Everyone will probably growl at me for saying this but if you're only using it as a hobbyist, checkout the Chinatown(Harbor Freight) welders. I've worked with Miller, Lincoln, and Hobart in the past and there is no doubt they are excellent machines but the price was always the drawback. Seems like you'll be spending about $500 or more before its over with. I bought a Chinatown mig welder and it actually works pretty good so far, cost around $200. It works good for sheet metal but I haven't used it for the heavy stuff because of the duty cycle. I'm a "buy American" type of person but money talks and if you're not using the machine in a production setting it will propably work fine.

I'll just duck on out of here now, let us know what you decide just for kicks. Over and out.