Welder buying guide for UK home workshops
Updated: 18 October 2026
You may be looking at a rusty gate, a thin car panel and machines labelled 135 A, 200 A or 250 A. The largest number is not the purchase. This welder buying guide uses a safer order: the process for the metal and the weather, then what the supply can support, then controls, leads and what is in the box. Current amazon.co.uk models and prices are in the [welder comparison](/hub/soldering-and-welding/welder). This page is how you narrow that table. We used the listings and public UK sources, not a workshop weld test. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
You may be looking at a rusty gate, a thin car panel and machines labelled 135 A, 200 A or 250 A. The largest number is not the purchase.
You may be looking at a rusty gate, a thin car panel and machines labelled 135 A, 200 A or 250 A. The largest number is not the purchase. This welder buying guide uses a safer order: the process for the metal and the weather, then what the supply can support, then controls, leads and what is in the box. Current amazon.co.uk models and prices are in the welder comparison. This page is how you narrow that table. We used the listings and public UK sources, not a workshop weld test. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Process | Gas connection | Supply note | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Reboot Reboot RBM2100 MAX 210 A 6-in-1 | Gas MIG, gasless MIG, stick, lift TIG | Yes | 240 V outlet claimed, with soft-start. A review says heavy plate would want 16 A. | 9.9 | about £142.12 | View offer |
| Best value |  H HZXVOGEN H HZXVOGEN ARC200 stick and lift TIG | Stick and lift TIG | No | Seller: intermittent use on a UK 13 A socket; 16 A for continuous full power | 8.7 | about £59.99 | View offer |
| Alternative |  HITBOX HITBOX HBM145 gasless 4-in-1 | Gasless MIG, stick, lift TIG, spool gun extra | n/a | 230 V stated; plug type n/a | 8.7 | about £149.99 | View offer |
On this page
What you are actually buying
Stick, also called MMA, burns a coated electrode in a clamp. It is portable, copes with outdoor repair steel, and leaves slag to chip. Gasless MIG feeds self-shielded flux-cored wire. There is no bottle, and it can work in moving air, but it is smoky, spattery and often less forgiving on very thin sheet than gas-shielded MIG.
Gas MIG or MAG also feeds wire, and it needs a gas path, a regulator and a cylinder. The shield is cleaner for workshop fabrication and thin mild steel, and a draught can blow it away. Do not assume gas because the title says MIG. In this comparison the Reboot listing is the one that clearly includes a gas hose. Lift TIG usually means the power source can take a torch you buy separately. These cheap DC machines are not the default for aluminium. If the live choice is rod or wire, the MIG or stick welder guide is that fork.
Match the job, not the amp sticker
For a gate or farm repair outdoors, stick with dry 6013 rods is usually the simpler route. For repeated beads on clean mild steel in a garage, gasless wire avoids constant rod changes. For an exhaust bracket or a sill patch, wire can be easier to place, but gasless flux core runs hot, so practise on scrap of the same thickness first.
A seller’s maximum thickness is only a claim. One listing says up to 6 mm with stick and another says 1–4.8 mm in flux-core mode. Neither figure is penetration, joint preparation or duty cycle. A 200 A title says little about stable low-current control, lead quality, or how long the machine can weld before it needs to cool. Leave this price bracket for safety-critical structure, frequent production, verified aluminium, or any repair where a failed weld could injure someone.
Duty cycle and the 13 A plug
Duty cycle is how long a welder may operate at a stated current inside ten minutes. A 30% figure means three minutes welding and seven minutes cooling at that setting. None of the twelve listings prints a complete duty-cycle percentage, so a large current display is not continuous performance.
UK mains are nominally 230 V. A BS 1363 plug takes a BS 1362 fuse no higher than 13 A. Supplier guidance often places a domestic-plug inverter around 110–130 A of welding output. Treat that as a rule of thumb, not a legal guarantee. One seller in this basket allows intermittent use from a 13 A socket and specifies 16 A for continuous full power. A FEIFANKE owner reports tripping a domestic supply above roughly 110 A. Fitting a larger fuse is not a performance setting. The welder 13 amp plug guide is the supply decision.
What must be in the box
A wire-feed package needs a liner, drive roller, contact tip and wire that suit one another. One listing pairs 1.0 mm wire with a fitted 0.8 mm nozzle, and a review describes the same sort of mismatch. A stick set needs an electrode holder and a return lead long enough for the bench, plus rods for the material and the polarity.
You need a welding helmet, gloves, covered non-flammable clothing and screening for other people. The Health and Safety Executive says there is no known safe level of exposure to mild-steel welding fume. Indoors, use local exhaust ventilation where reasonably practicable, and suitable respiratory protection where that control is not enough. A fan that only moves fume across the room is not the same thing. Inspect the plug, flex, clamps and insulation before use. In this set, about £34–£60 is mostly stick, about £70–£86 adds gasless multi-process options, and about £142–£150 adds fuller kits or a real gas path.
If you only keep one order
If the steel is outdoors and reasonably thick, start with stick and a supply the rating plate allows. If the work is repeated thin mild steel in a still garage, look at gasless wire before you pay for a cylinder, and at gas MIG only when a gas hose is actually listed. If the job is structural, or the reviews show electrical faults, this bracket is the wrong buy. Spend against the missing helmet, rods and leads, not against the largest number on the front panel.
Common questions
What should I buy first for mild steel at home?
For outdoor repairs on gates or thicker steel, a portable stick inverter is usually the simpler first purchase. For repeated garage work on thinner mild steel, a synergic gasless wire set may be easier to handle. In either case, include a proper helmet, gloves, fume control and compatible consumables in the budget. The amp number on the title does not make that choice.
Is a 200 A welder better than a 140 A welder?
Not by that number alone. A 140 A machine with stable control, sound leads, a stated duty cycle and a supply you can support may be more useful than a 200 A model with no duty-cycle data. Compare the process, the lowest usable setting, the input rating and the review record before you compare maximum output. None of these twelve listings prints a complete duty cycle.
Do I need shielding gas?
You need gas for gas-shielded MIG or MAG and for conventional TIG. Self-shielded flux-cored wire and stick electrodes carry their shielding in the consumable, so they can work without a cylinder. Gas generally gives cleaner MIG results on thin workshop steel, but wind can disrupt the shield. A MIG title on its own is not proof that a gas path is in the box.
Can a lift-TIG socket weld aluminium?
Do not assume it can. The budget machines here advertise DC lift TIG and generally omit the torch. Aluminium normally needs suitable AC TIG equipment, or a gas MIG system explicitly set up for aluminium, often with a compatible spool gun, liner and consumables. A lift-TIG socket without that hardware is not an aluminium kit.
Will a welder run from a normal UK socket?
Some inverter welders can run at moderate settings from a sound 13 A socket when the manufacturer allows it. That does not guarantee full title output or continuous operation. Check the rating plate, the manual, the plug fuse and the circuit, and stop if the plug overheats or protection repeatedly trips. A larger fuse in a BS 1363 plug is not the fix.
When is a cheap inverter the wrong purchase?
It is the wrong purchase when the work is structural or safety-critical, the supply does not match the rating plate, or reviews identify electrical faults. It is also false economy if the quoted process needs a torch, gas equipment, PPE or consumables that make a better-equipped machine cheaper overall. A low shelf price is not a complete welding kit.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources and the amazon.co.uk listings in this set, last checked on 17 October 2026.
- HSE, Controlling the risks from welding (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- HSE, mild steel welding fume bulletin (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- HSE WL3, welding fume control (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- BSI, BS EN IEC 60974-1 arc welding power sources (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- GOV.UK, Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- Jasic, TIG DC versus AC (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- The Welders Warehouse, stick welding amps (retrieved 17 October 2026)
- SIP Weldmate Autoplus 130 A (retrieved 17 October 2026)