Had many excellant replies and someone had requested info. about what I would eventually settle for. Well after shopping around one thing became obvious. Either pay a small fortune for a machine that would handle any job,present or future,or settle for one that would get me by. So being the illogical igernant hillbilly that I are,I compromised!!! Let me say that I have found it true that you should go with a 'name' brand,thats been my experience,( if it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all), so I chose a Lincoln weldpak 3200HD. It's a flux/mig with 25-135 A output and they advertise it to fluxweld up to 5/16 which suits my needs. It's a 120 V model and the only drawback (maybe) is that it has a low cycle or duty rate. Should be a decent machine for occasional use. Just figured that if I need more welding capability for thicker steel I would get an arc-welder later. It comes with the gas regulator for mig,hand shield,tips,wire,,,. And yes you are being too nosy to want to know how much I forked over for it Little under $500.00 . Haven't used it yet so I hope I won't be cussin to bad.