At that price range, they're likely all the same.....as they say, "they're all coming from the same factory, same production line, except the paint job/brand name is painted differently at the end of the assembly line".
I saw the same exact thing with my super cheap inverter stick welders from Tooliom. The "195" put out about 160A on 240V. The "135" put out 115A on 240V and about 95A on 120V. Don't get me wrong, if
you know how to weld, you will be able to weld with these machines (except with E6010s), but if you don't, you don't know what you don't know, and thus won't know what is what. Hopefully you do already know how to weld. Some issues namely:
- Amperage display and rating is over rated by a lot (as you can see from that snapshot from Amazon; TB1717 on YouTube has tested these and has documented this evidence)
- Cables are CCA, and not OFC copper, which is what they should be (OFC copper for better current transfer)
- Some of the stingers do not have actual copper/brass jaws. They use copper/brass plated steel jaws.
All of that summed together spell d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r for a beginner welder. That said, they will still "work", just not as nice as a
good welder with good
quality accessories. Surprisingly, there are some on Amazon/Ebay that have sort of caught-on to us that have have caught-on to
them the distributors (I hesitate to call them "manufacturers, lol); some claim that their welders do actually put out the amperage that they are rated at, which is unheard of for a
real welding machine to have to state such a fact. In a good welder, it is assumed that it will, so for them to have to state "
our welders actually put out what they are rated at!" tells you everything about what is going on with some of the cheap machines.
This one from
Hone Arc is one example. Supposedly actually puts out 185A, which if it does, makes it nothing short of stellar with regards to power:cost ratio. Most 200A welders under $200 put out about 150-160A in reality. I'm actually wanting to try it to see if it is really true!
One that has been tested, but is more expensive, is the
Kicking Horse A220. I can't speak for how smooth it is, nor durability, but that little lunchbox puts out 220A!
TB1717 on YouTube tested it out in
this video, and the power output, well, is crazy! If you absolutely need to keep it under $500, that Kicking Horse doesn't look too bad. If you have $500 to spend, the HTP Inverarc 160 Plus DV is the way to go.