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Hi Jeremy, I'm probably responding too late for you to see this, but here goes. First, while infinite adjustment is superior to taps in most ways, I think you would have to be a complete expert to even be able to recognize a difference of a few volts one way or the other. If you're that good, though, you can easily deal with a less than perfect situation, so the taps should still be okay. What might be more important in choosing between taps and continuous voltage adjustment is that taps are sometimes found on machines that are lower quality in other ways, too. That's what I heard about Lincoln 175 amp MIG welders several years ago. The better unit had continuous voltage control, and the other had taps, as well as several less obvious lower quality features. People who use a MIG welder as their general purpose welder frequently advise prospective purchasers to buy units with at least 200 amps capacity. The higher top end provides a longer duty cycle even if you don't need the high amps, and having more power than you need is always preferrable to having less. My feeling is that the more critical division is not at some amount of amps as much as it is between 110 and 220 volt machines. A way to keep your cost down and still get what you need is to get a good (Lincoln, Miller, or Hobart) MIG welder in the 180 amp range, and a good used AC/DC stick welder for jobs that are beyond the capacity of the MIG welder. Buy the MIG new and use it a lot right away so you can find out if it has any problems while it is still under warranty. Buy the used stick welder at your leisure so you can find a good deal. Used ones are almost always perfectly good because not much ever goes wrong with a stick welder. But don't buy a cheap brand---get a Lincoln buzz box, a Miller Thunderbolt, or a Hobart Stickmate if you can. There are other well made stick welders out there from companies that are no longer in business---Linde, Airco, Forney, etc., and if you pay little enough, it shouldn't matter that parts could be difficult or impossible to get. What wears out on well made stick welders are usually the parts that are generic anyway---leads, electrode holders, etc. All the best, Stan
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