Hobart welder opinion

[AZglide]

Been thinking about getting a Hobart Champion 145 welder. Need a portable but it won?t see heavy duty work so can?t justify the cost of the bigger welders for general repairs and light fabrication. Anyone have experience with one of these or opinions in general?
As usual any advice or comments are appreciated.

 

[RM-MN]

Unless you are in a remote area where you can't get someone to come do the repair or have some business that is time critical, hire the welding done. You can pay a professional with the right equipment and lots of experience a lot of times for the cost of that welder that may not be capable of doing the repair you need.

 

[Oliver 500 Wa]

I have a Hobart Handler 190. So far it has been an excellent machine. Very happy with it. I've had it ~4 years now. I am on my 8th or 9th 11 pound spool of wire. Weld everything from .04" sheetmetal to 1/2" structural (multi-pass). Mostly running .03" ER70-S6 and 75/25 gas, but switch to 023" wire for the thin stuff and .035 for the thick.

 

[AZglide]

That would be better all around but most of the places I go do not have power so it has to be portable. Thanks for
the reply and recommendation.
As far as hiring someone with better equipment and more experience...well, then I wouldn?t be making any money.

 

[Fred Werring]

I also have a 190, been very pleased with it. It almost makes me look like a real welder.

FWIW, I have run it off of a 7000w continous generator....not as handy as a welder generator like the Champion 145 like you're looking at, but it worked for me when I needed it.

Fred

 

[barwinn]

Hobart is a decent welder. I have a Handler 140 and it works great.

 

[Stan in Oly, WA]

azglide; I Googled that welder and read the specs for it. As far as I could tell, it puts out only AC current. I've done quite a bit of welding with AC-only stick welders, and I like AC well enough, but I rarely have to do out of position welding. The general thought about AC versus DC is that DC is far preferable for out of position welding. I've never found 7018-AC to be an acceptable substitute for regular 7018 run on DC. Many people seem to find it all right, but that hasn't been my experience. You might want to consider looking for a DC welder if you're going to be doing welding as a business.

Stan

 

[M-MAN]

Don't know what Google is doing but when I checked at Hobart it's an AC power - DC stick machine.

Should be fine for light to medium welding in the field.

 

[AZglide]

Thanks everyone. I know it?s not a ?Pipeliner? but I think it will do what I need it to do better than the generator and AC stick I?ve been using.

 

[Stan in Oly, WA]

M-MAN; You're right, it's a DC welder. I make enough of that kind of mistake late at night after a work day that I should just give it up and watch cute cat videos on YouTube until I nod off and start drooling on myself. I'd offer less bad advice that way.

Stan

 

[tlock0331]

i dont think there is enough pricce difference between the 145 and the 190,buy the 190, and you can buy the set on amazon with an aluminum spool gun