I currently have a Miller 180HD MIG, and i've been thinking of buying a TIG welder to do some projects with aluminum because the spool gun is pretty difficult to work with. I also want a stick welder for doing quick and dirty repairs on heavier steel. I've done a little bit of TIG Welding, but that was probably 10 years ago, so I don't remember much. I'd like to be able to weld up to 1/4" aluminum.

I drove over to Everlast in South San Francisco on Thursday to look at their welders, they seemed like better quality than I was expecting. I figured since they are local, if I had any issues it wouldn't involve shipping heavy machines around.

I'm currently debating between the following:
-PowerTig 210EXT (Digital)
-PowerTig 250EX (Analog)
-PowerPro 256S (Analog, TIG + STICK + Plasma)

Right now i'm leaning towards the 256S for the following reasons:
-Useful to have the plasma feature
-Higher ampacity

What has me thinking this isn't the right welder:
-It's water cooled which is great, but can I use an air cooled torch if welding at < 200 amps? And then a garden hose attachment dumped onto the lawn for the very few times I need the full 250 amp rating?
-It's analog, I don't really understand the analog vs digital thing. Is this just a difference in how you program the machine? It seems like the analog machine has almost all the settings the digital has, just no presets?

What do you guys think?

Mark