ones having a bunch of much more useful features. Seems rather unlikely that a big company would set themselves in the position of having to stock obsolete parts for a very long time just for marketing purposes. Think of the big car manufacturers. The impression I have is that they commit only to 10 years or so of full parts support.
I recently took a "beginner" welding class. The machines I got to use were both Miller, one older millermatic 175, and another similar Miller but newer (digital display, mvp plug options).
Curious. I wonder about this notion that the big 2 (or 3) have lifelong support. Is that really true? Sure, the support will be better than a no-name chinese brand. I can believe that for sure. But can I buy parts for a 50 years old Miller? Will I be able to in the future, and especially so if the technology is changing drastically and very fast? And if available, will they be affordable? Not to mention that would we even want to fix a completely beyond the times welder given new ones having a bunch of much more useful features? Seems rather unlikely that a big company would set themselves in the position of having to stock obsolete parts for a very long time just for marketing purposes. Think of the big car manufacturers. The impression I have is that they commit only to 10 years or so of full parts support.