powertig 185

[panamaguy]

We I should say powertig 144 to 650 .yes I bought a 185 through pricesmart (costco ) here in panama and when I got it home plugged it in and on low setting had 144 amps on high 650 .if I struck a air at 650 the over temp light when right on and the machine did not work . Contacted service and they thought it was a board that was bad and rushed me a new board , after I installed the board it fixed one prolbem but created another , the machine now showed on the digital display the right numbers but would not strike a arc at all . Lucky pricesmart has a 30 day return policy for full refund and then a 11 month policy were they can repair or replace .I was in the 30 days so dumped it on their lap and ordered a new one and low and behold it works great .I was very disappointed at Everlasts answer that I would have to pay shipping back to them .if a product new out of the box does not work why should their customers have to return their crap .if it works for a period of 2 to 4 weeks then craps out then I could see the customer having to foot the bill .my machine had 2 inspection stickes on the top , I am guessing one was from the inspector that checks to see if it was painted green and the second to see if the spelling of Everlast was right , I know it was not from pluging the thing in at the factory before they boxed it up . Anyway enough rant and hope this one lasts a few yrs as at $556 out the door you just throw it in the ditch because you cant afford to ship it back from this country and as of yetvno dealers here , though I did mention it to my gas suppliers

[performance]

I hate you had a problem. Out of the box issues where a unit wouldn't work at all are almost unheard of these days. However, You are in Panama. You bought it from an out of country. Different power types and reliability are of concern. Distance shipping is as well. Even though it is new, Almost all companies I know of would either 1) Instantly void the warranty or 2) Make customer pay all shipping charges due to the out of country issues associated with it, not being sold in their region.

[Rambozo]

In regions where Everlast sells directly, they do pick up the shipping for the first 30 days. Since Pricesmart did the importing, it is only right that they handle the shipping back as well. Glad to hear you got it all worked out in the end. Long distance shipping can be really rough on things like this, and often there won't be much visible damage, but if you look at the boards you will find parts ripped off and cracks in the boards, so you know the pallet or container was dropped really hard. I like when things have a shock watch sticker on them so I can refuse delivery for things that have been through the wringer.

[christian]

Yeah,

It seems pretty silly to be needlessly "disappointed" with Everlast for not offering free return shipping from all continents of the planet, for purchases made from resellers, especially when Everlast has service centers only on one continent that I know of.

And it sounds like Everlast really did give you great assistance by "rushing a new board" to your great distance, which was a real cost, though apparently not a solution.

Good thing you essentially got the same 30-day, money back (with no shipping costs), satisfaction guarantee that Everlast offers to North American customers, by shopping at a Central American store with a good policy on what they sell, even if the potential further support for the product is located in North America.

Yes, Everlast doesn't yet offer free, lifetime limousine service to the airport and express-airfare for their welding units, or a guarantee of repair or replacement times of under 30 days...

I'll bet that you do enjoy that PowerTIG 185, though.

So, please do let us all see some photos here, of the projects that your Everlast unit is used for.

[panamaguy]

Out of the country yes .....but you folks sold them to a company that is out of the country , you knew that when you set up the sales contract .so thats no excuse, there is no power difference here than in north american 60 hz , shipping distance from Florida where they shipped it from is far less than China where you shipped it from .void the warranty ? YOU PEOPLE SOLD THEM TO PRICESMART KNOWING THEY WERE FOR RESALE , and your sales staff should or would have known they were leavi g the country or maybe new sales staff should be the order of the day . If it had worked and then stopped I could see your argument about shipping at my cost , but it did not work out of the box , and what are the inspection stickes for ? saying it tested or make the customer feel good, the boxing had no physical damage and it was well packed .please stop trying to hang the blame on me , Pricesmart , panama power , skipping on your quality control

[christian]

Nonsense,

I'm just an Everlast customer, so "you people" undoubtedly doesn't describe me.

But, If I bought a welding from a company in China or South America, whether it was from the originating company or a reseller there, I certainly wouldn't demand that either one be responsible to pay the cost of return shipping to the originating company.

No, not at all.

Nor would I be needlessly "disappointed".

But if I was located in Central America or South Africa, I would do my own due diligence when buying a welder unit, and not try to blame the originating company for the action or lack thereof from resellers.

It's ridiculous for Everlast to be expected to honor their North American 30-day, free return shipping, from customers of resellers around the globe to their North American locations.

Again, you were fortunate to have bought from a reseller of Everlast products that has a 30-day satisfaction guarantee that approximates Everest's own 30-day period.

I mean, your new PowerTIG 185 is likely to function without a problem for the next 5 years and more. But do you think you'd be back here on the forum crying about a problem if you do have one, that actually calls for the unit to be sent back to North America and that it might actually cost you something to do so, much like most all of the other Everlast customers?

No, dude, you're playing the blame game, needlessly, as you don't even have a problem, and Everlast made a genuine effort to help you, yet you're still crying...

The Central American reseller undoubtedly saved you some money by buying in quantity from Everlast and saved in shipping that way too, which you undoubtedly couldn't do on an individual welder purchase directly from Everlast.

So, be happy there was a Central American reseller of Everlast products with, again, "a 30-day satisfaction guarantee that approximates Everest's own 30-day period."

Or, keep on crying...

You got a cool, new Everlast AC/DC TIG welder!

I'd be very happy right now, and I've sent a welder back to Everlast during the first 30-day period, which like with your reseller, didn't cost me anything, but there was a real cost to them...

Out of the country yes .....but you folks sold them to a company that is out of the country , you knew that when you set up the sales contract .so thats no excuse, there is no power difference here than in north american 60 hz , shipping distance from Florida where they shipped it from is far less than China where you shipped it from .void the warranty ? YOU PEOPLE SOLD THEM TO PRICESMART KNOWING THEY WERE FOR RESALE , and your sales staff should or would have known they were leavi g the country or maybe new sales staff should be the order of the day . If it had worked and then stopped I could see your argument about shipping at my cost , but it did not work out of the box , and what are the inspection stickes for ? saying it tested or make the customer feel good, the boxing had no physical damage and it was well packed .please stop trying to hang the blame on me , Pricesmart , panama power , skipping on your quality control

[Rambozo]

That's not how import/export works. Everlast doesn't do business in Panama. They were sold to Pricesmart (a US company) in the US, probably FOB San Francisco. From there it was up to Pricesmart to get them to where ever they were going to sell them and deal with shipping, customs, etc. The blame is not on you, it is more likely on the shipping carrier which was hired by Pricesmart, so your issue should have been handled by them, and in fact it was. That is exactly how it is supposed to work. If you have seen the factory videos, all Everlast machines are tested at the factory, in fact many customers bitch because their plasma torches have burn marks on them from that testing. There is a chance that the damage was during the China to US portion, and Everlast would be responsible for that, but since the machine wasn't run in the US, there is no way to tell. So the last carrier that touches it, is usually held liable.

[panamaguy]

Sorry Rambozo I disagree with you , pricesmart is not a us company itcis a Latin American company with a depot in the US . Everlast knew full well that the machines were not staying in the country .

a short as I can story . I bought a Westinghouse 5500 watt gen from pricesmart , it ran good for 15 hpurs and would not start one day , after some investigation I found no spark to the plug , simple coil died , emailed Westinghouse and they mailed , e a new coil .I installed and it fired right up but same prolbem happened at 55 hours , dug thru old emails and sent them another telling them same thing happened again , fast reply was give us your addy we will send you a new machine . Thought oh wow , send my addy and bot a reply that they did not know I was in panama . Asked if I was in a bind , I said no as I bought a new 3200 w Honeywell the other day when I was in a bind , they asked if I could be patient as they figured something out , I said sure , about a month later they phoned me from the States saying they had just signed up the DOIT CENTER (think home depot type store ) and that they would be contacting me shortly ,2 nours later I was talking to someone from Doit here in panama , he told me they just did the paperwork and needed to order and get stock in their store and it might be up to 2 months and was I ok with that , I said no prolbem , they contacted me when their stores were full of blue stuff , I had no idea how much Westinghouse sold , gens , chainsaws , weedeaters and every kind of hand tool you can think of as there was non of that in stores 10 yrs ago up home when I left .anyway they said that Westinghouse had told them to upgrade my gen from a 5500 manual to a 7500 electric and come to the store nearest me and pick it up and drop off my old one ..so who won that deal .Westinghouse got a new country , Doit it got a great product line by a company that stands up to any prolbems , and I got a upgrade .everyone came out smelling like a rose .thats how a stand up company works .I have no prolbem with anyone on this forum or any of their hourly workers, just disappointed with getting a brand new machine and it not workingvout of the box and hearing excuses , about power , panama , pricesmart etc .I was a welder in Canada from the time out of high school for others then for my self from 1991 until 2007 when at the age of 53 I said I have enough to retire , you can only do that by having happy customers that phone you time and again .I made a few mistakes in my life and fixed everyone on my own nickel , customers realize what you are made of in short order .back to Westinghouse , yes I recommend them to everyone who asks about there products .its called customer loyalty .well I am finished posting on this prolbem and like I said I gave them a second chance and ordered another unit which works fine for the whole 3 hours I have used it , I even mentioned that I showed them Everlasts website to my gas suppliers on their computers , though I can not understand why Everlasts sales team is not in a country that is growing by 6 % a yr , about 5.5 % faster than the US , trying to set up dealers here .but thats their business

[Rambozo]

Everlast makes their business decisions about where they want to sell and who they want to partner with. While is was nice that other companies partnered with DOIT center to make things easier, that was up to them. That you could wait a month for them to do that, was nice, but not exactly speedy customer service in my book. It all depends on the situation. Maybe Everlast will one day partner up with DOIT as well, as they are making some kind of deal with Home Depot. But until then you bought your machine from Pricesmart and that is who should take care of you for the first 30 days. And they did, so I don't understand why you are complaining so much. If you really think the machine has no quality just take it back and buy another brand.

BTW Pricesmart is a US based company headquartered in San Diego California, even though all their stores are in Latin America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PriceSmart

[everlastsupport]

Ditto on Rambozo comment. And I agree, If I was a reseller for a company, I am the one that sets the rules, makes it clear and takes care of MY customers. Price smart should fix it and deal with Everlast (I would bet that the two have a deal setup; I have no idea who PriceSmart is).

[christian]

PanamaGuy, you undoubtedly recognized the nice value that your Everlast unit represented, even without any Everlast service centers in Central America, and even after your initial unit was returned and you got another PowerTIG 185, instead of getting your money back.

What was the price there, anyway?

I mean, there must be no better compact, AC/DC, pulsed, AC frequency variable units available in your area that rivals the PT185 in price and quality. And that's pretty much the case here in North America too.

So, lets start seeing those photos of your smiling face alongside of your Everlast unit and some of those projects of yours...

[panamaguy]

Christian . Yes I do like the machine , have only used it about 3 hours .I do think it is good value , it is not the machine iI had in my shop up north (Lincoln square wave 355 , air and water cooled torch ) but its not 10 g either and the front panel does not look like a dash in a 747 .as far as service I might have lucked out the other day when I was in the city for a couple of days shopping .I found a new supplier , the 2 suppliers near where I live have basically nothing in their stores except bottles and 6011 for the AC crowd , not even 1 new welding machine and when I asked about getting some 5356 they said they would have to order that from the city , anyway saw a billboard and found the place , a welders heaven , probably 12 machines on the floor , all the weldi g supplies anyone could ask for .my rod , tungsten , tig finger , and a huge selection of alum and stainless material , but their welders where surprising , they are the same machines only blue , the knobs are changed around the front panel but the specs are the same exactly , same factory , only a 2 yr warranty , include all the parts , flow meter , pedal , stinger etc for $950 ,whereas I paid $536 out the door at PriceSmart , I ask the guy about servicing others and he just handed me there service buys phone number .these are sold under the Carbone name . So if I have prolbems I might not have to throw it in the ditch and dig out the old Miller SD 180 I brought down with me . Good machine but other than the on / off switch there is nothing for settings , but stilll a good stick welder. Been thinking of building a réplica of a 1908 Sears and Robuck car . Have a spare 10 hp diesel engine , may have to think about building a alum frame instead of steel now .one nice thing about being retired , nothing to do and all day to do it .hobbies , hot girls , cold beer and a warm ocean for swimming , makes all those working yrs worth it .

[performance]

Don't be confused by clones and copies. They may look the same but internally a lot of difference, not only in design, but also in quality.

[christian]

Yeah, PanamaGuy,

You got a good deal on the PT185. Interestingly, I bought a PT185 via Amazon (which ships from Everlast), but while it was in transit to me I thought I may have under-bought, as I had never done any aluminum TIG welding and thought an Everlast with more features/adjustability might be better for me, and Everlast personnel were happy to redirect the PT185 shipment back to their warehouse, and I now have the 210EXT. But I'm still impressed, from afar, with the PT185.

Otherwise, somewhat like you, I'm semi-retired and can do pretty much whatever I want. I mean, I can't afford to have something like Jay Leno's Garage, with all of those Jaguar and Lotus restoration and modification projects. But I've been doing some fun zero-turn lawn mower restorations and modifications lately, and always looking for things to fabricate in aluminum with my 210 EXT on these kind of things.

Anyway, here's the latest one, which includes some video of the 210EXT in actual use by me, even though my time and experience with AC TIG welding on aluminum is short, maybe about 3 or 4 hours, or around 100 CF of Argon, now that I think of it. Anyway, as imperfect as my AC TIG welding on aluminum is, I have no trouble getting the results that I want on projects from my Everlast unit. That fabricated aluminum shroud/gate pictured on the deck in the YouTube player thumbnail/window is one of the modifications in the video and what I used the 210 EXT for.

Christian . Yes I do like the machine , have only used it about 3 hours .I do think it is good value... one nice thing about being retired , nothing to do and all day to do it .hobbies , hot girls , cold beer and a warm ocean for swimming , makes all those working yrs worth it .

[panamaguy]

Christian , good video , one question , what was that acid you used on the deck and how does it work ? And my thought on the gas tank placement , on my cement mixer if I dont run with the hood open it gets hot enough to boil the gas , that might be one reason they moved it out of the hot zone and also with the lawsuit crazy way maybe they were scared of people refueling when the engine is hot and spilling thus a flash fire hazard

[christian]

Sure,

It's phosphoric acid, which converts rust from ferrous iron to iron phosphate. The brand I used is Jasco. http://www.jasco-help.com/product/prep-primer

Otherwise, the tank placement inside the compartment is great, with no issues, and only benefits.

Those Grasshopper engineers were just stupid to have moved the tank outside and to have included an inline fuel pump.

The Briggs & Stratton engineers had it right to begin with, and the gravity feed fuel system was more elegant, especially on this particular unit.

Christian , good video , one question , what was that acid you used on the deck and how does it work ? And my thought on the gas tank placement , on my cement mixer if I dont run with the hood open it gets hot enough to boil the gas , that might be one reason they moved it out of the hot zone and also with the lawsuit crazy way maybe they were scared of people refueling when the engine is hot and spilling thus a flash fire hazard