Best TIG Welders under $1000 – Top Picks & Reviews 2023

The Eastwood TIG 200 AC/DC TIG Welder is one of the most affordable TIG welders that delivers the ability to weld aluminum and steel from 16-gauge sheet metal up to ¼-inch thick. It’s just the ticket for fabricating or rebuilding brake caliper mounts and accessory brackets under your hood. An AC/DC TIG brings you the power to build tube frame chassis, motorcycle and bicycle frames and the ability to repair broken or cracked aluminum parts.

This machine was just upgraded recently in July 2021. Now the Eastwood TIG 200 AC/DC TIG Welder has a better foot pedal, a new design with rocker action for finer control. Eastwood also saw fit to upgrade the gas flow meter to a higher-quality unit, addressing another frequently-mentioned ownership grievance. This is a true square-wave TIG machine, providing that extra touch for weld puddle cleaning and finer arc control.

The Eastwood TIG 200 AC/DC TIG Welder is equipped with a WP-17 style torch, now sporting an upgraded flex head and gas lenses, with collets to handle electrodes up to 1/8-inch. The duty cycle is a lot tougher now than it was before. It’s rated at 60 percent when running 190 amps on 240-volt power and 143 amps on 120 volts.

The Yeswelder TIG 250P TIG Welder is an affordable welder with professional features. It offers DC and AC TIG for aluminum welding capability, along with pulse frequency control for bead penetration and pulse width modulation to control bead width. It’s got a stick arc welding mode, with the ability to run 6010 welding rods for high-strength applications.

This machine offers both high-frequency no-touch arc starting and lift starts for the TIG arc. The Yeswelder TIG 250P TIG Welder features slope adjustments, which let you adjust the arc current to start soft with lower power levels, increasing to full power after starting. The end slope level is also adjustable for more heat control and improved quality.

The Yeswelder TIG 250P TIG Welder offers 5 amps output at the lower limit, cool enough for very thin 32 gauge sheet metal. It’s got a 2T/4T trigger lock to reduce hand fatigue on long runs and comes with a foot pedal to simplify heat control. Another useful feature is a spot weld timer, allowing you to duplicate factory manufacturing methods on sheet metal such as auto bodies and appliances.

The Weldpro Digital TIG 200GD is another cheap AC/DC TIG and stick welder featuring 200-hertz pulse width modulation for controllable bead width focus. It runs on dual 120/240-volt input power. The TIG 200GD offers an adjustable AC balance from 30 to 70 percent, cleaning aluminum oxidation while providing good weld penetration.

This machine has a wide 10 amp to 200 amp AC TIG range when running on 240-volt input and up to 140 amps on 120 power. Weldpro designed the TIG 200GD with a high-frequency no-touch arc start, preventing contamination of the tungsten electrode.

It comes with the popular CK17 Superflex Torch that uses standard American parts and includes an optional torch heat control. This is a nice touch because there are a few reports of poor quality on the included heat control pedal. There’s also a 2T/4T switch that functions as a torch lock, allowing you to complete long welds without having to hold down the torch trigger in MIG mode.

Overall this is a great cheap AC/DC TIG welder, and you are not going to find much better for under $1000.

The Primeweld TIG225X TIG Welder features inverter-based power and high-frequency arc starts, although this one is a scratch start rather than a lift or no-touch arc start. This machine offers 10/90 pulse ratio to clean the weld with one side of the AC sine wave. There’s also full pulse width modulation for controlling bead width and quality.

This welder has a power output range from 10 amps to 225 amps, a very wide output range. The Primeweld TIG225X TIG Welder offers a duty cycle of 100 percent at 108 amps, enough to weld continuously on 1/8-inch steel rated at 40 percent under full power at 225 amps output (full TIG225X review here). This welder comes with a metal foot pedal heat control, a gas regulator and an American made CK17 torch with flex lines. This setup can be upgraded to water cooling.

The Primeweld TIG225X TIG Welder has a huge number of adjustments available. With both AC and DC TIG capability, this machine can weld aluminum and the wide power range allows welding sheet metal as thin as 28 gauge as well as metal up to 1/2-inch thick.

The Power i-TIG 201 is a DC TIG welder featuring dual 120/240 volt input, shipping with a heat control pedal, 12-foot 26 series TIG torch, 10-foot electrode clamp and argon gas regulator.

It has a lot of features for its price. Everlast says it’s on a level with the Miller MaxStar and Lincoln Invertec TIG welders. The MaxStar starts near five times the cost and the Invertec near three times.

This welder offers similar features, but Everlast has yet to invent any major welding processes or electronics technology and doesn’t offer a coast-to-coast American-based dealership and service network. There are some valid reasons why American welders cost more. Research and development aren’t cheap.

This machine does offer 200 amps in DC 240 TIG mode, welding 5/16-inch plate in a single pass. The 5 amp minimum will handle 22 gauge sheet metal, allowing fine work on auto body and ducting. There have been complaints of inconsistent quality control and poor customer service with Everlast, but the company does back the Power i-TIG 201 with a 5-year warranty, which provides some peace of mind.

The Vulcan ProTIG 205 TIG Welder is Harbor Freight’s top model in its TIG lineup, with 205 amps of AC/DC TIG output, enough to weld 5/16-inch steel in a single pass. This is a dual 120/240 volt machine, with 130 amps on tap when running on 120-volt power. This welder’s duty cycle is rated at 25 percent at max output. Stick mode tops out at 175 amps on 240 volts, 80 amps on 120 volts.

This machine offers both AC Balance and pulse frequency adjustments, professional settings that serve to keep the weld puddle clean and let you control your bead characteristics. The Vulcan ProTIG 205 TIG Welder includes a foot pedal heat control with a 25-foot lead. Some owners don’t like this pedal because it adjusts the amperage level in steps instead of a smooth, gradual feel.

The Vulcan ProTIG 205 TIG Welder features a 2T/4T trigger lock to ease hand fatigue on long bead runs. It also offers a pulse current signal, pulsing the current on and off to keep the heat down when welding thin metal. Pulse frequency is fully adjustable. If you’re in need of a dual-input, AC/DC pulsed TIG but don’t need 205 amps, check out the Vulcan ProTIG 165 for most of the same features at substantially less cost.