Aside from how various machines perform some features, or lack thereof, can really make things easier over time, or bug the crap out of you.
On this Snap on I used
It's a little beat up but it welded great. Strong duty cycle and did not wimp out and break up on some long hot welds of several minutes straight on a OTR car trailer. But it is a 250 amp machine, bigger than most need.
The one little thing that bugged the crap out of me is that it did not have a handle on it. Rolling it around was a pain in the ass with no handle and left no good place to hang the torch hose. Hanging it on the side as shown, I found inconvenient.
What I really thought was a neat feature is the plug on the back
It allows you to just make cords how ever long you need with only one plug.
Anyway, just a couple of little things that can make a big difference over time.
I think that Century Electric makes Snap-On as well as Craftsman. The Snap-On sticker will cost you about a 30% premium, Craftsman sticker about 20%.
D. Tillery