This could be a good welder but there are some quality issues. I was drawn in by the great features and reasonable price, this unit also had many good reviews. The experience turned out to be frustrating. So when the welder works it works beautifully but I was not able to get it to run properly for more than a matter of seconds. This did not just happen on one unit but two, I actually returned the first one and gave a second one a shot, I really wanted this to be a great welder. One problem I ran into was inconsistent directions the wire feed roller installation in the pdf contradicts the wire feed diagrams on the inside of the lid. So the roller has two grooves on it, one small one and one lager one, if you turn flat side of the wheel to face you the number on the front of it will correspond with the opposite groove (towards the back). So the PDF directions tell you to put the wheel on with the printed groove size facing outward toward the user. So if you put the 0.8 facing you the small groove would line up with the wire. If you put the 0.6 facing you the larger groove lines up with the wire. Now this is contradictory as there is a diagram on the inside of the lid that shows lining up thicker wires with the thicker groove and thinner wires with the thinner groove, I chose to base my setup off the diagram inside the lid as there is less room for interpretation since it is visual. I used three methods to set up the wire feed, in all cases starting with as little tension as possible and slowly tightening it until either it would feed through a firm pinch between thumb and index finger or would roll off a piece of wood and form approximately a 2 inch loop, or pressure into a piece of wood and go one half turn past no slippage. All methods yielded the same results, the welder would run for 30-45 seconds then start to slip again, this resulted in burn back. I tried to tension the welder enough times that I used an entire ($13) roll of 0.035 flux core wire. I posted my problem on amazon, now I commend the company for reaching out to try and help but their solution was terrible, they wanted me to buy another brand of wire and try it. Now I bought what was locally available to me and it was a name brand (lincoln electric) in my opinion I should not have to go spend more money and if the unit is worth its salt it should run any wire I put in it anyhow, for this I was not willing to continue down that path with the company so I sent the first welder back to amazon, who was wonderful on taking it back.I got a new one in a few days, when I opened the box I noticed minor scuffs on the accessories including bent bristles on the wire brush that the welding gun came with a 0.040 tip installed instead of the 0.025 tip it was supposed to come with so I am convinced I received someone esle's returned unit, this second unit had the exact same problems with the drive feed on it, I now suspect that this is a common problem and people just return the welders and probably don't report it. Pros: This machine has really cool features, it has digital readouts on the adjustments, it has a super easy connection for switching from GMAW to flux core welding, I liked that it had an all metal drive feed mechanism, build quality seemed pretty decent for the most part though the first machine had a metal collar that was on the plug for the connection to the gun trigger that broke immediately when the cable flexed to the side, it was a minor breakage but still a breakage none the less. The gun had pivot joints on the hose that connects it to the unit, it also came with all the parts needed for both flux core and GMAW welding (minus the gas and tanks). The company seems responsive as well. Cons: All those wonderful features are rendered moot when the unit can't run the wire consistently to weld, there seem to be some inherent problems with the drive feed on the machine, I gave it plenty of chances, I even went so far as to try the other groove just in case, there were no fixes and this happened on both machines. Also the second machine was not a new machine, there was evidence of previous use in several spots, I noted on some other posts drive feed issues and people getting used equipment was mentioned. The company while responsive did not give good suggestions. I give the company an "A" for effort on the product but if you get one that does not feed properly it is really frustrating and to have it happen twice even worse. UPDATE 7/6/2017: I replaced this one with a HOBART handler 140 from Tractor Supply that I got on sale for $479.00. Night and day, the Hobart was easy to set up and feeds beautifully, I guess you get what you pay for.
