Gotta admit, a little jealous!
I kinda want a nice 'all-the-bells-and-whistles' welding supply, but I keep flinching at the cost of parts if or when they fry a board. Read too many horror stories on various web forums, I guess...
Sorta goes hand in hand with a lack of proficiency as far as understanding the more complicated electronics tech, as far as being able to troubleshoot and repair, freestyle. The older machines, I feel much more comfy poking and prodding through, and it seems to me, IF they break, it's because something mechanical happened (broken wire, loose fittngs, etc.) rather than a spark frying the ghost in the machine...
I kinda see the mass of the old school machines as a bit more of an advantage, as it makes them pretty close to theft-proof, at least, to the casual grade of druggy scum that seems to populate our area until run off. I don't need mobility, and actually HAVE pretty much shop space, so it flavors my view a bit..
Yes, the forum stories about repair costs have been a big factor (well, and purchase price!) in not doing this earlier.
The guy I bought it from has two more. Works as a millwright, used to take them to sites (food processing, with on site stainless welding stuff), and is very happy with them. Does custom exhaust work in his spare time Dropped one of them 10'+ off a scaffold, machine kept on ticking. Had a main board repaired by a shop (need to remind him to give me their number) in Mississauga, $900 all in. While I can think of more interesting ways to spend $900, that's nowhere near as scary as the numbers we've both seen on forums.
The forum story as a decision making metric is a tough one, and certainly hard for me to overcome. Happy people with functioning machines don't tend to post about how happy they are, so you end up with a severe selection bias on your information. It'd be interesting to see how many people have posted about issues compared to how many machines Miller (or Lincoln, ESAB, etc.) has sold.
And yes, as far as assessment/repair of issues, I've had the cover off our 40 year old Dialarc at work, and off my Syncrowave, and it's nice being able to, say, directly confirm the solenoids are working, visually assess individual components, etc.
But... I've got a 12' x 14' room to work in, and that big blue lump in the corner is hogging a lot of space. Plus, with the 240V line I have now is only on a 40 amp breaker, which is pretty easy to trip, on any decent thickness of aluminum. Having the power suddenly cut out, leaving me staring at a smoking tig torch suddenly deprived of any cooling (that I'd just bought!) was, uh... not a good feeling. Everything survived, but I wouldn't volunteer to repeat it frequently.
As far as theft... yes, definitely easier. But I could also take it along to help a friend, or take it to a job site. Mixed bag.
Hmm. I wonder if there's a locking setup, like with laptops...
