7 Best Stick Welders Reviews & Buying Guide (2019)

While a bit expensive, this powerful multiprocess welder gives you a lot of bang for your buck. As a stick welder it’s as good as it gets, and like all of its functions is rated as a high duty machine. It can draw power from 110 and 220 volt outlets, and is compatible with generators that produce at least 10, 000 watts of “clean” power.

The biggest draw is likely its ability to switch between its stick, TIG, and plasma cutting features quickly and easily with just the flip of a simple selector switch.

For raw specs, it welds a 3/16” swath on a single pass on AC, 3/8” on DC (both TIG), and a 5/8” pass on the plasma cutter.

Rounding things out is a 30 day money back guarantee, and a 5 year parts and labor warranty, so you can subject it to as much of a pounding a you need to to get the job done. It’s even movable in a pinch, though a bit on the heavy side (60 lbs) to be called truly “portable.

You can’t go wrong with this model no matter your purpose.

The first thing to note with this unit is its lightweight and rugged construction. It weighs only 13 lbs, and takes up about as much space as a small toolbox or tacklebox.

While only sufficient for light duty, due to it running on DC power only (though is a dual voltage 120 and 240 volt machine), it is eminently portable and great for small jobs on steel or cast iron constructed items. Unfortunately AHP Alpha-160ST doesn’t do TIG welding, so materials like brass and aluminum are out, but its low price makes it a good option for any welder who only needs to work with steel and iron, or for anyone who wants a small, portable backup machine for smaller jobs so they don’t have to haul around a bulkier multiprocess or dedicated TIG/MIG welder.

It is possible to hook up gas and a separate TIG torch to get some of that functionality, it’s not really recommended given it can only draw DC power in the first place.

For what it is this is a reliable, cheap stick welder for a do it yourselfer, hobbyist, or professional looking for a machine for a specific purpose.

Similar to the Alpha 160, this is a very small and maneuverable (16 lbs, about the size of a lunch cooler) machine. It’s a dual voltage 110 and 230 volt package, and also like the Alpha 160 is only a DC welder.

While a bit weaker, it is also very cheap, and comes with a  number of good safety features: a “smart fan” that only turns on when the machine is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, over and under voltage protection, over current protection, and overload protection. This makes it perfect for job sites with inconsistent power output (shoddy generators, or power in developing countries) or when working with unknown factors in regards to power. It has enough protections to make it safe to use under most conditions, and if it burns out it’s a tenth the price of a heavy duty machine so it isn’t as much of an issue to replace.

While not the best all around machine on the market, it fills a fairly unique niche as an affordable and portable stick welder.

By far the cheapest option on this list, but a great option for beginners. It is a combination “MIG” and stick welder, though doesn’t require shielding gas like a true MIG welder.

For how weak it is overall it’s quite heavy (41 lbs), but movable enough for most purposes. It is a single voltage, 120 volt and 125 amp machine with enough power to finish out small projects. While it doesn’t work with most materials, between the MIG and stick functions it covers steel, stainless steel, aluminum (MIG only) and cast iron (stick only).

The maximum single pass it can weld is ¼ inch, fairly small for the average. This makes it fine for smaller jobs, but it doesn’t scale up very well.

While not recommended for an experienced welder with heavy duty needs, the Forney Easy Weld lives up to its name, and is a good machine to learn how to weld well enough for hobby purposes.

Similar to the Alpha 160, this is a small 13 lb dual voltage (110 and 220 volt, 140 amp) unit that is perfect for small jobs, hobbyists, simple repairs, and home garage work. While being a bit larger than the Alpha 16 (taller and longer, but thinner) makes it harder to store, it also makes it easier to move around due to its shape, making it a bit of a trade off.

While it can’t do aluminum, it ends up as a perfect all rounder machine that is used primarily for art projects and small repairs, and is favored by professionals as a cheap machine to keep around the house.

Variable amp adjustment (30 to 140 amps), easy voltage switch over, and overheat protection (it will automatically and safely shut off if the machine overheats) round out the package. It doesn’t have many special features, but for the price (one of the cheapest welders on the market) it does what it says it does and does it well.

The above confluence of features is what makes it perfect for farm use. Day by day you never know what you’re going to need to do on a farm. Fence repair, broken wheelbarrow axle, some side project you’re throwing together for a single job, you name it and it might need doing.

While the Everlast Power Pro is a tempting option to go with for its power and multiprocess functions, it’s also bulky and would be difficult to drag out into the middle of a field. The Prime Weld is about half the weight and bulk of the Power Pro, 1/3 of the price, and still does TIG and stick welding, the most important features you’re likely to need (a plasma cutter is nice, but is less generally useful).

The 3 year warranty and 7 day customer service push it over the edge as the top option for farm use, since never knowing what’s going to go wrong next includes when your welder is going to break down when you need it most.

As might be expected, one of the cheapest options on the market is the perfect pick for someone just starting to learn welding. Everything that makes this the best cheap welder makes it great for beginning, not least because it’s so cheap. Less of an investment in money means if the hobby isn’t something you want to do long term, or if you end up just hailing it out once in a blue moon, you’re not out much money.

Combined with it being specifically designed to be easy to use above all its other functions, and it’s an easy choice. A few other items on the list came to mind (the Alpha 160 and Prime Weld especially), neither quite hits the same intersection of low price point and versatility that this option does.

Easy to use, basically risk free, and small enough to easily stow away in the garage when it’s not in use. Perfect for this purpose.