Best Stick Welders under $500 – Reviews of Cheap Picks

Welding can be expensive, and that can keep some from jumping in and learning. But the Yeswelder YWA-160 is excellent value for money under $300. But the low price does not mean you get little to no features.

For starters, you get a digital display to help you set precise parameters, and the control panel is minimal and easy to understand. You can also run this unit on 120V or 220V. Combined with the small form factor and lightweight, this machine can go with you wherever needed.

Plus, you get adjustable arc force, VRD, and hot starts. For the price, that is surprisingly good and helps you be safer and make better welds.

Also, there is an option to TIG weld with this unit, but the torch is missing. So, you must pick one up separately. But having the option with a meager entry price makes this welder more versatile and valuable to small shops or DIYers should they want to add the TIG torch later.

Some of you may be thinking inexpensive can often mean cheap and flimsy. But this unit is robust enough for the average handyman or small shop, and you get a 360-day warranty.

You rarely find consumables in the box at this price point, which is the case with the YA-160. So, plan on buying some consumables and adding that to your budget.

So, if you want or need an inexpensive stick welder for your DIY or small shop, this option brings enough power and features to get you started on your welding adventure without devasting your budget.

Hobart welders are known and respected for industrial quality construction that’s rugged and durable. The Hobart Stickmate 160i keeps this tradition going, with great reviews of its performance by owners. Most buyers looking for an American brand expect it to be made in America.

This welder is made and inspected to Hobart specifications, but it’s manufactured in China, which means it can’t meet the requirements of the Made In USA certification required for many government jobs.

Unlike most Chinese welders, however, the Hobart Stickmate 160i benefits from the nationwide network of Hobart dealers and service centers. So if you don’t need the Made In USA certification, this welder appears to be up to Hobart’s tough standards, based on its 5-year warranty.

The Stickmate 160i weighs less than twenty pounds, light enough to move around with the included shoulder strap. It can run on 120 volt or 240 volt power and weld 3/8-inch steel. With an infinitely adjustable dial for the current settings that can make adjustments in 1 amp increments, the Hobart Stickmate 160i arc welder features Hobart’s Hot Start technology.

If you want a stick welder that you can keep with you no matter where you work, look to the Eastwood ARC 80. It’s small (12.5 x 9 x 4.7 in.) and light (7.5 lbs.).

But that means you can keep it on your truck as part of your standard tools and not take up too much valuable space. While no one would call this an industrial welder or suggest it will handle heavy-duty use, it will allow you to make repairs and tackle unexpected problems on the fly.

This is a very basic SMAW welder. No extras in the box, and it only stick welds. But it does allow you to have a welder with you at all times without breaking the bank.

That said, the ARC 80 runs on 120 volts and will take power from a household outlet generator. This small unit fits the bill nicely for shops that only need to weld occasionally or operations like farms and ranches that need to do random or temporary repairs from time to time.

Also, DIYers use this welder for projects, including automotive repairs and restoration, and some trades keep one of these little gems around for the few times they need to weld something in a pinch. So, this is the best basic stick welder if you don’t need to weld every day with it or if you want an inexpensive backup welder.

The Lincoln AC225 is a legendary and durable welder and one of the best under $500. It holds the distinction of Lincoln’s greatest-selling welder of all time. Lincoln AC225 stick welders from the 1970s still pulling all-day duty daily in fabrication shops across the country. Lincoln backs the AC225 with a 3-year warranty.

AC welding takes a little more skill to master than DC, and transformer power sources weigh much more than inverter machines. Old-fashioned transformer technology is the main reason these machines last so long. Compared to circuit boards, semiconductors and digital processing chips, there’s not a lot to go wrong with a big chunk of copper wrapped in wire.

Durability and classic style are great, but how does the AC225 weld? There’s a reason this welder is often mentioned as the best one ever built. There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles, but this old tombstone will weld just about anything you put in front of it. The Lincoln AC225 comes with Lincoln’s Smooth Arc technology for easy starts and automatic arc maintenance while you’re burning.

Welding can be intimidating and hard to learn, but the ARCCAPTAIN ARC200 is an easy-to-use, inexpensive machine, perfect for beginners. You simply enter the welding mode you want (stick or TIG), the electrode thickness, and the “function” button.

Press the function button once to adjust the output amperage or twice to adjust the arc force. It sounds more complicated than it is and most users will be setting up and welding in minutes, if not seconds.

The large digital display shows you precisely what your settings are. For beginners, this is much better than knobs with an arbitrary scale. This precision gives beginners an understanding of the welder’s settings and gets them started right, preventing bad habits.

Also, many safety features, including VRD, keep you from getting shocked. With a small, light welder that may be used in harsh environments, these built-in features will help protect you.

The ease of use makes the welder a great choice for weekend warriors or those who need an easy-to-move-around welder that is easy to use, like farms and outdoor maintenance. The included features are perfect for a light-duty, beginner’s machine that will serve well in DIY and other small shops that don’t weld daily.

The Forney Easy Weld 180 ST is a lightweight 14-pound dual-purpose stick welder. This is a DC arc welder with TIG capability included. It runs on 120 or 240 volts input, delivering 10 to 180 amps of DC current. It accommodates generator power, tolerant of “dirty power” frequency fluctuations that often make it hard for welders to work on standard generator power.

This is a powerful machine that can run single pass welds on 1/2-inch steel and at 10 amps lower limit, it also provides fine TIG quality on sheet metal as thin as 24 gauge steel. That’s fine enough to weld on auto-body sheet metal with a stick welder. If you want to use the TIG side of the machine, it doesn’t ship with a TIG torch or a gas regulator, so those items need to be purchased separately. This particular machine doesn’t accept a TIG foot control pedal.

The stick welding side gets great reviews for smooth and easy-starting arc welding. The Forney Easy Weld 180 ST maintains Forney’s high standards of industrial quality build and comes with a 5-year warranty.