I have an old Linde stick welder that I've had for 30+ years. It was my first welder and I keep it around in case I need to do something really heavy duty...

But the one that does 98% of the work in my garage is a Firepower FP130. It can be used as a regular MIG, or as a flux-core wire welder (which is how I use it). They may be a few bucks more now, but mine was $455 delivered to my door. It has a 35% duty cycle (which is very good for small welders) and plugs into an ordinary 110 volt wall outlet. It easily welds up to 1/4 inch plate steel. So far (4 1/2 years) it has been virtually maintenance free. A friend of mine borrowed it to use on a job once and liked it so well he bought one just like it. That was about a year and a half ago; he uses it as a regular MIG and loves it.