Tig Welder Comparison - CK MT200 AC DC TIG Welder & PrimeWeld TIG225

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I currently sell only 2 brands of TIG welders at my store at weldmonger.com.

CK WorldWide and Primeweld.

The reason I don't sell other brands boils down to 2 things:

1. Affordability
2. Customer support.

These 2 brands CK worldwide and PrimeWeld have both proven themselves when it comes to taking care of customers quickly.

Since the Primeweld TIG 225x and the CK mt200 tig welder are at very different price points, I get quite a few questions about why someone would want the CK mt200 over the PrimeWeld TIG 225x

 I made this page to answer those questions.

Video featuring the CKMT200 AC DC TIG welder

The CK mt200 tig welder has 5 main features that differ from the primeweld tig welder 225x ...and some might find these differences to be ve important.

1. Weight ( less than 40 lbs)
2. Fan on Demand and fairly quiet fan when it runs
3. Low 5 amp start amperage
4. good 115volt performance (140 amps on DC)
5. Simple settings ( very few knobs)

Both the CK mt200 tig welder and the Primeweld TIG 225x come with genuine CK flex head 17 air cooled torches with super flex cables and both machines come with a smooth SSC style foot pedal.

More Details on the CKMT200 and PrimeWeld TIG225

In my opinion, the primeweld 225 is one of the best choices in affordable tig welders.

The problem with most other really affordable tig welders is usually the foot pedal and the torch are just bad and clunky.

Primeweld went to extra expense to include genuine ck torches with superflex hoses along with a smooth SSC style foot pedal.

They also have a responsive primeweld equipment users group on facebook and also have demonstrated great customer support

Watch some primeweld videos and you will see what I mean.

Weight

The CK mt200 tig welder is quite a bit lighter than the Primeweld tig welder.   Not a huge deal unless you are going to tote it a lot. Primeweld TIG 225x is listed at 41 lbs while the CKMT200 is listed at 32 lbs.  

Fan on Demand

The CK mt200 tig welder  has "fan on demand" which means the machine is mostly quiet while not welding. Less shop noise is really nice.

The Primeweld TIG 225x fan runs all the time and does make some noise.

How much noise?  Well its not that bad...For reference, I have an Esab Rebel that is much louder than the Primeweld but neither are quiet compared to the CK mt200 tig welder with fan on demand.

Start amperage

The ck mt200 has a low 5 amp start that could be important for certain jobs.  The primeweld lists a 10 amp start which is still quite good and acceptable for most work.

For aerospace type welding, a 5 amp start is important but for general tig jobs, a 10 amp start is usually not an issue.

Welding with 115 volt power

The Ck welder runs exceptionally well off 115 volt power. I have personally welded with it at 140 amps DC off a 20 amp breaker on 115 volt power.  The Primeweld specifications list more amperage draw than the CK mt200 while using 115 volt.

Simple settings

CK mt200 tig welder has a very simple interface with fewer controls

Some people really like the simplicity of controls on the CK mt200 welder.

This could be viewed as either a good thing or not because some folks (like myself) prefer to be able to adjust every single setting.

For example, on the CK mt200 tig welder,  the Pre flow setting is fixed at .5 seconds so there is no knob for that. I like to set my pre flow higher for aluminum but back before there were pre flow settings on machines, I just bumped the pedal to get preflow started manually. But sometimes we forget little things like that.

Pulse width is fixed on the ck welder at 50% so there is no knob setting for that either. Sometimes I prefer to set pulse width lower for certain really thin joints.

The CK mt200 does not have  upslope or downslope controls that I sometimes use along with a torch switch.. but if you always use a foot pedal, this might be a non issue.

Tig torch and foot pedal

both machines come with an air cooled 17 style CK worldwide tig torch and a high quality low profile foot pedal.

Price

This is the obvious difference.

There is a pretty big difference in price since the PrimeWeld TIG225x is less than half of the CK mt200. 

Currently the CK mt200 tig welder is at $1995  at weldmonger.com

The PrimeWeld TIG 225x is at $869 at weldmonger.com but is frequently out of stock due to high demand.

Is the CKMT200 worth the difference?

Well, for some people, Yes.

The CK mt200 tig welder has 5 main features that differ from the primeweld tig welder 225x ...and some might find these differences to be very important.

1. Weight ( less than 40 lbs)
2. Fan on Demand and quiet fan when it runs
3. Low 5 amp start amperage
4. good 115volt performance (140 amps on DC)
5. Simple settings ( very few knobs)

The CK mt200 is a great choice if these features are important to you.

If these features are not all that important to you, then the PrimeWeld TIG 225x would be a great choice and a great value.

Both companies have great service and support their products.

And we here at weldmonger.com will make sure any potential issues get solved with either machine.