Which Welder Brand Wins?

hot start 112 amps (within 1 amp of the multimeter, very close to the 100 amp target); max setting (115 amps) hot start 147 amps then tapered to 115 amps, right on target

spec max at 120V is 70 amps; hot start 83.7 amps settling to about 74 amps

hot start 143 amps dropping back to 93 to 105 amps, the best result of the welders tested up to that point; max setting (140 amps): started at 144 amps, dropped to the mid-120s, called by far the best yet at that point

setting: started at 87.9 amps, dropped to the mid-70s, not quite as good as the Hone; max setting (159 amps): started at 132 amps, quickly dropped to about 105 amps, the lowest constant output of the welders tested up to that point

setting: started at 81 amps, dropped to about 79 amps; highest setting on this dial (138 amps): held steady around 107 amps

setting: peak of 68.2 amps, about 32 amps short; max setting (200 amps): ran out of steam at 123.3 amps, about 10 amps better than the S7

setting: peak of 73.1 amps, 27 amps short; setting dialed to 201 amps: peak of 113.7 amps, almost 90 amps short

setting: hot start 119 amps tapering to 99 to 100 amps, called very impressive; max setting (175 amps): hot start 206 amps tapering to and holding 173 to 175 amps until the metal burned through and the reading became erratic, called very consistent

setting (hard to set precisely on the analog dial): landed close at about 105 amps; max setting (225 amps): started near 245 amps and dropped to about 233 amps, a little hotter than advertised

setting: running about 35 amps too hot; max setting (140 amps): in the upper 130s, called pretty accurate on the highest setting

setting: mid to upper 90s, called a great result; max setting (160 amps): hot start around 170 amps dropping to the lower 140s

setting: upper 70s, more than 20 amps short; max setting (206 amps claimed): 159.6 amps, the most current produced yet at that point, called not bad for a $130 welder

setting: only 69.2 amps, about the same as at 120V, did not take advantage of the higher voltage; max setting (200 amps): ran out of steam at 122.5 amps

not tested, the S7 does not come with a 240V adapter

most accurate welder tested at every setting: 100 percent at 100 amps and at max setting on both 120V and 240V; on the actual-vs-displayed current graph, described as right on target as expected from a very expensive welder

(120V): 107 percent; max (120V): 107 percent; 100 amps (240V): 107 percent, a little hot; max (240V): 104 percent; delivered the most current of any welder at the 240V max setting, 233 amps; on the actual-vs-displayed graph, the analog dial is called difficult for achieving precise settings

(120V): 105 percent, a little hot; max (120V): 91 percent, third place; max (240V): 99 percent; on the actual-vs-displayed graph, described as not doing too bad, off by less than 10 percent

(240V): 97 percent, second place; on the actual-vs-displayed graph, not too far off at lower current but becoming more inaccurate at higher settings

delivered the third most current of all welders at the 240V max setting, 159.6 amps; on the actual-vs-displayed graph, described as not quite as accurate as the Hone and Deko across the whole range

on the actual-vs-displayed graph, described as a little bit better than the S7 but still quite a bit lower than the displayed setting

on the actual-vs-displayed graph, the worst of all welders tested, with actual current well below the displayed setting throughout

actual current, penetration 3.94 mm (second place behind Titanium), broke at almost 1,400 lb (about 1,398 lb, second place)

too much current for the 1/8in 7018 rod used (by design, this is a max power test), penetration derived as about 4.25 mm from the stated 2.1 mm of unfinished business (matches the closing recap's explicit 4.25 mm figure), the best of all welders; broke at 2,436 lb, by far the best yet

actual current, best looking weld up to that point; 4.65 mm of unfinished business meaning about 1.7 mm of penetration, the best yet at that point; broke at just over 400 lb

actual current, nice looking weld, consistent arc; best penetration yet at that point at 2.15 mm; broke at 689 lb, more than twice the strength of the S7

actual current, terrific start with a very smooth arc pattern, called a very nice looking weld for a budget welder; 3.86 mm of unfinished business meaning about 2.49 mm of penetration; broke at 830 lb, the best on the tester up to that point

penetrated 1.09 mm, about twice as deep as the S7, but the narrator applied testing force to the wrong side of the coupon by mistake, so the breaking-force result for this brand was explicitly discarded and not used

only about 113 amps actual current, not nearly enough for good penetration; 5.84 mm of unfinished business meaning only about half a millimeter of penetration; broke at just 287 lb, the weakest of all welders on this test

very smooth and consistent arc, nice looking root pass that did not quite fully penetrate at first, improved with more heat to a good steady weld; broke at around 4,500 lb along with the other three non-budget welders under this test's 130 amp cap

very smooth, consistent arc; root pass judged a little better than Deko's and Yeswelder's, almost full penetration without quite blowing through, good consistent weld; broke at around 4,500 lb along with the other three non-budget welders under this test's 130 amp cap

plenty of current, fairly stable arc, nice root pass that burned through about 90 percent of the test piece, steady arc with even legs and nice concave passes

fairly stable arc, called definitely the best root pass of all brands up to that point, almost full penetration, smooth arc, good consistency; broke at around 4,500 lb along with the other three non-budget welders under this test's 130 amp cap

very smooth, stable arc, called definitely an upgrade from the Deko; root pass judged pretty good for the most part with a little inconsistency, nice looking cap and smooth bead; broke at around 4,500 lb along with the other three non-budget welders under this test's 130 amp cap

a lot of spatter and continued poor penetration on the root pass per Joe's feedback due to insufficient current, though the root pass itself was also described as running better with only a little heat fluctuation; broke well under 3,000 lb along with the S7, both at a major disadvantage from being unable to reach the full 130 amp cap

struggled to maintain an arc and gave up several times, insufficient current for good penetration per Joe's feedback, though it was still described as running a fairly decent pass; broke well under 3,000 lb along with the Ssimder, both at a major disadvantage from being unable to reach the full 130 amp cap

a couple of light taps and the welder was laying down a weld, easy start

made very easy work of rusty metal with a smooth, steady arc

performed by far the best yet, lighting up after a couple of bumps

very easy to get going with a very stable arc

needed a couple of extra taps to strike an arc but did a great job once going

took even more effort than the S7 to start the weld, the worst of all brands on this test

took a lot of effort to get going and did not like the rusty metal

completed the full 5 minutes without shutting down or overheating

completed the full 5 minutes without shutting down or overheating

has overload protection and shut down safely at 3 minutes 49 seconds, more than twice as long as the Ssimder before it, described as surviving the test

completed the full 5 minutes without shutting down or overheating

completed the full 5 minutes without shutting down or overheating

no overload protection, catastrophic failure at 1 minute 43 seconds into the 5 minute test

skipped entirely; the welder was tripping its 20 amp breaker in under a minute, so the full 5 minute test was not attempted