Lincoln Maverick 325x

[Pressure_Welder]

Good day everyone, been debating getting into a new machine as of late for a couple reasons. Mostly to be getting back into something with warranty, change of pace, and making use of an asset while its still an asset. Ive been running a 2016 trailblazer 325D with excel that i bought new in 2016 and its been a fantastic machine. Just recently had its first major repair, an aluminum bar of sorts cracked, all replaced and all good now. But had a bit of a scare well call it, technician said i got extremely lucky as 90% of machines he sees with this cracked bar, it takes PC1 with as it shorts out. Repair would've been over 10G at that point, and that's about 95% of the value on the machine or more. Quite honestly i likely wouldn't have repaired it at that price point. So now that its running well again i am debating moving it. These things just cost so damn much to repair now!

I have 3 machines on the consideration list:

Vantage 322
Big Blue 400
Maverick 325x

Anyway i was curious if anyone has any experience with the new maverick 325x? It seems like the trailblazers direct competitor, same kubota diesel engine. But I would venture to say it does pass the traiblazer by a fair amount with features/capability. You can get 400 amps at 60 out of it so you can actually run a 5/16" carbon. It actually has quite alot of cool features, case is sound deadening so it seems whisper quiet, has auto start feature which i am unsure about, but i think would be handy. Similar to a car at a stop light. But you can set it to shut down after 10 minutes of no welding and all you have to do to restart it is touch your electrode to work piece, or hit your trigger on grinder. I did a compare/contrast on lincolns website with the vantage 322 and quite frankly other than having the low speed higher end kubota engine, the 325x actually almost destroys the 322 vantage in every aspect. For 7 grand more i do believe the vantage has been removed from my list.

It makes it difficult to make these sorts of purchases as these machines just dont exist at the dealerships to look at and try. Its such a new machine i may be lucky to get opinons on it but thought i would try. My dealer, while amazing, the best he can do is read me the pamphlet lol. Didnt know if there was some real world experience out there yet!

take care

[Welder Dave]

I haven't looked up the machine but sounds like Lincoln's answer to the Miller's Excel power is shutting the machine off. Similar to auto start/shut off on vehicles. There can be times where you need to do other things between welding but not sure how shutting off and restarting will affect starter, battery and engine life. Vehicles typically have an oil pump to keep the engine lubricated in auto shut off mode, heavier duty starters and better batteries. High speed diesels are quite loud too.

[welding1]

I have a Miller BB 400 w/ a Cat motor, no problems and its been around for a while plus Millers customer support is top notch.

[Pressure_Welder]

I wish you could still get the cat motor that would be awesome! and yes i agree miller support is really good. I did a comparison between the BB 400 pro and this new Maverick 325x and its almost identical in every aspect of capabilities, only difference is 400A at 100%. But in reality how often does anyone run a continuous 400 amps, if you are. your probably in the coal belt and running a 600 air vantage lol. For me being the specs are so damn close the only draw is the low speed diesel. And i am not sure its worth the additional 7 grand. I am not sure where this maverick is supposed to compete, because its quite a ways above a trailblazer as well.