Ranger vs Bobcat

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Do all these things compared in this video amount to nothing? I don't think there was a meaningful comparison made it was all rather smoke and mirrors. The one item I do consider which I bet nobody else will is the ac argument.I have the itch is my arse for an engine drive again unless that is my herpes flaring up again maybe. Primary use would be power outages not that that happens often enough to justify one but I am sure I will put in a couple hours a year with a feeder on it.Maybe I won't get anything even. I was thinking about a Honda eu3000is. In the long run I figure a guy needs both. It is just a question of what first? Engine drive makes sense to me. Is anybody working on that group hug suggestion yet?Last edited by mikecwik; 02-13-2015 at 10:03 PM.
Reply:I have a bobcat 250 EFI. I like it. I think for my needs it welds excellent and does everything I've asked of it. From my reading, a lot of folks with try to talk you in to a trailblazer or 302g. But for $4100 I'm very happy with mine. I use it or plan to use it on building pipe fence, power outages, fabing my wrecker bed and little projects around our farmBrett
Reply:I don't believe I ever welded with a Miller but have with Lincolns. I liked the Lincolns but I can't imagine being upset with a Miller welding.
Reply:Id say go with wichever one you can get the best support for.High Octane Welding
Reply:Ok to be obtuse, I have a hobart champion (which might be a miller).  The 10K generator is enough for our house and in the country it does get used.  I bought it as an upgrade to a really old fourney stick welder.  I thought I was in heaven since it welded so much nicer.  It's pretty basic though on/start/off and current is all I have to play with and sometimes I'm not sure if the current knob does anything.  It ends up in the back of my service truck most of the time (for repairs out the field - works awesome) and probably should be covered more often.  It will occasionally decide not to put out any power, but usually after a restart it's fine.  I bought it used at a pretty good price so I wouldn't be surprised that I'm living with whatever issues made it cheap.  I can't imagine either welder being a problem for stick welding and a generator, but keep in mind that it is what it is.
Reply:I have a MILLER 302 trailblazer. I bought it for a portable welder and emergency power source. Since the electrical panel was wired for it I have not had to use it . We always had some power failures during a year so I figured if I have one we won't. The welder is not fuel efficient as a generator but will run almost a whole house at 10,000 watts. I really do not need to have it run constantly but it will use about a gallon of fuel a hour. You need to have fuel on hand too , because chances are the gas stations are out of power too.  My vote is a gas drive welding machine.
Reply:The engine drives are loud and thirsty for sure. Thanks for the vote!
Reply:Hi,  Mikecwik.  'Go get your engine drive'  Who cares about the economics?  You cant put a price on the satisfaction  of listening to an engine drive under full load and then idle down again  I enjoy using my old Ranger 8 Although most times the job could be done more efficiently with the plug in electric welder.   Josey.
Reply:Originally Posted by JoseyHi,  Mikecwik.  'Go get your engine drive'  Who cares about the economics?  You cant put a price on the satisfaction  of listening to an engine drive under full load and then idle down again  I enjoy using my old Ranger 8 Although most times the job could be done more efficiently with the plug in electric welder.   Josey.
Reply:My Honda 3000 EU is so quiet you can hardly hear it running at idle. That's just not the case with my old Miller Bluestar welder. It's loud as hell. For power backup, I'll use the Honda because of its quietness and it burns much less fuel. But, I still love how the old Bluestar burns a 1/8 7018 rod.JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720
Reply:i think you will be happy with either, but as stated above, hobart may be the best road to take for something like this. hobart+miller=some big company name i cant remember but hobart is cheaper because. . . . .hobart. never heard somebody say "my lincoln is a pos" either thoughi do have some prejudice toward this class of machine though, as it seems they get worse and worse as manufacturers claim they are getting better and better. we have a few old trailblazers at work that spit oil and are hard to start, but weld fine and a few new ones that fry boards and generally just weld goofy with low hour new motors.i would say lincoln, but they are really starting to look like miller anymore so. . . . .pick your favorite color. to me, its a wash unless you can get a better price on one versus the other (likely hobart)bosses stuff:trailblazer 325maxstar 200my stuff:sa 200fronius transpocket 180100 amp Lincoln w/f97 f350 DITKevin
Reply:As everyone says I think you would be happy with either brand, it boils down to if you get better support from one local dealer or another.  I was at the farm show in Tulare last week and while I didn't look at any Millers just for the heck of it I priced a 305g at two different vendors.  In both cases what they had at the show was the model with carburetor.  When I asked about the one with EFI the salesmen were a little hesitant.  I don't know if that's because they wanted to push what was in stock at the show or if there have been problems with the EFI engine, I seem to remember a post about EFI troubles with a Miller.  Since my SA 200 seems to be working just fine I'm not in the market anyway, I was just curious if anyone knows of problems with the EFI machines.Dirk
Reply:People do the strangest things.What on earth am I even  looking at sa250 Perkins diesel for? I been eating that stupid soup.............Why isn't diesel capitalized?Last edited by mikecwik; 03-15-2015 at 08:36 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by mikecwikPeople do the strangest things.What on earth am I even  looking at sa250 Perkins diesel for? I been eating that stupid soup.............Why isn't diesel capitalized?
Reply:Originally Posted by 7A749'Cause you need it Mike......Just buy it..... You know you want to......
Reply:I know this is probably more than what you're wanting to spend but I bought my Trailblazer 325 EFI and Excel power online and delivered for $5475. I have only put 4hrs on it so far and most of that time was arc gouging and it just now finally came off of the full mark. I don't know if they've changed the new bobcats yet but the last one I had was an '05 I believe and they are just obnoxiously loud. This new Trailblazer is much quieter and runs all my 110v tools at an idle and while welding it only revs up to the RPM needed for the amperage you're needing. I do have to say the arc on it in absolutely incredible also!!just my $.02-DoogieMiller 350PMiller Trailblazer 325 EFI w/ Excel PowerLincoln LN25 suitcase welderXMT 304/22a feederMiller Syncrowave 350LXMiller EconotigHobart Handler 140(2) Uni-Hydro 42-14Hypertherm 65 plasmaWEBB Gap bed lathe
Reply:Originally Posted by mikecwikStir the pot 7A!In truth it would probably be a not good decision. A nicer welding machine (that I don't need) vs and extra 1000 pounds in my truck and a pretty crappy power supply which is what I do want.
Reply:Incorrigible!
Reply:Me???NEVER!! Expert Garage Hack....https://www.facebook.com/steven.webber.948
Reply:Originally Posted by MinnesotaDaveWhat's weird is, after getting an engine drive I found that I like the sound of them, but hate the sound of generators.
Reply:Originally Posted by farmersamm  You out of your f'n mind?? We had a bad ice storm some years back, and I had to listen to that POS engine drive for 16hrs a day, 5 days straight.  Screw that noise  120 gallons of gas at $4.09 a gallon, screw that noise too
Reply:Plus one.  buy a vantage.  Way nicer than both a ranger or bobcat. They look sharp and will weld circles around the others. Down side kinda pricey if you don't use it everyday. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk