Miller and Hobart are made in the same facility....Hobart on the left and Miller on the right (that last part is just a guess...but you get the idea). I know a couple people that have bought Hobart Migs, and when they show up they have a Hobart welder with a miller gun....haha.

 

hobart is millers retail side. i pretty much got a hobart salesman to tell me that hobart is a cheaper made miller. miller is more geared to comercial and hobart to smaller shops and homeowners.

 

Miller and Hobart are indeed both made in the same factory. But the Millermatic line often includes features/benefits not available on the Hobart line. It's not that the Hobart is made more "cheaply", it is just not meant as a production line welder.

 

Hypertherm is the way to go. I had our local Lincoln rep tell me that if he was going to buy a plasma cutter, that he'd get a Hypertherm because they're a better value. Every shop that I've ever worked in has run Hypertherms and I've never seen them have problems.

Personally, I'd rather have a good band saw than a plasma cutter.

 

Hypertherm is the way to go.

Ditto... Hypertherm 900 is a nice machine the 600 is really good too.

 

I was at the Miller dealership when I bought my Millermatic 210 and was asking about a plasma torch. The salesman tod me that Hypertherm was the best. I found a slightly used Hypertherm 600 on ebay. It's a geat machine, have had no problems with it. But it don't have a built in air compressor.