As far as I know they will give you identical control, but in my opinion the finger control is a lot harder to use. I did some welding with a 150STH with the finger control and it was difficult to use. I ended putting it in lift arc mode which I was a lot more comfortable with. With the 17 torch and a regular #8 cup the torch is pretty big, and trying to adjust the amperage without inducing some movement at the tungsten is difficult without practice. With some practice it probably wouldn't be that bad, and if you used a stubby gas lens it might be even easier.

It would be nice to have both - pedal for regular work and finger control for places you cant get the pedal. If you can only have one, I would go for the pedal, and use lift arc when you can't use the pedal.

 

I believe you can get a slide style control from ck worldwide nicer than the miller rotery style, it's more for out of position work, they cone in handy, if they don't make the six pin style for the 150 the 14 pin works with adaptor from miller, I belive it's for a mm200 6pin to 14 pin controls

 

Foot pedal nice for consistent placement like bench work. I have never used finger control, however I have used the foot pedal as between the knees pedal, under a knee pedal, side of foot pedal, elbow pedal and head pedal, while working on site. I can only imagine if amp control is needed then finger control would have its place. I stopped using amp control onsite for my repairs and installs, I have not missed it. Also, foot pedal provides an extra loose cable to manage.

 

Ive had both. Finger control on my STL and didnt like it. It took 3-4 rolls to ramp up and ramping down was tough. Works just like a foot pedal. Roll it on, touch metal(stl lift arc) and pull away then ramp up, is how I did it. I belive they just came out with a new style of hand remote. There is also the on/off remote they have. Not sure how that works with stl but ai know the sth has different trigger settings and it has a preset ramp up and down.
I have the foot pedal on my new STH and its much easier to use, especially standing or sitting at a bench. Its tough when kneeling on the ground or laying down.

 

I've used a few different finger controls and I'm not a fan of anything with a rheostat. It's extremely difficult to adjust your heat on the fly with a finger control, regardless if it's a wheel or slider. Some of the sliders I've used were so hard to get it out of the off detent that there was no way to keep your tungsten in position when you finally get it to click to on. I think the wheels are slightly better, but either way, it forces you to keep your grip a certain way instead of allowing you to hold the torch in different ways. The only finger controls I like are the microswitch ones where its just on/off. It basically makes it scratch start without the scratching. I've seen a lot of cheap machines that even have 2T/4T which is perfect for a microswitch activated torch.

 

Well thank you all for your insight, it is amazing what you learn on here from those in the welding trenches.