Hobart 500554001 Handler 190 with SpoolRunner 100

There's a lot about this machine I like, and not much to complain about. I am a welder by trade, and have worked with much heavier duty machines exclusively. But I wanted something simple and easy for around the farm and hobby that wouldn't intimidate my wife or friends if they wanted to weld with me.This is a perfect machine for the job. It has an instruction booklet and came with a sample roll of flux core wire for steel welding. I ordered a 10 pound roll separately of MIG wire and a small roll of aluminum 4043 wire used that instead. Worked like a charm right out of the box. They have an awesome chart that on the inner panel door of the machine that tells you welding parameters for size, type of metal, process of welding, and weld polarity. I had to check out the chart to see what the settings are for the machine since they don't display voltage, it's just a stepped number system (I might write in the voltages on my machine just to help myself out later).I have yet to do a bend test with this machine, but I have confidence it would pass. I've only had it a month now, but the build quality seems great, and I'm happy with my purchase.The only thing I didn't like about it is:It's not that lightweight. But hey, it's a transformer machine, they're tried and true. It's still light enough to load up I'd need be, just not in comparison to one of the inverter machines. But I bought it to stay on a rolling cart, so I'm not worried about that.I definitely recommend it, as it's worth its price. And it's a good learner machine since it's MIG. I feel a can have fun with some weekend projects using this machine with friends who will be learning.

I bought this Hobart 190 Handler with Spool Runner 100 to ugrade from my small 130Amp mig welder of a different prominent blue colored brand of welder. The difference was night and day!I started out on an aluminum MIG welding project. I had never done Aluminum before and I found the spoolrunner very easy to use for even a beginner, and the performance and weld quality was good after I wrked with it for awhile. The suggested settings on the machine for all materials are "close". I also found the spoolrunner a very well designed and high quality piece, but read the instructions!!! Seriously.The best part (even better than the spool gun) is the steel welding capability.This is the night and day part. The very first steel bead I layed with this machine was the best weld bead I had ever put down in my life. The suggested settings were PERFECT. The wirefeed stability is PERFECT. The arc stability I found to be nearly as good as your average Lincoln, which is saying alot! Due to the good arc and accurate settings, the penetration on this is superb on mild steel.I like the 10ft Cable on the MIG torch. Thats a good length to have.I also welded some stainless already (with the wrong gas in a pinch) and this thing worked very nicely.I was worried at first because I couldnt load .024 wire into the machine, the smallest it takes is .030". But nevermind. It welds perfect beautiful welds with .030, even on thin small sheet metal on the #1 setting. I'll never need to go back to .024" wire.This package is absolutley a killer good deal for the money. I love that it is good build quality and Made in USA. I love the versatility of the machine (MIG Aluminum and Steel). I will be a Hobart user for a very long time.-JoeGermantown, WI

This Hobart Handler 190 is an excellent welder. I use Welding City ER70S-6 mild steel .030 wire. I have only used spool-gun once on a small aluminum crack repair. The spool worked great. I am looking forward to seeing how it does on a larger job. I have used the steel stinger quite a bit on paper thin steel up to three inches thick by now. It runs stringer beads just fine. Easy to adjust wire speed and heat while running out of position with an assistant to adjust while welding. It would be nice if there was a remote or foot pedal available. I compared Hobart to Miller and the Hobart has higher ratings on everything with a like sized Miller. The Miller machine price is much higher, with unnecessary electronic readouts and fancy auto-settings. This Hobart in my opinion is more for the professional that knows how to set the machine with less gizmos in the machine to break. A salesman will tell you different, don't listen they just want you to buy the higher priced Miller. I have used Hobart since the seventies and I am quite a fan of of Hobart welding machines. So this review may be a little biased towards Hobart. Yes I know Hobart is owned by Miller.

Alright so first I should tell you before this welder I have only welded a dozen times with a junk Longevity stick welder and I had terrible results. I finally decided to step up and buy a descent welder and learn how to weld. I've had this for 4 days now and I have to say WOW. I was able to set this up with the flux core wire and weld descent. I tried everything from sheet metal up to 1/2 iron plate and welding was a breeze and easy. The construction seems to be very good quality and this is a pretty heavy unit. It comes with the spool gun and gas manifold, basically everything you need except gas. I was just able to weld a 5/16 tongue sandwiched between 3/16 deck plate surrounded by 1/4 angle iron and it welded very nicely given my lack on knowledge and experience. I highly recommend anyone who has an interest in welding to give this machine a try. I will update again once I have some more experience. I have used the spool of wire that came with it and will be picking up more shortly to finish up this little project. Overall as of right now 5*'s.