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I paid $713 out the door less bottle for my Millermatic 175 kit in 05', came with a decent cart, 2lb flux wire and regulator. I bought a 150 cubic foot bottle for I think $170. I have gone through plenty of 10 lb .035 wire. I did get a better regulator for it. the one it came with was a econo unit. I kept gouging my nuckle on the lenze cover every time I would open the bottle so I bought a good Victor unit, one that has better lenzes that I dont hit my nuckle on.
so I dont think that is a great deal your looking at. I paid about that for a new machine and bottle. 175 or 185 not much difference in power.
Fred, Miller makes good stuff. They are one of the best welders you can get. I have a Miller 135 and I love it. It works great for most welding projects for the backyard user. For production or alot of use it doesn't have the duty cycle necessary to keep up with heavy welding for long periods. The nice part about the 135 is it runs on 110v.
US Door Purchased a Miller 175 welder a few months back for me & Scott Henry to use in the field. It is very similar to the 135 I have but it is run on 220v & has a better duty cycle. Scott & myself have done alot of heavy welding with it with good success. We spent several days welding 1/4" plate to 3/8" plate in Indio in 110* heat. We never reached the duty cycle of the machine. We did overheat the handheld trigger assembly but never the machine. I totally love this welder. It has the power to burn through most anything but is still somewhat portable if necessary. We have a generator to run ours for portable use. The step above the Miller 175 is the big dawg Miller 251 which is similar to the Lincoln Finelli just got.
The Miller 251 is the king, but the Miller 175 still does a damn fine job. You can't go wrong with Miller IMHO so shop for the best price. Regulators are included with Miller welders so don't factor that into your costs.