Tools & Fabrication - Where to buy a welder

I'm going to buy a welder here shortly. Where is the best place to buy one?

I'm thinking I'm going to buy the Millermatic 175 or Lincoln sp175plus. Any comments good, bad, or what?
Thanks
Derek

It's hard to beat Ebay for the Millermatic 175 with free shipping. Look for the guy selling them from Indiana.

I bought a Hobart from Tractor supply. I looked for a while but i liked the fact that they sell a package with everyting you need to start welding. It came with a helmet, tank with argon in it, stand, gloves, wire, and chipping hammer. I am sure it had more but it was a nice package. I dropped like over 700 on it but It will weld up to 1/4 inch. I went with the 220 because I did not want to be restricted and thought I may do some 1/4 inch plate. I think they may have smaller packages like the 175 but the nice thing about hobart is that Miller owns them. The handle even says miller so you know you are getting quality.

Ive got a Hobart 135 at home and for the size of it I am well pleased. You cant go wrong with a miller or hobart. We have a 300 and a 225 miller at work and both are nice. We also have a Lincoln 135 and it isnt much IMO

I got a Hobart from Tractor Supply as well and have had no problems. TSC even has the bottle tank exchange to make it a one stop deal.

I ended up getting a millermatic 175.

Been having fun with it making a welding cart!

I got a Lincoln from Weldingsupply.com. The service was great.

If your going to buy mig welder, always go for lincoln, now if you are going to go with a tig welder then deffinetly go with a miller.

No way... the smaller lincoln wire feed sucks, it's like something cobbled together out of a bolt, stack of washers, spring and a wing nut. I love my Hobart Handler, hate my friend’s Lincoln SP135 (that I probably weld more with then the handler) and find the comprable miller machines a little weird (most of the parts interchange with the handler but the miller has too aggressive a wire speed tracking, Lincoln doesn’t do it at all…)

Miller is the way to go. We have a Millermatic 210 MIG w/ Spool Gun and a Miller Synchrorunner 200 TIG.

I've had my Millermatic 175 for a few months now. I absolutely love it! Got a sweet deal on it on Ebay. The Ebayers name was "weldersadvantage."