Anyone here have a favorite or least favorite brand of welding rods or wire?

I compared 3 brands of 3/32 7018 rods: Blue Demon (McMaster), Hobart, and Esab.

The Blue Demon brand is so far my least favorite. They splatter a lot more, are more willing to stick, and the slag looks ugly and do not peal off very good. They also smell funny.

The Hobart brand in my opinion welds pretty darn good They aren't too expensive, weld with little splatter and makes a nice pretty bead. The flux chips off with ease and covers the bead uniformly.

The Esab rods are close to the Hobart rods, but weld even nicer. They are a bit more expensive than the Hobart rods, but are worth it for important projects.