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Hi Tim,
Ive had a stick welder for about 15yrs now, it was affordable ! Ive never looked back, It has been awesome for what I use it for, Built a dozen trailors over the yrs, also built some wharehouse Frames for stock storing and a large steel framed workshop appox 7 x 4mtrs with benches etc, Plus lots of smaller stuff !
I find the advantage with a stick welder is they are cheap per inch of weld, prob atleast half, maybe a 1/3rd of a gas welder, Mig or Tig what have you, Plus stick welders are pretty much Maintainance free.
I won't be bias tho, Stick welders do have restrictions, like types of materials, mainly usable on good ol Steel, tho you can get sticks for Cast, Stainless and some Alloys, but they dont do a great job with these, but if your just working with steel, then they a great !
Migs, gasless & Tiggs very much do a much cleaner job, as they do Not produce the Slagg that stick welders do, which you have to hammer off, its a little extra work on bigger jobs but if your welds a good, the slagg comes with just a knock or two, !
Ive seldom used a tig, mig or gasless, so I dont know the ins and outs that well, tho I do know thay sometimes have probs feeding the wire which can jam if not carefully looked after & maintained ! Gass assisted welders also need attention every use, particularly with the nozzles that deliver the gas to the weld site, they need be clean all the time as the gass's main purpose is to create an enviroment for the weld burn. if its not delivered properly, it can be messy ! In saying that, A new welder of these type, would be fine for a fair while, tho it still need maintainance from day one, Only if they are neglected then many a problem will accure ! !
Hope this helps ,,
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