Welding Tips and Tricks

i am considering getting a tig welder but dont know where to start. i am an artist and use a mig or oxy/acet now. most of what i do is with copper and i braze a lot. the tig seems to do very nice welds and some of my projects need nice clean welds.
i have seen tig welders at harhor frieght for as little as $239 but all of miller, lincoln etc are over $1000 so whats up. i know usually your get what you pay for but as a none professional harbor frieght tools have done nicely for me.
thanks...

Check out everlast welders. Bout the middle of the road in terms of price, but I have to to hear a bad review about em.
http://www.everlastgenerators.com/produ ... ry-58.html

They are actually coming out with a 265 model...same gear but lower price. I think it was like 700 bucks. I saw the specs for it but I guess its not on the website yet...might have to wait a week or too.

in all honesty..buy something you can resell if tig welding doesnt work out...buy a used miller dynasty 200 or a used miller maxstar 200 ....maxstar is around $1200 used and dynasty is $2800 used...both are top of the line welders and ultra small but pack a HUGE punch..dont let the size fool you...i use a dynasty200 for heavy production work and its effin amazing....

sure the everlast welders are cool..but if you dont work out with tig welding....gonna be a real bitch to resell it for what you have into it..miller...holds its value..

i bought a digital syncrowave about 7 months ago full runner with water cooler for about $2200, i sold it 2 weeks ago for.....$2200 used it free for 7 months