Thank you for sharing your opinions, exactly what I asked for and I appreciate the discussion. As I said, I am not a welder and the more I hear the better. The only welding I've been involved with was tubular steel aircraft frames and engine mounts with oxygen/acetylene being the method of choice. I've had to pay someone to weld for me when needed and if I'd bought a welder and learned how to use it five years ago I would have saved enough to pay for it more than a couple times. I don't have a pal that will come over with a welder and do what I need then have a couple of beers while we talk about cars, so it's about time I learned. Not only for use on my car but all the other machinery I have as well. I thought the dual voltage may be an advantage just in case I had to use it when there was no access to 220 volts, and the stick/mig feature may be worth an extra hundred bucks, but I still don't want to pay for a feature I may never use. According to the spec sheets the Thermal arc has a higher output than a comparable Miller or Lincoln but I've also learned, the hard way, you generally get what you pay for. That's why I'm asking and thanks again for the answers.
