Greg, it is obvious that although you dont have thousands of subscribers yet, your honesty, candor and extensive experience were enough to have a Miller rep contact you. I am sure that the rep was quite impressed with your feedback and will use it in future product development.
Honestly the guy from miller has as much passion about welding and technology as I do, I was not expecting that. He had a engineer on the phone as well taking notes I guess, I had a lot of recommendations lol. If some of those things lead to positive changes I am all for it.
Hey Greg I just wanted to say thanks for making the time to share these videos. I also have the new dynasty 210 and unfortunately it's in the shop for a bad encoder. I try to adjust the amperage and it goes all over the place. Other than that the machine is phenomenal. When I dropped it off for repair the service guy said he hadn't seen one yet. Which kind of sucks because my machine is going to be the guinea pig for them to learn on. Oh well.
Man, sorry to hear that. Hopefully that’s a standard part that will be a easy replacement. I felt the same way you did, sort of a test mule of sorts lol. I knew that going in buying a newly released product. Considering the warranty and overall performance I am not really worried about it too much. After talking with Trae at miller, he says a few new things are on the way for the machine, one of which will be a app to control settings. He gave the the overall feeling that due to corona and situation with getting hardware parts that they really didn’t want to rush any more stuff with the new release. Basically get the machine into peoples hands and see how it goes and then update stuff down the road. My opinion is I think they rushed it a bit. Anyway, thanks for the nice comments and I am glad you found use of the content. Make sure you fill out the registration for the machine and give some thoughts in the comment section. They sent me a couple hats as a thank you. And don’t reverse the stick leads lol
Perfect video! I own a Millermatic 210 mig welder and I'm thinking of buying a Miller TIG machine . . . this video gave me SOOOO much information that I couldn't find anywhere else on the internet.
Glad it helped you. Couple things I want to mention. Miller is going to be releasing a new maxstar line which is going to include AC capability to the maxstar line. By the looks of it they are going to sell the previous dynasty as a max star welder. I am unsure if the internals will be the same as the previous dynasty but the specs I am seeing say they probably will be. This might be good because it will probably be significantly cheaper than the current LCD dynasty, and the average person wouldn’t gain much going to the new dynasty. Other than that if you have any questions on the new LCD dynasty let me know. I have used mine for a bunch of months now and it works great, and is every bit as good as I hoped.
Your 100% right on the fan noise from those other machines . I had a conversation with the Techs and said that’s unacceptable. Tig welding is a gentleman’s way of welding and certainly do not need to hear or feel all this air constantly on all the time . Everlast has a high end tig welder with a temperature controlled fan , I can work with that . The millers are very pricey, though the quality and service is there .
It is indeed a gentleman’s way of welding. The peacefulness of it is best served by a quiet machine lol. I do wish miller was cheaper, but they weld phenomenally which is why in some cases they are worth it.
Miller is an expert in welding (as they should be) and they have customer service that is knowledgeable and excellent. The fact the person in charge of their tig division clearly understands welding is a great thing. No doubt there are things I could to do improve their products but across the board they make good stuff and they take care of their customers. Thats hard to find nowadays.
Thanks for the great video. I’m a hobby/artist welder with a Miller Diversion 180 for the past 10 years, and I’m saving for this expensive machine because of the increased duty cycle that is needed for playing around with aluminum. I weld everything with mine.
Thanks 😀. Any dynasty is a significant upgrade over the diversion. You are right, you will get a huge duty cycle increase. The biggest thing you would notice is everything at the extremes is far better. Super thin material will become far easier to weld. Thicker aluminum will be possible to weld. You have more adjustability on everything so you can make it weld the way you want. You can also use other torches easily which is nice, I tend to run flex heads or water cooled torches. The new LCD dynasty is a awesome welder however my understanding is miller is going to be taking the previous dynasty and putting it out as a maxstar machine (the maxstar line will have a/c). For most people the previous dynasty 210 doesn’t loose much capability to the new one. If you plan on doing a bunch of aluminum I would take a previous dynasty with a water cooler and torch for the same money as just the new dynasty (if you’re looking at just the machine). It’s very easy to smoke torches on aluminum with no cooler lol.
Also with the parts and service with Lincoln and Miller welders are good . Other imports do not have facilities or dealers to repair these machines . Your right about those fans in the import welders are way to loud and stay on a long time , very well explained. .
Miller and Lincoln cost a lot, but having used them (and esab) you do get what you pay for that’s for sure. Something many people don’t realize with miller and Lincoln are both companies that invest millions into school programs, educational discounts, training facilities, and both employ thousands of people. People often get caught up on the “well miller and Lincoln use China parts too” issue. The fact is many parts that welders are made from come from China now, and you can’t get them anywhere else in the world so there are no other options. Having looked inside many miller, Lincoln, and esab machines I know how much better built they are than cheaper imports. Not to say cheap welders don’t work, I own a few. I can just tell you that any welder I buy that I need to rely on will be a Lincoln/esab/Miller/fonius.
I will say the new dynasty is very straight forward to use. I am not really for more computers and a LCD screen on a welder but it makes it very easy to set what I want and it gives pictures of how the settings affect the weld. One day I will try something from fronius, I have heard good things they are just hard to try out and even find someone who sells them (besides online).
The Fronius are good machines very hard to set up ,I have miller dynasty 300dx from 2001 and still works fine , stick with the miller !!!!! Have transtig 210 new already getting error messages , can not set up lift arc !!
Hi Greg, thanks for the review it has been really useful since I am in the process to get one 210 or 300. Could you please tell me how to get to the sequencer since there is no mention on the manual not on any other review. I don't use it often especially at low amps but at around 100A and above it is useful to have a softer start and stop. Before there was a dedicated button to access that function but not on the new machine.
Sorry I wasn't clear. How do you set up slopes with either a 2T or 4T setup (I don't use a pedal for now). In the old machine you had a SEQUENCE button on front but here you don't and there is no mention on the manual.
So here are my thoughts on that: The new LCD dynasty is easier to use (no hidden menus) than the previous. The program storage is nice. It also has independent ac amplitude adjustment unlocked where is the previous one you had to pay 700$ for. From a average use the new one doesn’t offer much more in actual capability. I bought new over the previous gen because I couldn’t find a used previous gen for any reasonable price. I don’t regret my purchase at all. Now to help you decide it really comes down to what capability’s you need. The syncrowave is a great welder and with the 300$ rebate you can get the unit with foot pedal and spool gun for under 3600 with rebate (cyber weld). To me it’s main draw backs are physical size (big) power consumption (not a huge issue) and it’s ac balance only goes to 80% (I use 90% for aluminum bronze). It’s duty cycle is also not as good as the dynasty. Also, I believe it uses gas through dinse, so hooking up aftermarket torches will be a bit harder (still possible). From a welding capability it’s without a doubt solid and has enough range on everything to likely do what you want. If you are at a high level of tig skill, the dynasty is the way to go. But honestly what it can do over the syncrowave is not night and day different for the average person. I would have no issue with 99% of what I do using the syncrowave 210 beyond the fact it’s not portable. Also, you may want to wait on your purchase a few weeks- month. Why? Well I got word a month ago miller is going to be turning the max star line into ac/dc and basically selling the previous gen dynasty as a maxstar 😱. It will give you the ability to buy a solid dynasty 210 non LCD for probably the same or less money than the current max star. I would highly recommend that option because beyond the lcd ease of use your average person wouldn’t have any benefit to the new welder over the previous gen.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Wow, You gave me a generously lengthy response and it cleared up all my questions that I have been debating for weeks. Much appreciated Greg and the last paragraph likely saved me serious money and alot of future regret. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
@@niemdan no problem 😀. I am awaiting the concrete info on the new maxstar line myself. They may be making the 161 capable of AC output which would be awesome. 160 amps of ac power isn’t much, but for thin stuff like auto body and turbo setups that’s more than enough. The portability of the welder is unmatched and I definitely would buy one. I have a feeling very shortly miller will put the info out. They already posted a teaser on their Facebook recently 😀
Was looking at the Lincoln 200mp, mainly for stick and a bit of TIG, occasional MIG, am I right in thinking you would only pay the extra for this for the additional TIG functions, and would you really need them when you rarely do Al?
So keep in mind that multi purpose tig machines need to have AC capability to weld aluminum. Lincoln doesn’t make an all in one that can do AC for aluminum. The 200mp is a great all in on one dc output machine. For all in ones I am a big fan of the Esab rebel series, the Lincoln units, and a few millers. Stick performance is going to be best with the Esab machines, that’s why I generally buy them. They will run 6010 rods good and 6011 as well. Many of the all in ones (Lincoln and miller both) won’t run 6010. MiG performance is honestly good on most brands. Tig tends to be best on miller machines, worst on esab. Honestly it’s none of the all in one machines are bad with Tig, it’s stick performance that sets them apart. It’s far easier to make a machine that can mig and Tig than it is to make a machine that can do those and stick weld too.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks Greg, some online are saying reliability of esab is questionable, but I do like the features, I am bamboozled by the choices, I perhaps need two machines, a good portable stick welder and a multiprocess welder, but I am limited to 230V. Which Rebel is the best for stick?
The same first two options as in the Fronius iWave 230i 😁, and in a cheaper machine in which the BT pedal receiver does not block the torch control connector. 🤣
One of the things with fronius is they designed that machine with no real “legacy” equipment. Basically they didn’t need to make it backwards compatible with older equipment. Miller has used that foot pedal plug for decades so when it came to designing the wireless pedal they decided to make the receiver work with all previous machines rather than only for the current gen dynasty. I have actually used that wireless foot pedal with a super old miller machine and was shocked it actually worked. Of course the downside is they could have built in the receiver into the welder and not used the plug in one, but they didn’t. Fronius is definitely a sweet setup, and I will likely be going to their magic wave in th near future 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I thought the same thing, that they could install a BT receiver inside Miller. But don't worry, it's not so rosy with Fronius either, one and only Optrel Vision Connect mask doesn't connect either and it's under the Fronius logo and there was a problem with the refund. Customer service also leaves a lot to be desired because it was only from some engineer that I managed to get a description of the pins in the control socket. I mean service because my salesperson bent over backwards to help me. Fronius is extremely careful about the service instructions so that they don't leak out and from what I see with Miller there's no problem with that and they're quite easily available. Another problem is the mega expensive expansion options as unlocking existing functions. And the cooler for my model costs as much as a very decent TIG for an amateur and it's not that complicated and doesn't have a function for brewing fresh coffee.
Thanks for the comment 😀. So based on my use I believe it is the top 200 amp class tig welder out there. Fronius may be able to equal or best it, but spending 6k on one when I can’t find anyone who has one to try, and nobody within a hour sells them, is too much risk for me. The capability of the new dynasty are beyond anything else out there. Even with that, there are some improvements it could have. It needs a tig welding tac function for tack welds. This would be as simple as a software update. I would like to see a fronius style tig arc stop where you long arc while welding and it automatically kills the arc while keeping the post flow (when not using the foot pedal). Small tweaks will take it to the next level. As far as HTP, I tend not to mention them but they are awesome tig welders. Their 221 invertig is a sweet tig welder and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. USA weld (the importer of them) is a hour away from me and I have dealt with them extensively (I buy most of my tig torches from them including the one on my dynasty). I thought about buying their 300 or 400 model for the price of my dynasty but their interface was not my preference. The one on my miller is far superior. The only real thing the invertig 221 gives up is it has a single wave form (square wave) on ac, many other welders have multiple wave forms (sine, triangle, etc). That doesn’t matter much, honestly. 90% of the adjustment range on my dynasty doesn’t have much use, so the fact it can do it makes no difference. I tell everyone the same thing when it comes to tig welders, buy one that is solidly built with a good reputation, and buy middle of the road or a bit better as a minimum. Then spend the money saved over buying a high end one on metal and filler. That will make a person a far better tig welder than buying a high end one and spending 40$ on material. 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg hey thanks for the great reply..Honestly I don’t know what I want. Im a young combo pipe welder. I’ve worked in refinery, power plant, compressor station but I would like to do some kind of business in the future or at least extend my skill set for better job opportunity. I don’t got a lot of experience but I’ve welded some exotic metals such as different types of stainless, chrome and inconel.. I haven’t welded with a high frequency machine/foot pedal so I want to invest time in learning that mainly for aluminum. Not sure how long it will take but eventually I’m confident I can learn it. I always try to invest in quality equipment that will help me become a better quality welder so the dynasty has always been on my mind but it’s a big big investment and not sure if those extra features are worth it. I’m trying to acquire great skills and my philosophy is to have as much knowledge as possible and be able to experiment. So the knowledge behind knowing how to work those features is a great value to me but not sure if it’s worth all the extra money and if I really need it for the potential type of work. My plans are either 1)miller dynasty 300 because eventually if I get the aluminum tig down this is the machine I would like to have but I’m scared I’m going to regret investing all that money on something I might not be serious about in the future. 2)Or the htp for the simple reason that it seems like middle ground, good quality and have yet to find any bad review on it. 3)Or the prime weld because it’s cheap, a lot of good reviews, and it’s a way to test the waters early on without committing too much. I’ll be thinking about what you said. 😅😅 sorry for the rant but if it makes you feel better I subscribed and thank you for the videos on the dynasty👍🏻
@@alextremo7853 some more thoughts for you: First, you have the right mindset and a valuable set of skills. You’re smart by wanting to learn more, because more knowledge is a good thing. If you haven’t had much experience with aluminum that’s a definite skill to add to the tool box. You would be shocked at how many people I have met that are awesome welders that are afraid of (or can’t weld aluminum). There is nothing to be afraid of, in many respects it’s easier to weld it than even steel. It just welds different. It can take a ton of power to weld too, but even that can be bypassed via preheating the aluminum. There is no question the dynasty is a better tig welder than virtually everything else out there. The question is how much does that matter. My honest opinion is not as much as you would think. On aluminum I find a very small group of settings are optimal (60-150hz, 90-60% ac balance, square wave waveform, etc). I could weld everything from boats to turbo systems with those settings, yet the dynasty can go far outside of those parameters and even pulse. The honest fact is most of what higher end tig welders can do aren’t super useful to the average person. I did a huge amount of work with a Lincoln tig 200 which is considered by many to be garbage, yet most of the welds for that are indistinguishable from my dynasty. The main benefits of the dynasty were super low arc starts, more stable ac arc, adjustable pre/post flow, and ability to run programmable lift arc. Those are real world useable benefits, being able to run pulses above 200 a second aren’t in my opinion. If I were you I would focus on buying a solid tig machine with a water cooler. A 200 amp class machine will smoke the tig torch without a cooler, unless you buy a giant air cooled torch. Ac puts so much heat into the torch that they don’t hold up well, and even 1/8th aluminum takes a ton of amperage to weld. Without a cooler you a 15min aluminum job will take 2 hours unless you burn up the torch lol. Based on what’s out there i would consider a stand alone tig machine from everlast (do not buy their all in ones) or definitely a HTP. Both machines will give you a ton of capability and with a cooler will give you tons of ability to weld aluminum. Once you have gained enough experience with aluminum tig you can make the decision if the dynasty is worth buying, or if you even need it. 90% of the cost of tig comes on the AC capability end. A miller maxstar 161 sth welds every bit as good as my dynasty does on Dc, and those can be bought for 1600$ used, same thing with a maxstar 210 (around 1900). It’s the ac end that separates the new dynasty from most other welders.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I have met alot of other welders and maybe a handful know anything about tig welding aluminum only the old school welders knew. I’m from south Texas and down here there’s alot of welders it’s like a tradition and there’s alot of competition. Texas in general is known to have alot of work in refineries pipeline power plant etc so it’s natural alot of people are going to pursue a career in this field. Theres alot of quality welders that are able to weld with a mirror, in tight spaces, messed up gaps, exotic metals etc but no knowledge on tig aluminum or titanium and this is exactly why I want to learn this skill. You got to be in the right place and the right time ready for anything where there is no real competition. Thank you for your great reply for taking time in advising me and just for caring 👍🏻
@@alextremo7853 up here in Wisconsin good welders are tough to find, and the pay is generally way higher. A friend of mine was doing heavy plate fabrication down in Florida with dual shield and spray arc, he left Wisconsin for better weather. Well he came back to Wisconsin a few years later and got a 8$ pay bump to start over what he was making down there. The more skilled people of a particular trade are in a area the more cut throat it is finding a job. You can get a lot of people who hold back knowledge from other people because they are trying to “secure their own future”. Anyway, aluminum isn’t that hard, literally just hold a slightly longer arc gap and push more filler. The weld bead tends to be 3 times as wide as steel or stainless, thus a simple wire dab isn’t enough metal, push a bunch in. You have to lengthen the arc gap slightly as you push so the rising puddle doesn’t jump to the tungsten. Beyond that just clean the material well before welding and practice a bunch. The real nice thing is you can take a plate of aluminum and keep running pass on pass with disregard to warping or cooling it down. It won’t heat soak and become unweldable like steel or stainless plate will be. Sure, your amperage needed will drop, but that’s a good thing, it teaches you to use the pedal to control the heat lol 😀
Greg, found your channel about 10 months ago and has proven to be very, no extremely helpful. I've been debating with myself on a quality Tig machine and I'm sort of a buy once, cry once guy. So between the Miller Dynasty 210 and the comparable Fronius iWave 230i which has an interesting torch set up, it would be great to have your opinion. My skill level with Tig is very limited but have been Mig welding for probably 10 years so either way I'll be growing into the machine, sort leaning toward made in the USA, but not myopic.
Here is my thought on that. I have used the fronius and obviously own the dynasty. My thought is the miller is a great tig welder, however given the choice on which to buy I would probably buy the fronius. I believe it is better engineered, more capable, and it has more power. The software is far better. The downside is that it has worse resale value, it’s a bit harder to find, and fewer places service it. I am actually thinking of going to the fronius and selling my dynasty right now.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Really appreciate your honest opinion, I'm not concerned about the resale value as I almost never sell any of my better equipment. I'm past retirement so this going from a crazy interest to a border line new vocation so I don't have time to start with cheap machines and "find out", I'd rather progress with a great machine and grow into it. Again I really appreciate your input, you're a terrific resource!
No problem. You really can’t go wrong with either but if you like absolute precision, completely thought out and no limits the fronius is a better option. You will likely see one on the channel soon. The battery powered fronius I have is awesome and I am sold on their tech.
So the modern dynasty with the lcd has the exact same features between the 210 and 300. The previous gen dynasty 280 commonly came with some features unlocked (ac independent amplitude) where is you had to pay for that in the 210. The dynasty 400 had all features unlocked (the dynasty 400 has not been upgraded yet and is still the same). I find it interesting that they can make the dynasty 300 with the same case as the 210. The 210 with cooler power supply is packed full of stuff, not much room for any more components lol.
Dude! How many welders do you go through in a month or even a week?! Lol The last vid I watched you were checking out an ESAB, before that I think it was a Fireball (or something like that) --jeez man, I can never get comfortable with a particular machine 'cause you keep using a different one. 🙂 Nice thorough vid and thanks for sharing nonetheless!
I swap out welders often, I have probably owned over 30 in five years. Honestly my favorite that I have owned is the miller maxstar 161sth. It was the high frequency tig start version. Unbelievably good welder. I have been debating on picking up a fronius battery powered unit soon. I could use it and it might be fun to play with. Time will tell 😀
I only ran it enough for testing purposes but it seems to run just fine. I believe it will tig to 150 amps and stick to 100 amps on a 20 amp circuit. I wouldn’t hesitate to run it on site/friends house who doesn’t have 240v outlet. On a side note I just spent a whole weekend tig welding up a couple sets of axles with the machine. Ran the machine at 150-170 amps continuous for a total of 12 hours of arc on time in 2 days. The garage it was in was pushing 85 degrees. It handled it without hitting thermal overload, which is pretty impressive to me. I almost hit my personal thermal overload and the torch barely handled it 😅.
Most likely someone slapped a tested sticker on it and didn’t test it. I’m sure that’s never happened. Miller is no less susceptible to employees not being reliable and honest than any other business. Like I tell my kids, what you do when people are watching is not what counts. It’s what you do when no one is looking that matters.
Luckily it paid for itself already and it still has almost 2 years of warranty lol. I hear you though. Unfortunately welders have hit the point where there is so much adjustability that a simple computer interface makes life easier and makes sense. Miller does a ok job with theirs, but many out there suck to use. I will likely be switching to fronius soon, same expensive issue with parts though lol.
Greg, it is obvious that although you dont have thousands of subscribers yet, your honesty, candor and extensive experience were enough to have a Miller rep contact you. I am sure that the rep was quite impressed with your feedback and will use it in future product development.
Honestly the guy from miller has as much passion about welding and technology as I do, I was not expecting that. He had a engineer on the phone as well taking notes I guess, I had a lot of recommendations lol. If some of those things lead to positive changes I am all for it.
Hey Greg I just wanted to say thanks for making the time to share these videos. I also have the new dynasty 210 and unfortunately it's in the shop for a bad encoder. I try to adjust the amperage and it goes all over the place. Other than that the machine is phenomenal. When I dropped it off for repair the service guy said he hadn't seen one yet. Which kind of sucks because my machine is going to be the guinea pig for them to learn on. Oh well.
Man, sorry to hear that. Hopefully that’s a standard part that will be a easy replacement. I felt the same way you did, sort of a test mule of sorts lol. I knew that going in buying a newly released product. Considering the warranty and overall performance I am not really worried about it too much. After talking with Trae at miller, he says a few new things are on the way for the machine, one of which will be a app to control settings. He gave the the overall feeling that due to corona and situation with getting hardware parts that they really didn’t want to rush any more stuff with the new release. Basically get the machine into peoples hands and see how it goes and then update stuff down the road. My opinion is I think they rushed it a bit.
Anyway, thanks for the nice comments and I am glad you found use of the content. Make sure you fill out the registration for the machine and give some thoughts in the comment section. They sent me a couple hats as a thank you. And don’t reverse the stick leads lol
Perfect video! I own a Millermatic 210 mig welder and I'm thinking of buying a Miller TIG machine . . . this video gave me SOOOO much information that I couldn't find anywhere else on the internet.
Glad it helped you. Couple things I want to mention. Miller is going to be releasing a new maxstar line which is going to include AC capability to the maxstar line. By the looks of it they are going to sell the previous dynasty as a max star welder. I am unsure if the internals will be the same as the previous dynasty but the specs I am seeing say they probably will be. This might be good because it will probably be significantly cheaper than the current LCD dynasty, and the average person wouldn’t gain much going to the new dynasty. Other than that if you have any questions on the new LCD dynasty let me know. I have used mine for a bunch of months now and it works great, and is every bit as good as I hoped.
Your 100% right on the fan noise from those other machines . I had a conversation with the Techs and said that’s unacceptable. Tig welding is a gentleman’s way of welding and certainly do not need to hear or feel all this air constantly on all the time . Everlast has a high end tig welder with a temperature controlled fan , I can work with that . The millers are very pricey, though the quality and service is there .
It is indeed a gentleman’s way of welding. The peacefulness of it is best served by a quiet machine lol. I do wish miller was cheaper, but they weld phenomenally which is why in some
cases they are worth it.
Thanks for adding conversations with miller executive , another reason to buy miller
Stick would also be important to me with dynasty
Miller is an expert in welding (as they should be) and they have customer service that is knowledgeable and excellent. The fact the person in charge of their tig division clearly understands welding is a great thing. No doubt there are things I could to do improve their products but across the board they make good stuff and they take care of their customers. Thats hard to find nowadays.
Thanks for the great video. I’m a hobby/artist welder with a Miller Diversion 180 for the past 10 years, and I’m saving for this expensive machine because of the increased duty cycle that is needed for playing around with aluminum. I weld everything with mine.
Thanks 😀. Any dynasty is a significant upgrade over the diversion. You are right, you will get a huge duty cycle increase. The biggest thing you would notice is everything at the extremes is far better. Super thin material will become far easier to weld. Thicker aluminum will be possible to weld. You have more adjustability on everything so you can make it weld the way you want. You can also use other torches easily which is nice, I tend to run flex heads or water cooled torches.
The new LCD dynasty is a awesome welder however my understanding is miller is going to be taking the previous dynasty and putting it out as a maxstar machine (the maxstar line will have a/c). For most people the previous dynasty 210 doesn’t loose much capability to the new one. If you plan on doing a bunch of aluminum I would take a previous dynasty with a water cooler and torch for the same money as just the new dynasty (if you’re looking at just the machine). It’s very easy to smoke torches on aluminum with no cooler lol.
Very good explaining and detail of this Miller welder .
Also with the parts and service with Lincoln and Miller welders are good . Other imports do not have facilities or dealers to repair these machines . Your right about those fans in the import welders are way to loud and stay on a long time , very well explained. .
Miller and Lincoln cost a lot, but having used them (and esab) you do get what you pay for that’s for sure. Something many people don’t realize with miller and Lincoln are both companies that invest millions into school programs, educational discounts, training facilities, and both employ thousands of people. People often get caught up on the “well miller and Lincoln use China parts too” issue. The fact is many parts that welders are made from come from China now, and you can’t get them anywhere else in the world so there are no other options. Having looked inside many miller, Lincoln, and esab machines I know how much better built they are than cheaper imports. Not to say cheap welders don’t work, I own a few. I can just tell you that any welder I buy that I need to rely on will be a Lincoln/esab/Miller/fonius.
I have a Fronius you need to read the manual to set the machine up the Millers are much easier !!
I will say the new dynasty is very straight forward to use. I am not really for more computers and a LCD screen on a welder but it makes it very easy to set what I want and it gives pictures of how the settings affect the weld. One day I will try something from fronius, I have heard good things they are just hard to try out and even find someone who sells them (besides online).
The Fronius are good machines very hard to set up ,I have miller dynasty 300dx from 2001 and still works fine , stick with the miller !!!!!
Have transtig 210 new already getting error messages , can not set up lift arc !!
Hi Greg, thanks for the review it has been really useful since I am in the process to get one 210 or 300. Could you please tell me how to get to the sequencer since there is no mention on the manual not on any other review. I don't use it often especially at low amps but at around 100A and above it is useful to have a softer start and stop. Before there was a dedicated button to access that function but not on the new machine.
Sequencer as to using a torch button and slope settings over a foot pedal? Fill me in and I will figure it out and get back to you 😀
Sorry I wasn't clear. How do you set up slopes with either a 2T or 4T setup (I don't use a pedal for now). In the old machine you had a SEQUENCE button on front but here you don't and there is no mention on the manual.
I can’t decide between the old dynasty 210, the syncrowave ac/dc, or this new Dynasty. Thanks for the video
So here are my thoughts on that:
The new LCD dynasty is easier to use (no hidden menus) than the previous. The program storage is nice. It also has independent ac amplitude adjustment unlocked where is the previous one you had to pay 700$ for. From a average use the new one doesn’t offer much more in actual capability. I bought new over the previous gen because I couldn’t find a used previous gen for any reasonable price. I don’t regret my purchase at all.
Now to help you decide it really comes down to what capability’s you need. The syncrowave is a great welder and with the 300$ rebate you can get the unit with foot pedal and spool gun for under 3600 with rebate (cyber weld). To me it’s main draw backs are physical size (big) power consumption (not a huge issue) and it’s ac balance only goes to 80% (I use 90% for aluminum bronze). It’s duty cycle is also not as good as the dynasty. Also, I believe it uses gas through dinse, so hooking up aftermarket torches will be a bit harder (still possible). From a welding capability it’s without a doubt solid and has enough range on everything to likely do what you want.
If you are at a high level of tig skill, the dynasty is the way to go. But honestly what it can do over the syncrowave is not night and day different for the average person. I would have no issue with 99% of what I do using the syncrowave 210 beyond the fact it’s not portable.
Also, you may want to wait on your purchase a few weeks- month. Why? Well I got word a month ago miller is going to be turning the max star line into ac/dc and basically selling the previous gen dynasty as a maxstar 😱. It will give you the ability to buy a solid dynasty 210 non LCD for probably the same or less money than the current max star. I would highly recommend that option because beyond the lcd ease of use your average person wouldn’t have any benefit to the new welder over the previous gen.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Wow, You gave me a generously lengthy response and it cleared up all my questions that I have been debating for weeks. Much appreciated Greg and the last paragraph likely saved me serious money and alot of future regret. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
@@niemdan no problem 😀. I am awaiting the concrete info on the new maxstar line myself. They may be making the 161 capable of AC output which would be awesome. 160 amps of ac power isn’t much, but for thin stuff like auto body and turbo setups that’s more than enough. The portability of the welder is unmatched and I definitely would buy one. I have a feeling very shortly miller will put the info out. They already posted a teaser on their Facebook recently 😀
Was looking at the Lincoln 200mp, mainly for stick and a bit of TIG, occasional MIG, am I right in thinking you would only pay the extra for this for the additional TIG functions, and would you really need them when you rarely do Al?
So keep in mind that multi purpose tig machines need to have AC capability to weld aluminum. Lincoln doesn’t make an all in one that can do AC for aluminum. The 200mp is a great all in on one dc output machine.
For all in ones I am a big fan of the Esab rebel series, the Lincoln units, and a few millers. Stick performance is going to be best with the Esab machines, that’s why I generally buy them. They will run 6010 rods good and 6011 as well. Many of the all in ones (Lincoln and miller both) won’t run 6010. MiG performance is honestly good on most brands. Tig tends to be best on miller machines, worst on esab. Honestly it’s none of the all in one machines are bad with Tig, it’s stick performance that sets them apart. It’s far easier to make a machine that can mig and Tig than it is to make a machine that can do those and stick weld too.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks Greg, some online are saying reliability of esab is questionable, but I do like the features, I am bamboozled by the choices, I perhaps need two machines, a good portable stick welder and a multiprocess welder, but I am limited to 230V. Which Rebel is the best for stick?
HTP (STEL) can do different wave forms on EN EP.
They make good welders 👍
The same first two options as in the Fronius iWave 230i 😁, and in a cheaper machine in which the BT pedal receiver does not block the torch control connector. 🤣
One of the things with fronius is they designed that machine with no real “legacy” equipment. Basically they didn’t need to make it backwards compatible with older equipment. Miller has used that foot pedal plug for decades so when it came to designing the wireless pedal they decided to make the receiver work with all previous machines rather than only for the current gen dynasty. I have actually used that wireless foot pedal with a super old miller machine and was shocked it actually worked. Of course the downside is they could have built in the receiver into the welder and not used the plug in one, but they didn’t. Fronius is definitely a sweet setup, and I will likely be going to their magic wave in th near future 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I thought the same thing, that they could install a BT receiver inside Miller. But don't worry, it's not so rosy with Fronius either, one and only Optrel Vision Connect mask doesn't connect either and it's under the Fronius logo and there was a problem with the refund. Customer service also leaves a lot to be desired because it was only from some engineer that I managed to get a description of the pins in the control socket. I mean service because my salesperson bent over backwards to help me. Fronius is extremely careful about the service instructions so that they don't leak out and from what I see with Miller there's no problem with that and they're quite easily available. Another problem is the mega expensive expansion options as unlocking existing functions. And the cooler for my model costs as much as a very decent TIG for an amateur and it's not that complicated and doesn't have a function for brewing fresh coffee.
Very good video. Where does this machine rank as best welder for you? And what are your thoughts on the htp welders? Thank u
Thanks for the comment 😀. So based on my use I believe it is the top 200 amp class tig welder out there. Fronius may be able to equal or best it, but spending 6k on one when I can’t find anyone who has one to try, and nobody within a hour sells them, is too much risk for me. The capability of the new dynasty are beyond anything else out there. Even with that, there are some improvements it could have. It needs a tig welding tac function for tack welds. This would be as simple as a software update. I would like to see a fronius style tig arc stop where you long arc while welding and it automatically kills the arc while keeping the post flow (when not using the foot pedal). Small tweaks will take it to the next level.
As far as HTP, I tend not to mention them but they are awesome tig welders. Their 221 invertig is a sweet tig welder and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. USA weld (the importer of them) is a hour away from me and I have dealt with them extensively (I buy most of my tig torches from them including the one on my dynasty). I thought about buying their 300 or 400 model for the price of my dynasty but their interface was not my preference. The one on my miller is far superior.
The only real thing the invertig 221 gives up is it has a single wave form (square wave) on ac, many other welders have multiple wave forms (sine, triangle, etc). That doesn’t matter much, honestly. 90% of the adjustment range on my dynasty doesn’t have much use, so the fact it can do it makes no difference. I tell everyone the same thing when it comes to tig welders, buy one that is solidly built with a good reputation, and buy middle of the road or a bit better as a minimum. Then spend the money saved over buying a high end one on metal and filler. That will make a person a far better tig welder than buying a high end one and spending 40$ on material. 😀
@@makingmistakeswithgreg hey thanks for the great reply..Honestly I don’t know what I want. Im a young combo pipe welder. I’ve worked in refinery, power plant, compressor station but I would like to do some kind of business in the future or at least extend my skill set for better job opportunity. I don’t got a lot of experience but I’ve welded some exotic metals such as different types of stainless, chrome and inconel.. I haven’t welded with a high frequency machine/foot pedal so I want to invest time in learning that mainly for aluminum. Not sure how long it will take but eventually I’m confident I can learn it. I always try to invest in quality equipment that will help me become a better quality welder so the dynasty has always been on my mind but it’s a big big investment and not sure if those extra features are worth it. I’m trying to acquire great skills and my philosophy is to have as much knowledge as possible and be able to experiment. So the knowledge behind knowing how to work those features is a great value to me but not sure if it’s worth all the extra money and if I really need it for the potential type of work. My plans are either 1)miller dynasty 300 because eventually if I get the aluminum tig down this is the machine I would like to have but I’m scared I’m going to regret investing all that money on something I might not be serious about in the future. 2)Or the htp for the simple reason that it seems like middle ground, good quality and have yet to find any bad review on it. 3)Or the prime weld because it’s cheap, a lot of good reviews, and it’s a way to test the waters early on without committing too much. I’ll be thinking about what you said. 😅😅 sorry for the rant but if it makes you feel better I subscribed and thank you for the videos on the dynasty👍🏻
@@alextremo7853 some more thoughts for you:
First, you have the right mindset and a valuable set of skills. You’re smart by wanting to learn more, because more knowledge is a good thing. If you haven’t had much experience with aluminum that’s a definite skill to add to the tool box. You would be shocked at how many people I have met that are awesome welders that are afraid of (or can’t weld aluminum). There is nothing to be afraid of, in many respects it’s easier to weld it than even steel. It just welds different. It can take a ton of power to weld too, but even that can be bypassed via preheating the aluminum.
There is no question the dynasty is a better tig welder than virtually everything else out there. The question is how much does that matter. My honest opinion is not as much as you would think. On aluminum I find a very small group of settings are optimal (60-150hz, 90-60% ac balance, square wave waveform, etc). I could weld everything from boats to turbo systems with those settings, yet the dynasty can go far outside of those parameters and even pulse. The honest fact is most of what higher end tig welders can do aren’t super useful to the average person. I did a huge amount of work with a Lincoln tig 200 which is considered by many to be garbage, yet most of the welds for that are indistinguishable from my dynasty. The main benefits of the dynasty were super low arc starts, more stable ac arc, adjustable pre/post flow, and ability to run programmable lift arc. Those are real world useable benefits, being able to run pulses above 200 a second aren’t in my opinion.
If I were you I would focus on buying a solid tig machine with a water cooler. A 200 amp class machine will smoke the tig torch without a cooler, unless you buy a giant air cooled torch. Ac puts so much heat into the torch that they don’t hold up well, and even 1/8th aluminum takes a ton of amperage to weld. Without a cooler you a 15min aluminum job will take 2 hours unless you burn up the torch lol.
Based on what’s out there i would consider a stand alone tig machine from everlast (do not buy their all in ones) or definitely a HTP. Both machines will give you a ton of capability and with a cooler will give you tons of ability to weld aluminum. Once you have gained enough experience with aluminum tig you can make the decision if the dynasty is worth buying, or if you even need it. 90% of the cost of tig comes on the AC capability end. A miller maxstar 161 sth welds every bit as good as my dynasty does on Dc, and those can be bought for 1600$ used, same thing with a maxstar 210 (around 1900). It’s the ac end that separates the new dynasty from most other welders.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg I have met alot of other welders and maybe a handful know anything about tig welding aluminum only the old school welders knew. I’m from south Texas and down here there’s alot of welders it’s like a tradition and there’s alot of competition. Texas in general is known to have alot of work in refineries pipeline power plant etc so it’s natural alot of people are going to pursue a career in this field. Theres alot of quality welders that are able to weld with a mirror, in tight spaces, messed up gaps, exotic metals etc but no knowledge on tig aluminum or titanium and this is exactly why I want to learn this skill. You got to be in the right place and the right time ready for anything where there is no real competition.
Thank you for your great reply for taking time in advising me and just for caring 👍🏻
@@alextremo7853 up here in Wisconsin good welders are tough to find, and the pay is generally way higher. A friend of mine was doing heavy plate fabrication down in Florida with dual shield and spray arc, he left Wisconsin for better weather. Well he came back to Wisconsin a few years later and got a 8$ pay bump to start over what he was making down there. The more skilled people of a particular trade are in a area the more cut throat it is finding a job. You can get a lot of people who hold back knowledge from other people because they are trying to “secure their own future”.
Anyway, aluminum isn’t that hard, literally just hold a slightly longer arc gap and push more filler. The weld bead tends to be 3 times as wide as steel or stainless, thus a simple wire dab isn’t enough metal, push a bunch in. You have to lengthen the arc gap slightly as you push so the rising puddle doesn’t jump to the tungsten. Beyond that just clean the material well before welding and practice a bunch. The real nice thing is you can take a plate of aluminum and keep running pass on pass with disregard to warping or cooling it down. It won’t heat soak and become unweldable like steel or stainless plate will be. Sure, your amperage needed will drop, but that’s a good thing, it teaches you to use the pedal to control the heat lol 😀
Greg, found your channel about 10 months ago and has proven to be very, no extremely helpful. I've been debating with myself on a quality Tig machine and I'm sort of a buy once, cry once guy. So between the Miller Dynasty 210 and the comparable Fronius iWave 230i which has an interesting torch set up, it would be great to have your opinion. My skill level with Tig is very limited but have been Mig welding for probably 10 years so either way I'll be growing into the machine, sort leaning toward made in the USA, but not myopic.
Here is my thought on that. I have used the fronius and obviously own the dynasty. My thought is the miller is a great tig welder, however given the choice on which to buy I would probably buy the fronius. I believe it is better engineered, more capable, and it has more power. The software is far better. The downside is that it has worse resale value, it’s a bit harder to find, and fewer places service it. I am actually thinking of going to the fronius and selling my dynasty right now.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Really appreciate your honest opinion, I'm not concerned about the resale value as I almost never sell any of my better equipment. I'm past retirement so this going from a crazy interest to a border line new vocation so I don't have time to start with cheap machines and "find out", I'd rather progress with a great machine and grow into it. Again I really appreciate your input, you're a terrific resource!
No problem. You really can’t go wrong with either but if you like absolute precision, completely thought out and no limits the fronius is a better option. You will likely see one on the channel soon. The battery powered fronius I have is awesome and I am sold on their tech.
Besides the amp rating, is there any difference between the 210 and the 300?
So the modern dynasty with the lcd has the exact same features between the 210 and 300. The previous gen dynasty 280 commonly came with some features unlocked (ac independent amplitude) where is you had to pay for that in the 210. The dynasty 400 had all features unlocked (the dynasty 400 has not been upgraded yet and is still the same).
I find it interesting that they can make the dynasty 300 with the same case as the 210. The 210 with cooler power supply is packed full of stuff, not much room for any more components lol.
Dude! How many welders do you go through in a month or even a week?! Lol The last vid I watched you were checking out an ESAB, before that I think it was a Fireball (or something like that) --jeez man, I can never get comfortable with a particular machine 'cause you keep using a different one. 🙂 Nice thorough vid and thanks for sharing nonetheless!
I swap out welders often, I have probably owned over 30 in five years. Honestly my favorite that I have owned is the miller maxstar 161sth. It was the high frequency tig start version. Unbelievably good welder. I have been debating on picking up a fronius battery powered unit soon. I could use it and it might be fun to play with. Time will tell 😀
How is it on the 120v plug?
I only ran it enough for testing purposes but it seems to run just fine. I believe it will tig to 150 amps and stick to 100 amps on a 20 amp circuit. I wouldn’t hesitate to run it on site/friends house who doesn’t have 240v outlet.
On a side note I just spent a whole weekend tig welding up a couple sets of axles with the machine. Ran the machine at 150-170 amps continuous for a total of 12 hours of arc on time in 2 days. The garage it was in was pushing 85 degrees. It handled it without hitting thermal overload, which is pretty impressive to me. I almost hit my personal thermal overload and the torch barely handled it 😅.
Most likely someone slapped a tested sticker on it and didn’t test it. I’m sure that’s never happened. Miller is no less susceptible to employees not being reliable and honest than any other business. Like I tell my kids, what you do when people are watching is not what counts. It’s what you do when no one is looking that matters.
Great words to live by. Everyone can (and will) be honest when someone is watching lol.
Better hope that machine pays for itself before the mother board craps out.
Luckily it paid for itself already and it still has almost 2 years of warranty lol. I hear you though. Unfortunately welders have hit the point where there is so much adjustability that a simple computer interface makes life easier and makes sense. Miller does a ok job with theirs, but many out there suck to use. I will likely be switching to fronius soon, same expensive issue with parts though lol.
Manca la spiegazione in italiano 😢😢