230 amps is better......assuming the hobart is 210 max. I don't know anything about the hobart (they are a miller brand as far as I know) but I have the miller 211 which is 120/240 and I use the 150 spool gun. My brother has the 220 that will do stick and aluminum tig. My tig machine is a miller 330 abp.........a 460 amp monster that is sine wave only.
I have repaired aluminum horse trailers with my machine, at a ranch. Normally, I run on 240v whenever possible, but I forgot the stupid adapter for 240v one day. It did 1/8" aluminum on 120v without a problem. 3/8" steel is a cakewalk and I tested a short section of 1/2" when I bought it. I was so excited that I didn't realize it was 1/2" steel until I looked at the nice weld and didn't see the discoloration on the back side.
When I built the water table for my cnc plasma table, I used 1/8" aluminum angle and welded 3/8" aluminum round stock pins to the side of the angle to hold the steel slats upright. The tig put too much heat into the angle and warped it. There was a gap to fill with round to flat material and I need to get in and out to reduce heat. The spoolgun was great for that.
It ***** that the miller doesn't come with a 15' mig gun instead of the 10'. They sale the longer one separate only, so I have never used the short gun on mine. I also upgraded the work cable to 4ga and 25 feet to match the length of the spool gun and I have a ground hog clamp on it. 3 of the 80 cu ft bottles work best for gas. One 75/25, one straight argon, and one trimix for stainless steel.
The miller 211 or 220 are the perfect all purpose mig or multipurpose machines. I have done a bunch of fabrication projects and jobs with mine. After looking at the hobart you listed, it says it does up to 3/8" but doesn't list amperage. It also looks like a transformer machine. The miller is an inverter so it is much lighter weight and my 211 has autoset and infinitely adjustable voltage. The autoset works on all metals and with the spool gun as well. It is pretty much always close enough that I can use the auto settings and just set the thickness. For mig welding steel, I often run hot with thicker settings and just move faster. The 220 has a digital setup with a screen and it actually lists voltage and speed, but has auto set as well. I wish mine listed them on the dials, but I'm not hung up on knowing the numbers since I usually only use my own equipment. Making fast adjustments so I can get stuff built is a huge plus. It is common for me to work on various thickness materials for one project and I would much rather turn a dial than check a chart and remember the most common ones I use.
The miller 211 is the luxury model of what you are looking at and the 215 adds dc tig and the 220 adds ac tig. When I bought the 211, the 215 and 220 didn't yet exist. My brother bought the 220 after using my 211, even though he already had the 252 (with spoolgun). He wanted a portable machine that would run off a generator along with aluminum tig capability. The 220 is certainly heavier and a little taller (looks like the 210mvp) than the 211 but it would be nice to have the display and tig options. With that said, I still love the 211. My only regret is not having a 240v mig sooner, but I am glad I ended up with an inverter machine since I have neck and back problems that cause constant pain/discomfort.
I would be lost without my tig machine, but at 1,000 pounds, it doesn't leave the shop and lacks any kind of wave form control. A dynasty 280 would be great, but most of my work is on steel and not at a high enough volume to afford $8-10k for one. It is great to be able to choose which process to use and to use both on the same project since they have their own strengths and weaknesses. Tig is great for tacking sheet steel, welds without filler, and when a small hot bead is needed.
skip the syncroweld or syncrowave? As in not buying one or getting rid of one you already have? The miller 220 has some adjustments for the ac tig, but I don't know how they compare to the syncrowave. I learned tig on my machine and a syncrowave in college 20 years ago and haven't used a syncrowave since.
