In the welding industry, metal inert gas (MIG) welders left their mark as the most popular one out of the other welders in the market!
It’s pretty straightforward. You don’t have to worry about where to aim your stick or anything else.
It’s just you, your welding gun, and your machine.
That’s why it’s pretty universal, you know. Be it an experienced welder or a beginner, using a MIG welder guarantees quality (depending on your metal, of course)!
But with how popular it is, there are bound to be all sorts of MIG welders for you to choose from.
So how do you know which ones are the best MIG welders out there?
Well, that’s what you’re here to find out!
Best MIG Welders in 2022
Forney 140 Easy Weld
If you’re just starting as a welder, the Forney 140 Easy Weld is as easy as it can be!
Running at 120 volts, the Forney lets you weld a mild steel sheet measuring up to ¼ inches with 140 amperes.
That might seem small for welders more experienced with big, beefy welders in industrial settings, but this is perfect for beginners or for welders who do gigs after gigs to get by!
And with how it only weighs 19 pounds (or 8 kilograms), you can carry this around, easy-peasy! Even when you have around 2 to 10 pounds (or 5 kilograms) of spool wire!
It doesn’t hurt that you don’t need to take a huge chunk off your savings to get a Forney, too, when it’s just below $400!
However, if you’re looking to use this for practicing back home after studying in your welding school, then you might find this lacking when it can’t weld aluminum.
That’s because, instead of having shielded gas, this goes on purely gasless when it uses flux-core wiring.
On the bright side, it does save you a lot of money when it doesn’t need to be supplied by cylindrical gas. All you’ll need is electricity and wire!
And if something ever goes wrong with your welder, Forney’s got your back with its one-year warranty.
Everlast PowerMIG 200i
If you’ve been in the welding loop for long enough, you probably heard of Everlast already!
Well, here you’ll be seeing one of its MIG welders, the PowerMIG 200i.
And this one boasts Everlasts’s Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) inverter technology!
It sure sounds like a mouthful, but simply put it converts the high voltage it got from utility power and has it stored in a capacitor bank. Then, it switches to a second transformer so it can start doing its work on providing you with the welding current you need!
For the Everlast here, you can see that working when it can switch between two voltages: 110 volts or 220 volts.
By having these two options, you can get it to adapt to whichever thickness your metal has!
Speaking of adapting, compared to Forney only using flux-core, Everlast can be used for both stick welding AND flux-core, too!
This means you can weld aluminum using this guy!
And it’s all a quick changeover to other MIG guns when Everlast comes with a Eurostyle quick connector!
This helpful, little tool is part of the package, as well as a 10-foot series 15 MIG gun, an argon/carbon dioxide regular, a work clamp with cable, and an extra consumable kit for you to start with!
However, be aware that this box of accessories might not be padded well with styrofoam or plastic peanuts.
All of these are only wrapped up in their respective ziplock bags, so if something like that tics you off, then think of this as a heads-up!
Also, this is a touch heavier compared to Forney when it already weighs 35 pounds (or 16 kilograms) by itself. And that’s not even including the 10-pound spool wire, yet!
So, if you think this is too heavy for you, then maybe don’t carry it around as much as you’d do with a Forney.
TOOLIOM 200A MIG Welder
If you’re wondering how to complete the “professional, door-to-door welder” look, then TOOLIOM’s got your back!
With a voltage you can select between 120 and 230 volts, you bet you can have a go with any mild steel sheets measuring from 1/8-inch to 5/32-inch thickness.
But what’s so fancy about this one is its synergic adjustment function!
Instead of having seconds tick by the longer you fiddle with the dials in search of that perfect weld, all you need to do now is tune into the amperage you want to use, and this function adjusts whatever voltage it thinks best fits your current!
The only problem here is the voltage isn’t displayed on a screen like the others, so that’s going to drive anyone nuts, especially if you’re extremely particular with your settings.
On the bright side, though, you have three more options to choose from other than MIG welding!
You got flux-cored, lift TIG (no torch included, however), and the ARC welding.
If you think that’s too much for a small welder, don’t worry!
TOOLIOM uses a “one-button” design for you to navigate through all four choices easily. This way, your control panel won’t be too crowded that it’s impossible to understand anything anymore!
And on top of that, this is the second lightest MIG welder on the list because it only weighs 32 pounds (or 14.5 kilograms), so you’re all good to go to be a portable welder, for sure!
Weldpro MIG200GDsv
A professional welder deserves a MIG welder fittingly called Weldpro!
This is a nice combination between Everlast and TOOLIOM.
Using the IGBT inverter technology exclusive from Weldpro, you can swap it around between its many functions using its one-button design; namely, MIG, lift TIG and stick welding.
Not only that, but you can also switch between 110 and 220 volts, quickly and easily!
Anyway, speaking of functions, Weldpro has the synergic adjustment function for your amperage to complement your voltage in what it deems a perfect match.
However, this “perfect match” might only be perfect for its digital computations and not to your exact tastes because can only get so far, man.
Since you know better than a bunch of electric nonsense, you can fiddle with its one dial until you got that perfect match.
But if something goes wrong with it down the road, Weldpro has a three-year warranty that you can fall back on!
YESWELDER Digital MIG-205DS
If you’re looking for the basics that make up a great MIG welder, well, you have it right in front of you!
YESWELDER’s got your back with its multiple functions. Do you want to change out of MIG for a lift TIG? Want to go with stick welding, instead? Just keep pressing its few buttons on the panel and YESWELDER got you!
Not only can you choose between those three, but there are two voltages at your disposal, too! One’s for 110 volts and the other for 220 volts.
Unless you’re extra specific in fine-tuning your welding, there’s a synergic adjustment function to make life easier on you somewhat and let the machine work on fixing your voltage for you once you got the amperage under control!
One problem here is its casing is not that protected.
Sure, it’s made of metal, but it’s not reinforced enough to handle any rough treatment, so you better take care of this one if you’re going to pick it
How to Choose the Best MIG Welder
Safety First!
In a hands-on job like welding, you’ll need to look out for yourself as much as possible because, well, you need to be there in the flesh to do your job!
Lucky for you, these MIG welders have a ton of safety measures to watch over you!
Of course, every single one of these welders comes with a manual, but that’s not all.
Forney has a little guide inside its door for beginners to check on which voltage is ideal for which amperage, so you have complete control over it.
But if you’re not too keen on fiddling with the knobs to find your perfect weld, there’s always a synergic adjustment function!
Through this feature, whatever voltage you dialed in will have the speed of your wire-eating adapt to it.
Not only that, but you don’t even need to worry about any overheating because some welders keep their components from heating up too much for a smooth performance!
Volt It Up!
“With great power comes great responsibility”, and you get that power through whatever voltage your welder has!
For beginners, around 110 to 120 volts would be enough for you to weld a steel metal sheet as thin as 3/8 inches.
With a voltage that low, you’ll only have a small amount of duty cycle (or how long your welder can function before needing to cool off).
That little power is more to get used to the welding process than anything else.
So, if you’re getting confident with your skills, you can go get yourself an upgrade and double the volts for a longer duty cycle leading to better work productivity!
Lucky for you, most of the welders on this list have dual voltages, so you can switch between low or high depending on the thickness of your metal!
All Work and No Play
So here’s the age-old question: what do you plan for your future?
Are you striving to be a professional welder for a stable job?
Or are you welding as a hobby?
These are questions you need to ask BEFORE getting yourself a welder because this is the starting point for your decision-making.
And this is a pretty big decision to make because you ARE going to spend money on it!
Once you’ve decided which path you’ll take for your welding, you can now look into what kind of welder you’re going for.
Are you fine sticking with a MIG welder for the long run?
Or do you want to invest in a multi-functional welder because you want to try everything out?
Again, it’s all up to whatever work ethic you want to have down the road, so you better be thorough in your planning. Especially if you’re still a novice!
Final Words
Being the most popular welder in the industry makes it harder for anyone to choose with how many options there are available.
And it doesn’t help that there are even MORE features popping up the farther technology’s been pushing it!
But hopefully reading this article can help you set your priorities. Start small if you’re looking to be a welder.
Once you got everything you’re looking for listed down, then you can narrow down your options for an easier time deciding which is the best MIG welder for you!