Hobart Ez Tig 165i

[Ralph Schuster]

Hey Guy's I am in the market for a portable tig machine and this one caught my eye.I had been thinking about the Miller Maxstar 150 but it was not capable of welding aluminum and to be honest that is part of the reason why I am getting the machine. Anyone have any experience with this machine? If so I would love to here your opinions on it.
Thanks

[DSW]

It's a 230v only machine, so it's not terribly practical as a portable unit unless you know you can get 230v to run it. It's also underpowered for alum. Expect to do 1/8" alum. on max roughly. It also lacks balance control and any advanced functions. In reality it's not a great machine if you are serious about making money.

A better choice would be Millers Dynasty 200. More money, but a lot more options for someone who's serious about doing this sort of work.

[BurningMetal]

I don't have experience with it, but Hobart makes nice equipment. Basically, that unit is the same as the Miller Diversion 165, but the HObart comes with a differetn torch andthe foot pedal is standard. Actually, I like the Hobart over the Diversion.

for the same money, you can buy a more powerful Chinese unit.......those are tempting. Though, I'd go for the Hobart over the chinese stuff though. They may be fine, but the lack of service and dealers scares the crap out of me on the chinese stuff.

as someone else said, you will be limited to about 1/8" for most materials with the Hobart, but if you aren't building big structural stuff, you should be fine. for example, if you wanted to build a set of custom turbo setup on your car, the Hobart would be perfect for you.