New Green welders at harbor freight

[redm18]

Was shopping my local store and saw them setting up a new display for these new green Titan welders they had three different models a 140 mig a 170 mig and some sort of multi process machine. Didn't really get to look at them close though because they were just getting them set up. Guy said he didn't know how much they were going to be sold for either but said harbor freight is getting a ton of new stuff including lawn mowers.

 

[redm18]

I guess I was wrong about the name its titanium https://m.harborfreight.com/mig-170-welder-with-120240-volt-input-64805.html

 

[sberry]

IT used to be off brand was junk, it has come of age. That is a perfect clone,

Miller copied that. Ha

 

[ChrisLS8]

You can see they want to be taking seriously in the welding field with all this expansion recently. There are 2 Ironworkers at my jobsite with Vulcans for the small work and they like em

 

[sberry]

Tractor Supply and Hobart are going to lose some to this. The stock and displays in some of the stores is pitiful, HF wont have to work too hard to beat up on it.

 

[speed bump]

I'm slightly curious about Harbor Freights marketing philosophy. It seems like they are throwing everything at the wall branding and marketing wise and seeing what sticks.

I am sure I will stare at one of these a little too hard one day and might consider it if I need a cheap welder quickly. Right now it is hard to get excited about buying any branded products from HF because I am certain they will be down to one or two branding lines in a year or two and I don't want to pick the wrong one.

 

[American Locomotive]

Yeah, it's a little bizarre. HF has what, 5 different brands of cordless power tools now? Hercules, Bauer, Warrior, Chicago Electric and DrillMaster all have cordless drills. The amount of overlap between these brands is ridiculous. It really does seem like they are just going to every faceless tool company in China and buying everything they can.

Now you have these "Titanium" welders that are supposed to slot in between their Vulcan and Chicago Electric welders.

Plus, every single one of these newer "premium" brands they introduce gets added to the "excluded brands list" on their coupons. They're going to quickly lose their "value" proposition, especially when their infamous super-coupons get to the point where they're only valid on rubber bands and carpenter's pencils.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I guess I was wrong about the name its titanium https://m.harborfreight.com/mig-170-welder-with-120240-volt-input-64805.html

That Mig 170 is tempting, $499 for a dual voltage machine? I've been wanting to start learning MIG, might have to look into that one.

 

[redm18]

That Mig 170 is tempting, $499 for a dual voltage machine? I've been wanting to start learning MIG, might have to look into that one.

Yeah for sure. I think it would be a good upgrade to my 135 amp machine.

 

[redm18]

Grabbed some pictures of the 170 mig and the multi process machine. It is really hard to tell them apart other than stickers and an additional switch on the front of the multi process.

 

[zendriver]

Well, maybe for as much as people are obsessed with "brand names" Harbor freight has become smart enough to pick upon it and use it and then move on to something else.

Besides, other than our egos, what difference does it make?

They don't do warranty service and they don't have spare parts available, other than Tips.

Buy a "Vulcan" use it till it craps out throw it in the scrap pile and get something else.

If it happens to be a "titanium" who cares? If the new product is quality, word gets out pretty fast.



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[xin]

NEW name as they are disposable and people are dumb enough to keep buying it.

As hard as it is to earn money, I hardly see value in buying something a few hundred less then having to buy it again and again...

So spin the wheel over in CHINA and put a new name/sticker on it!!!

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Well, maybe for as much as people are obsessed with "brand names" Harbor freight has become smart enough to pick upon it and use it and then move on to something else.

Besides, other than our egos, what difference does it make?

It separates you from the bad name of our previous brand, for a year or two anyway.

 

[xin]

It separates you from the bad name of our previous brand, for a year or two anyway.

Still a LOT of money for a disposable unit one throws away.

 

[American Locomotive]

Still a LOT of money for a disposable unit one throws away.

It's not even worth arguing with him about this sort of thing. I've done it many times before. To some people, a $600-1000 tool is "disposable" and not "worth" repairing if it breaks.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

NEW name as they are disposable and people are dumb enough to keep buying it.

As hard as it is to earn money, I hardly see value in buying something a few hundred less then having to buy it again and again...

So spin the wheel over in CHINA and put a new name/sticker on it!!!

What if you don’t have to buy it again and again? Myself and several guys on here have the AHP AlphaTig200x TIG welder for about $750. I couldn’t afford to spend $2000 on a Miller for my first TIG welder. It’s already paid for itself and been going strong for three years.

 

[zendriver]

It's not even worth arguing with him about this sort of thing. I've done it many times before. To some people, a $600-1000 tool is "disposable" and not "worth" repairing if it breaks.

I had an adequate solution, but it is largely ignored.

Buy two Vulcan welders. If and when the first one needs parts, put the new one in service and put the first one in the back room, as a "parts queen.

You will have two welders, that will still cost less than one similar Miller, plus most parts right on hand.

Frankly, I expect to see American manufacturers, eventually following suite, with the throwaways, especially for products they have imported.

Drill models and the corresponding technology seem to change every six months. What a pain-in-the-***, to stock parts for every drill, for what most people will want to pitch anyway.

Sure a Miller welder is $1200 and up, but stocking repair parts for the next 30 years, and maybe selling a $27 part, verses having the user buy a new welder, during that time?

Great customer service, but what kind of profitable business model, is that in the 21st century?

 

[trackwelder]

I had an adequate solution, but it is largely ignored.

Buy two Vulcan welders. If and when the first one needs parts, put the new one in service and put the first one in the back room, as a "parts queen.

You will have two welders, that will still cost less than one similar Miller, plus most parts right on hand.

Frankly, I expect to see American manufacturers, eventually following suite, with the throwaways, especially for products they have imported.

Drill models and the corresponding technology seem to change every six months. What a pain-in-the-***, to stock parts for every drill, for what most people will want to pitch anyway.

Sure a Miller welder is $1200 and up, but stocking repair parts for the next 30 years, and maybe selling a $27 part, verses having the user buy a new welder, during that time?

Great customer service, but what kind of profitable business model, is that in the 21st century?

What are the chances of the Second unit crapping out just like the first? Most likely the board or drive unit would go.

 

[ChrisLS8]

I had an adequate solution, but it is largely ignored.

Buy two Vulcan welders. If and when the first one needs parts, put the new one in service and put the first one in the back room, as a "parts queen.

You will have two welders, that will still cost less than one similar Miller, plus most parts right on hand.

Frankly, I expect to see American manufacturers, eventually following suite, with the throwaways, especially for products they have imported.

Drill models and the corresponding technology seem to change every six months. What a pain-in-the-***, to stock parts for every drill, for what most people will want to pitch anyway.

Sure a Miller welder is $1200 and up, but stocking repair parts for the next 30 years, and maybe selling a $27 part, verses having the user buy a new welder, during that time?

Great customer service, but what kind of profitable business model, is that in the 21st century?

People don't understand the overhead of stocking parts for their obsolete tools. Sure they may be solid but the influx of new products defeats the purpose in a disposable age.

When I worked for Ford I would always get the old time greasehead who was shocked we couldnt get new hoses for his 43 year old pickup despite making "millions" of them. Or if I could find something with Vintage parts or whatnot they would balk at the cost of buying the NOS part

 

[850xpeps]

That looks like my everlast welder lol same color and all.

 

[zendriver]

What are the chances of the Second unit crapping out just like the first? Most likely the board or drive unit would go.

Honestly, I don't know about the failure rates of welder components. The MIG and stick welder I have had experience with, never have needed any parts, their entire life.

Are the Millers prone to failure, in those areas, thus justifying having the availability of parts? I don't know. They have a large Lincoln MIG at work. It just welds.

I have he Migmax, but have not had a chance to use it yet. I'll have to see how it holds out. Something might break, but I doubt, I'll wear it out.

 

[American Locomotive]

Buy two Vulcan welders. If and when the first one needs parts, put the new one in service and put the first one in the back room, as a "parts queen.

You will have two welders, that will still cost less than one similar Miller, plus most parts right on hand.

A Vulcan Multiprocess welder is $900, not $400. A Lincoln PowerMig 210 can be had for $1,000 with the rebate they offer almost year-round. Even without the rebate it's $1400, which is still far less than double the equivalent Vulcan.

People don't understand the overhead of stocking parts for their obsolete tools. Sure they may be solid but the influx of new products defeats the purpose in a disposable age.

I don't need to understand it, because the manufacturer deals with it.

 

[oldwino]

Yeah but I bet they beat Miller in future ads

 

[gungatim]

the thing with welders like that is parts. my firs MIG was an italian unit from Autoworks, branded "multi-mig". It took odd sized tips and metric fittings for gas lines (like pex) and an impossible to find regulator. That made it difficult to keep using for long.

when I graduated to a Hobart Handler 175, which i've been using for close to 20 yrs, the unit died right after warranty was up. it needed a new circuit board, and it was around $80 for a new one direct from a LWS that carried Hobart. this year, the gun/liner finally wore out and wouldn't feed. I got a brand new gun (longer than original) with tips for around $89 off amazon...plug and play.

point is, eventually all welders will need service, circuit boards and guns don't last forever. will you be able to service these in 5 years? do they take standard parts?

if not you're just buying a new machine. I see their current HH190 equiv. is around $679 (mine was only $540 on sale when I first bought it), which is not much more than what HF wants for theirs and should be servicable for quite a while...i'd stick with a name brand, and i'm not a HF basher by any means...

 

[gearhead1]

the thing with welders like that is parts. my firs MIG was an italian unit from Autoworks, branded "multi-mig". It took odd sized tips and metric fittings for gas lines (like pex) and an impossible to find regulator. That made it difficult to keep using for long.

when I graduated to a Hobart Handler 175, which i've been using for close to 20 yrs, the unit died right after warranty was up. it needed a new circuit board, and it was around $80 for a new one direct from a LWS that carried Hobart. this year, the gun/liner finally wore out and wouldn't feed. I got a brand new gun (longer than original) with tips for around $89 off amazon...plug and play.

point is, eventually all welders will need service, circuit boards and guns don't last forever. will you be able to service these in 5 years? do they take standard parts?

if not you're just buying a new machine. I see their current HH190 equiv. is around $679 (mine was only $540 on sale when I first bought it), which is not much more than what HF wants for theirs and should be servicable for quite a while...i'd stick with a name brand, and i'm not a HF basher by any means...

I think the same way. I'm not a HF basher either, but it just doesn't make sense for some things.