I've heard great things about the customer support at Everlast

[dumbwelder]

I'm beginning to have my doubts.

I bought a 200DV last June and right out the gate it had an issue on AC. I mentioned it here...
http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...ng-Green-200DV

I called tech support and was given a welding 101 lesson on gas flow, tungsten, stick-out, and other things that I must have forgotten in my 25 years of TIG welding for some heavy hitters. Most recent, and notable was welding, among other things, .025" aluminum tubing for Boeing.

Fats forward to today: I am trying to weld parts for a race team heading for the Rolex24 in less than 2 weeks and the same problem persists. I spent a good hour and a half on the phone with 3 people at Everlast. the 1st two insisted that its probably related to me using 1.5% lanthanated tungsten instead of 2%. Coincidentally, while welding for Boeing with Miller Dynasty's, 1.5% was the preferred tungsten of choice for the majority of welders there, including myself.

When I spoke to the 3rd person(welding guru as described by the 2nd. 'call him') he told me what he thought the problem was and to get back to #2 to let him know. Well, the 1st time I called this morning I left a voicemail that was returned within something like 5 minutes. Now that I have a possible solution provided by the welding guru, the phone rings, no answer, I left 2 voicemails, and I get no call back. I've replied to the email sent by #2 twice, and have gotten no reply.

Can somebody please explain why it went down like this? This is costing me money

[christian]

Gee,

It sounds like your 200DV may have developed a problem that cannot be solved over the phone or in your desired 2-week time frame.

I'd send the 200DV in for repair, as it may require attention in a shop by a technician before perfect function is restored, if that's possible.

But first, get a backup welder immediately, or borrow one. The AHP AlphaTIG is only about $750, delivered, and seems to be in stock and shipping pretty promptly now.

Blaming or complaining here about why you're in your current position probably won't help you.

Utilize the Everlast warrantee.

But know that it's not a genie to be summoned for granting your every wish!

I'm beginning to have my doubts.

I bought a 200DV last June and right out the gate it had an issue on AC. I mentioned it here...
http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...ng-Green-200DV

I called tech support and was given a welding 101 lesson on gas flow, tungsten, stick-out, and other things that I must have forgotten in my 25 years of TIG welding for some heavy hitters. Most recent, and notable was welding, among other things, .025" aluminum tubing for Boeing.

Fats forward to today: I am trying to weld parts for a race team heading for the Rolex24 in less than 2 weeks and the same problem persists. I spent a good hour and a half on the phone with 3 people at Everlast. the 1st two insisted that its probably related to me using 1.5% lanthanated tungsten instead of 2%. Coincidentally, while welding for Boeing with Miller Dynasty's, 1.5% was the preferred tungsten of choice for the majority of welders there, including myself.

When I spoke to the 3rd person(welding guru as described by the 2nd. 'call him') he told me what he thought the problem was and to get back to #2 to let him know. Well, the 1st time I called this morning I left a voicemail that was returned within something like 5 minutes. Now that I have a possible solution provided by the welding guru, the phone rings, no answer, I left 2 voicemails, and I get no call back. I've replied to the email sent by #2 twice, and have gotten no reply.

Can somebody please explain why it went down like this? This is costing me money

[dumbwelder]

I just want someone to return my phone call. Too much to ask?

Also, this thing never had 'perfect function'.

[performance]

Did you call them back? Try again. They may have simply missed it. If you tried tech support, it's first, in first return.

[dumbwelder]

Mike called back last night. Like I said the 1st call was returned within 5 minutes so when I left two more voicemails and emails and got nothing, it didn't instill confidence. All is well, he is on it.

Still not sure why my 1st call was returned so quick, but he also explained the 1st in 1st out thing and how some get filtered through.

Looks like I'm going to be borrowing welders for a while.

Thanks Mark

[Doc Pete]

Mike called back last night. Like I said the 1st call was returned within 5 minutes so when I left two more voicemails and emails and got nothing, it didn't instill confidence. All is well, he is on it.

Still not sure why my 1st call was returned so quick, but he also explained the 1st in 1st out thing and how some get filtered through.

Looks like I'm going to be borrowing welders for a while.

Thanks Mark

Ya know Mike and the others really aren’t that bad. Try and get “good” service from Verizon or better yet, the “warrantee” on Ridgid tools from Home Depot. Actually, “service” from any of these Manufacturers, if it’s more than a “sales pitch”, is at best lacking. Amazon has great service, “until” you ask for something out the norm. Then, you end up pulling your hair out before you get to the “right” person.
Service, especially with these “up and coming” welding companies is something they have to learn, just like fixing the bugs in their product. They just don’t understand Service.
Interesting I was having a devil of a time to get the correct spool gun for my imig 205. The machine was right in between Everlast changing the 205 into the new 210. I was sent the wrong spool gun so much, they sent me “two” and had be describe the problem with the connector and wiring. Then I ended up changing the connect from one to the other and finally changed the wiring of that connector to make the gun work.
In the end, I had an upgraded gun that they didn’t change the price on.

Doc Pete

[christian]

You know,

You might just have pedal problem.

There is a SSC upgrade pedal for the 200DV.

I bought the upgraded SSC pedal for my 210EXT, almost immediately, even though I'm now using a CK SteadyGrip hand amptrol device.

[dumbwelder]

Alex has been great and remedied the problem. Even Mike K, the self proclaimed 'douche'(haha), did a decent job of trying to get me going again. The customer support was a little rough around the edges at first, but I am a believer now.

[christian]

Hey,

That's smokin' nice to hear, dumbwelder!

Alex has been great and remedied the problem. Even Mike K, the self proclaimed 'douche'(haha), did a decent job of trying to get me going again. The customer support was a little rough around the edges at first, but I am a believer now.

[dumbwelder]

Here we go again. Upgrade!

Thanks again to Alex for working with me on this

[wdannhardt]

So, can you elaborate on the fix? I'm trying to decide between the 200DV and the 210EXT. I don't really need the extra features of the EXT, but I'm wondering if its a more robust design than the DV.

Thanks,
Walt

[performance]

I really don't think one is more than the other.

[christian]

Maybe the OP will have more feeback soon.

But, having the 210EXT, and having used the 200DV briefly, I don't think there's any real difference in "robustness" between the two.

I mean, they're both 60% duty-cycle, which is quite robust. Mr. TIG even did a video duty-cycle "shootout" that included a 210EXT, which proved better than the published spec.

They both have the same case and size. Neither of them are lightweights. The latest, 2017, 200DV units are probably tidier and somewhat reduced in their internals now, with more digital component stuff added. The 200DV I inspected inside of was an earlier version. And I don't think the OP had the newer, digitally-controlled 200DV, which is undoubtedly better somehow with reliability or "robustness".

One big standout for me, surprisingly, was how much quieter the 210EXT, with its four fans, as compared to the 200DV. Of course, as a newbie to AC-TIG on aluminum, I did also appreciate the Triangle waveform for thinner stuff. And the memory function of the EXT is nice too. The start amps are a little lower on the EXT, but I've seen the 200DV do just fine on thin stuff, like how that guy on YouTube called PithyBikes uses his to do thin-walled bike frames.

The 2017 200DV is $1250, delivered, right now at Amazon. The 210EXT is marked down to $1600 there.

So, that's a $350 difference, which I think the added features of the EXT are worth. The EXT even comes with two torches, surprisingly. But, the 200DV is a nice value at a lower cost, too. Both units are well-rated by Amazon feeback.

So, can you elaborate on the fix? I'm trying to decide between the 200DV and the 210EXT. I don't really need the extra features of the EXT, but I'm wondering if its a more robust design than the DV.

Thanks,
Walt

[wdannhardt]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I was leaning towards the DV, but didn't realize that the EXT came with a smaller 9 torch. I really want the smaller torch for most of my lower amperage work and I'm guessing that would be about $100 add to the DV. So now the difference is only $250.

Another thought I just had was to consider the 250EX as well. Similar reliability as the 200 & 210EXT? The cost falls in the middle.

Thanks,
Walt

[dumbwelder]

I haven't had a chance to properly put the EXT through its paces yet, but initial impressions are good. The 9 torch was a nice surprise that I wasn't expecting, and as christian mentioned, the quieter fan of the EXT is also much appreciated. I was leaning hard toward replacing the one in the DV with something less wind tunnel like.

The DV was a '2016' model.

If you're using AC on low amperage, in my opinion, there is no comparison. Get an EXT. I never realized what difference 15amps could make in terminating a weld until I was limited to 20 while ramping off with the DV. Aside from that, if you're not doing a lot of low amp AC stuff, the DV might be fine for you.

My only complaint so far(which is minor) is the long back cap that came with the 9 torch is useless in a couple ways. For some reason it is about 1" shorter than 'standard' caps and won't accommodate 7" tungsten. The other reason is that it didn't secure the tungsten. I put a short piece in and when I tightened it, it was like there was no collet and it was loose. When using the short cap, it worked fine. I stared at it for a while trying to solve the mystery, but decided since it was useless for 7" tungsten anyway, I went to Airgas and bought a replacement.

I'll do some sort of review after I've gotten to know the machine a little better.

[christian]

Hey,

Looking forward to hearing your fuller impression of the 210EXT, as it's the only unit I've done any AC-TIG welding with, because I only used the 200DV on a small DC-TIG project. But, I had another DC-TIG welder for some years, too.

So, it will be nice to hear from someone that has a 210EXT and who has more experience with other AC units, so that I can be a little reassured that I'm not hallucinating at how well I think the 210EXT is for an advanced AC-TIG unit.

[QUOTE=dumbwelder... I'll do some sort of review after I've gotten to know the machine a little better.[/QUOTE]