I've had mine a couple weeks now and love it. To qualify, it's essentially my first "real" welder, but my first bead looked far better than anything I've done on the HF machines I've had. I definitely have the wobble in the wire drive that's been mentioned. I don't know if it's something I need to address with Lincoln or the LWS or not. Plenty of people have reported trying to get the issue resolved without getting a permanent fix, and it doesn't seem to affect the output.
In hindsight, I'd have skipped the spool gun. You don't save much, and it sounds like for many this is a first welder, personally I'll be working with steel for a while until I become proficient at it, then I'll get 100% argon and bust out the gun down the road. The extra $200 could've gone to consumables or stock.
For those for whom this is a first mig machine, don't forget to set your gas regulator. I did, and was wasting gas for the first couple of days.
I wish I could give more helpful feedback for those considering this machine, but any evaluation I could make would be like a cave man reviewing modern appliances. Suffice it to say, it was a big bite to take, and I don't regret it at all.
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Thanks for the update, that was great.
I've ordered one and should have it in a week or so, maybe two. I asked about the wobble in the wire drive and the LWS hasn't heard of any issues. On other forums guys were saying there was a plastic piece that gets somewhat deformed that cause things to be out of round. Not sure how accurate this info is though.
This will be my first welder as well and I opted for the TIG kit. I was going to get one next year, but here in Canada the kit will jump up to $990.00. Getting the kit now costs $600.00 so the savings are considerable. The welder is also going up be almost $160.00 very shortly.