Longevity 250PI review by user

by Tim M
(Tim M)

I have a Longevity 250PI, and use it occasionally. I am not a welder by profession, but do care about doing things the right way. I learned on a Lincoln Precision TIG and a Miller Dynasty. The Longevity is a reasonably good machine, and I routinely use it to do pretty good welds - but if you are a professional, it's bizare quirks will turn you off. For instance:

(1) if you use a pedal - the digital current display does NOT show the current range. You set the current range using a knob on the back of the pedal.

(2) the gas fittings are a bit strange - 8mm push-lock connectors to the Argon, supplied regulator comes with hose-barb.

(3) Manual supplied at the time wasn't really that useful - and the website had user-supplied manual supplements. They were still sort of new on the market at the time - and at least this showed that they cared about making the manual better.

(4) Torch did have plumbing for water cooling, which seemed sort of higher-end - but the torch isn't very rugged. I use it infrequently and treat it gingerly, and it still is starting to come apart on me.

(5) Some of the settings for pulse mode will default back to non-pulse mode at lower settings. For instance - if you set the pulse rate to a low frequency, you get constant current. Makes you wonder about what else is not working like you thought it was.

(5) For a hobby user such as myself, it's pretty nice, and if you compare features, it is inexpensive compared to bigger brand names. And as I saw it - having a cheap Chinese welder is better than not having a welder at all.

Also, my professional welder friends warned me about using this machine for plasma cutting - you can use it for that purpose, but plasma cutting is pretty hard on the power supply, it tends to not last as long as a similar machine used only for TIG.

Just my 2-cents worth