MTS250 first impressions

[sshogrin]

I bought the 2015 250S with SM200 spool gun. MIG is excellent with great control arc control. TIG works well, but I'm with TheGary on wanting AC TIG option, with the inverter base, I'd think this wouldn't but that much more to ask for this unit. The stick side has great arc, especially when fine tuning with the arc force. I love the infinite control of all parameters.
Now to the spool gun. I actually wanted to do a quick repair outside, but didn't want to use stick, so I threw a roll of flux core in my SM200. It would be nice to have some type of documentation with the spool gun, so I had to tinker with it to figure it out. Once I got it figured out, dialing in wire speed was so nice since it's at your finger tips on the gun. I thought it might be a little awkward to use with the weight of the spool, but found it to be balanced well. After some time with it, I can see using the spool gun a lot more. I've got a longer work clamp cable now, so I can leave the welder where it is, put some solid wire in and use with gas, and work on stuff across the shop with easy set up.
When working on thinner stock, the 120v option is great, and makes for better flexibility. Most of the stock I'll be welding will be at most 3/8", so I don't foresee running into any duty cycle problems. Overall I am more than pleased with the PowerMTS 250S and SM200MTS spool gun.

[TheGary]

How does your burn back control work? Do you see a difference when changing it.

[sshogrin]

I see differences with adjustments, especially when used with post flow. When set to "0", and at higher feed rates, it will for sure stick out way too much, and want to push the gun away and stick when using post flow shielding. I have not adjusted it, or don't know if it is even used with the spool gun, when using the SM200MTS spool gun. I can say when using .030" flux core (no gas with the spool gun) and I had the voltage/wire speed set for some 1/8" mild steel, it seemed to act like it was burning back very similar to using the EV25 MIG torch with a 10# spool of solid and gas.