IRONMAN 250 vs MM212

[ash]

Ready to buy a new welder. Have it narrowed down to either the hobart ironman 250 or the millermatic 212. What are the pros and cons? Eveyone seems to compare the mm212 to the im210 saying they are not even close, so how does the 250 and 212 compare?

[Dan]

Output power wise the IM 250 and the 7 tap MM 212 are going to be similar. In the area of duty cycle the IM 250 is more robust. The 212 has the superior wire drive.

Honestly the 7 tap design of the IM 250 really doesn't offer enough output ranges to choose from to do a good job of cover the output power range the unit is designed to cover.

I'd look at a MM212 with Auto-Set over a IM 250. Not for the auto-set feature though. Instead for the larger range of control the variable voltage provides, over the limited number of taps selections the IM 250 offers you..

[ash]

The welding shop i went to had a 7 tap mm212. Is the autoset a new option? Alot more money i suppose?

[Dan]

The MM 212 with Auto-set is a new Millermatic unit that Miller hasn't fully released nation wide yet.

Looks like right around $1500 for MM212 with Auto-set

http://store.cyberweld.com/mimigwe.html

[ash]

I like that autoset mm212. Local shop told me $1550 for regular mm212 and $1349 for hobart ironman 250. Very seldom will i ever need to weld 1/2" steel but will that mm212 still handle it?

[ace4059]

I like that autoset mm212. Local shop told me $1550 for regular mm212 and $1349 for hobart ironman 250. Very seldom will i ever need to weld 1/2" steel but will that mm212 still handle it?

Yes, just use multi passes and it will be no problem. My 350P will weld 1/2" in single pass, But do I hardly ever do it? NO. For 3/8" I run multi passes with the 350P, because once you get into the heat input for a single pass on anything thicker, you are trying to control a really large puddle. So I just bevel, run hot, but still use multi passes.