Disclosure: This was sent to me for free via the Vine program. I did not receive monetary compensation to write this review, just the product itself. Never in a million years would I think that I'd find a Lincoln Electric welder on Vine. Ever. Really, just ever. Lincoln Electric is a HALLMARK brand of welding, up there with the other titan of welding, Miller. So when I had the chance to review a flux core Lincoln Electric inverter welder, I jumped on it. No, I didn't just jump on it, I VAULTED on it. I knew I'd never be able to afford one of these in my life so I went for it. And by the grace of the Vine gods, I got one to review. So, does the Lincoln Electric name still live up to it's historical pedigree? Let's find out. To start, the welder comes tightly packed in its own box, well swaddled in packing foam and other buffers to prevent damage in transit so that was great. Out of the box, this welder ISN'T ready. It lacks a spool of flux core wire, a helmet, gloves, a chip hammer, and a brush but it does have the full kit of the welder assembled. I took it out and fiddled with it and found that both the ground clamp and the feed gun needed to be tightened in the housing, which was fairly easy to do as they had threaded collets that allow you to tighten it down for use. Bringing it outside, I was surprised by how light it is. 15 pounds seems like a lot but when you sling this over your shoulder it's basically nothing (although completely stowing the cables is a bit of an unwieldy situation). I've had heavier carry-on bags on flights compared to this thing. Getting it set up on the welding bench and feeding in the wire, it did a great job. I recommend using the feed chart located inside of the machine (you'll have to lift the cover to install the wire anyway and it's right there) to set the feed speed. It'll take a bit of fine tuning based on the wire you use and the burn rate but using the sheet gives a fairly good ballpark of where to start. Welding, this thing is a dream once dialed in. I was slightly unimpressed by the duty cycle of 20% at 90A which isn't FANTASTIC but not too bad either. Putting it in layman's terms, it means that you can weld for about 2 minutes straight out of 10 minutes before the machine will go into overheat mode and shut off to cool. Laying beads was easy enough, after tweaking the feed speed a bit slower so that the wire wouldn't just adhere to the work and you'd have to clip it off. Definitely will also need a set of wire clippers using this, too. But once it gets going, you can put down some nice welds. It doesn't spatter or burn hot during use but also doesn't run cool either. It really outputs the amperage you need to get the job done in a very tiny package. It won't do medium or heavy duty work like thick steel or continuous weld running but you can get what you need done with what you got for sure. Overall, this setup is nice. Very nice. The Lincoln Electric brand still holds up in their more "budget" offerings, albeit at a sacrifice to complete utility. This is a great welder for someone just beginning, someone that does a lot of work out in the field or in a portable shop, or someone who just wants to tinker. It won't replace the heavy duty boys that are shop queens that can output massive amperage to lay out thick fillets but it tacks metal together pretty good. For $279, I'd consider this a good deal. You can get cheaper welders but they won't be as nice and if you want nicer welders you'll probably be paying double the price. I think for a BIT more Lincoln Electric offers a MIG setup that's both flux core AND inert gas so maybe go for that if you're a more advanced welder who doesn't mind toting some argon/carbon dioxide for MIG work but if you want to keep it lean and mean, this thing will do what you want for a good price and leave you with a smile on your face and some metal stuck together that won't come apart. Recommended.
