Northern Tool Mig Machines

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Was browsing the NT site the other day and noticed their mig welders were really cheap. I couldn't find anything on the country of mfg so I did an online CHAT with a sales rep. Sure enough, they are Chinese made machines. Just thought I would share even tho it may be obvious. chaz
Reply:Originally Posted by chaznscWas browsing the NT site the other day and noticed their mig welders were really cheap. I couldn't find anything on the country of mfg so I did an online CHAT with a sales rep. Sure enough, they are Chinese made machines. Just thought I would share even tho it may be obvious. chaz
Reply:I care. American made products mean American jobs.Dave.
Reply:Originally Posted by rvpcI care. American made products mean American jobs.Dave.
Reply:Originally Posted by rvpcI care. American made products mean American jobs.Dave.
Reply:Northern has the HOBART welders on sale with free gift cards too.http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...776964269&mt=b
Reply:Originally Posted by SuperArcSorry to say, but thank labor unions for forcing company owners (employers) outsourcing elsewhere for cheap labor and higher prices on EVERYTHING we currently purchase.  You don't have to like that fact, nor even agree with the practice.   You just have to realize  that "that's the way it is...."
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPCorporate greed has nothing to do with either!
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPCorporate greed has nothing to do with either!
Reply:Originally Posted by SuperArcI'm sorry if you simply don't understand the principles and practice of running a corporation in America.
Reply:As much as I'd like to keep all my money here, sadly that's not really the way the world works today. The biggest advantage of name brands is QC and product support and development. You can bet Miller, Hobart, Lincoln, even TA/Tweeco all do extensive testing of parts and components as well as finished units. A bad batch of parts seldom makes it to the retail store to cause issues. If for some reason those parts do sneak by, you can bet they will resolve the problem, not just in machines that have gone out the door, but on any bad stock sitting on the shelves as well. It's not in their interest to have a bad rap for a bad machine. I'll grant you there have been some designs that were sold that had issues often due to poor design. That happens to everyone. A good company steps up and deals with it. A bad company hides behind excuses, smoke screens and tries to divert the discussion to other areas rather than simply biting the bullet and dealing with the issue.5 or 6 years down the road if your item needs to be fixed, with a name brand unit, you'll find techs out there who have the diagrams and manuals to work on them. If they have issues, they can pick up the phone and call the company for assistance and get someone on the line who knows and understands the problem and can tell them how to solve it, or at least trouble shoot what the problem is. The parts are still available off the shelf for many units, even if they are 20 to 30 years old. You can't say that about most lower price machines despite all their comments to the contrary some times.If in a number of years you choose to upgrade, there's still a decent resale value on name brand units. Even if you say every used unit is worth 40% of the new value, you still get a better return on a name brand unit. Truth is often you can't get that kind of money for a cheap machine used. If you buy a name brand used unit, chances are you'll usually be able to get most of your money back if you bought smart, when you go to sell.There is a place in the market for machines produced to meet a low end price point. Lots of people simply by based on low price alone. It's the way much of the consumer mind set today is geared towards. However you have to understand no matter how much money you spent, if you bought the low end priced unit, it's like everything else out there on the market designed like that today. It's a throw away product. The manufacturer had to cut something to achieve that low price you so desired. They did it by using parts not designed to stand up to as much abuse to save money... Why use 2 ga wire for cables when we can get by with 6ga? They cheap ground clamps are a good example of this. They cut costs by not testing each component, or not testing things multiple times on the production line, or even the finished product. Maybe they pull one machine out of 100 an plug it in and turn it on. Maybe that number is 1 in 1000. Compare that to say Hypertherm that powers up and function tests EVERY unit that comes off the line from what I understand from Jim. That doesn't include and QC checks they did earlier on the line, or any Qc checks that they require on individual parts. All this stuff adds up to more money. The more corners you cut to save a buck, the more chances there are someone is going to get burned..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:I have owned a northern tool 115v flux core welder for 2-3 years now, only issue I have had was the plastic drive gears for the wire had broke, called northern tool and they shipped me the new gears for free, got them 3 days later, installed them and haven't had a problem since.