Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi All,

New to the site but have been watching Jody's utube vidios for a while. I have seen all his model comparisons and many others, the one thing they have in common is that none of them seem to talk about the on thing that keeps many people from buying them, customer service. Most of the comparisons have good things to say about the Chinese tig welders but when you go on line to buy them and read the reviews it's always the same, worked great for a while, loved it at first, etc etc. then something happens and they can't get it fixed or if lucky enough they will finally replace it, months later. What is the truth! That's what stops me from buyin one of these models.

The truth is, people’s experiences differ. Some have problems with major brands, others not. Some like vanilla, some chocolate. The premise of “Chinese welders” connotes cheap quality control. Not always true. With any mass produced item, especially an electronic one, there’s bound to be bad or defective units regardless of the brand. Even “American” manufacturers have heaps of recalls on their products.

The most compelling reason to buy an import welder is price. If your budget won’t tolerate a major brand, buy what you can afford. If the service let’s you down, that’s the risk or you replace it. You may still be ahead financially, you may not. If the machine is for production/livelihood, I would tend to buy a machine I can have serviced locally for better turnaround on repairs.

The "truth" as I see it. Many Chinese machines are brought here by eBay importers.

An importer is not a manufacturer and generally does not have parts or service. If lucky, you'll get another machine and may pay shipping on it too.

Some machines get bought straight from China by consumers for rediculous low prices like $200 for a 250 amp machine.
Warranty claims include the consumer paying to ship it back to China.

An international company like Jasic (razorweld here in the US) has been in the game a long time. Much better odds of a quality product and getting support.

I prefer big names like ESAB, Thermal Arc, Lincoln, Miller.
I've owned, or still own, each of those.
But I'll consider Jasic/razorweld next time too. Repair people that I respect have said good things about them

Welcome to the forum.

One way to approach buying an off shore brand is to buy through Home Depot. They carry AHP and Everlast, for instance, and you may be able to avoid shipping charges with the "ship to store for free" option. If the machine is DOA (it happens, with both foreign and domedtic makes) within 30 days return it to the store, maybe pick up a replacement on that same trip. Deal eith a human, face to face, and not a phone queue. Not sure how they would handle warranty claims, might be worth looking into.

Thank you all for your responses, much appreciated. I will probably end up buying a Lincoln or Miller which are obviously great machines but for me piece of mind is worth a few bucks.