[shovelon]

A HF manager told me yesterday that the ProTIG 200 was discontinued, said that no reason was given for not carrying them anymore. He then went on to give me the company line that HF is always coming out with new and better products.

The Vulcan ProTig200 is being replaced with the Vulcan ProTig20-----. My guess is they sold out of the ProTig200.

 

[shovelon]

you were part of the original testing of the protig200.no connections for better insider info about a possible replacement?

Yes I was part of the original Vulcan testing. Little birdies say "mums the word".

 

[shovelon]

you've either said too much or too little
any timeline on that mum birdie?asking because i still have a few months on the 1 year satisfaction trial.

I was curious about the timeline as well. But it has been a few months now. Since I see inventory running out and with the disappearance on the website I would venture soon.

 

[shovelon]

I am betting you talked the little birdies add adjustable post flow to the ProTIG 20XXX

:nono:

 

[shovelon]

shame hf didn't look you up for the updated version,or did they.......

Maybe.

 

[shovelon]

Harbor freight near me sais it was disontinued due to very low sales. Too bad. Looked like a winner.

See post #38.

 

[shovelon]

I have a Protig 200 that will be less than 1 yr old in January. Will I want to exchange it, or keep it?

Astrobuf

Well if it were me I would take advantage of the one year satisfaction guaranty, get my refund, and then use the money for an upgrade of your choice. If you purchase the new improved ProTig205 then HF will be thrilled. Whether it has the same satisfaction guaranty, IDK.

 

[shovelon]

The 1 year warranty was only for the first models being sold for a limited time.

The 90 day warranty is to get past infancy failure. That was their logic. Even then it took some convincing to get them to offer warranty for purchase. Well worth it. They told me that they wanted to target the professional market and I told them I would must have 3 years to justify my ROI and tax strategies.

 

[shovelon]

If HF thought they would lose money if they sold warranties for their welders .... that's not encouraging.

So in effect buying the 3 year warranty is an essential part of the purchase. You're betting that some units won't last that long and HF didn't want the other side of that bet.

I'm looking at this from a marketing case study perspective. About the time of that extreme management turnover, I anticipated the growth that has now followed. (Kinda like watching early Ebay. A good guess on that got me most of the cost for a new car). I looked for ways to invest in HF. Nope, it remains owned by a single stockholder. Who takes all the cash out of it that HF can raise or borrow. It's interesting to watch but there's no way to buy into their profitability.

My 3 year ROI means that all the expenses involved with the purchase of tig welders are recovered within that time. So take for instance my purchase of Miller Dynasty400. Total cost to me is $9k. If I use said tig welder 20 hours a week at $80/hr, times 50 weeks a year, times 3 years I have billed $240k. Seeing as my shop rate reflects 4 times cost, that piece of equipment generated $60k. So my investment was returned at least 6 times in 3 years provided warranty kept me operating for that 3 year period. My Dynasty700 took twice as long to realize ROI but was realized within 12 months and well worth the investment.

The investment of my LincolnSW200 at $1500 including 5 year warranty upgrade was returned just shy of 3 years with 2 years warranty left. It took that long because I use it only for portable or field applications. I teach workshops with it and the HF tigs as well. Harbor Freight has me lending my beta units to the local high schools, and local universities to build their competition entries. Cal State Northridge welds their steel bridge. University of Southern California welds their off road chassis. The high schools weld their "First Robotics" chassis.

 

[shovelon]

no update on the upcoming tig205,if it's really coming?
i only have 2 weeks to return my protig200 before the 1year is up!

Only info I have is Feb 2020 seems to be the debut of the 205 and that is second hand info. The last time I remember that the stores were building inventory for a couple months before debut. In fact the debut happened before I even knew it. They wanted me to do an online video but I had to tell them maybe when the production unit was available I would consider it. They had a production unit on my floor within 2 days. The 200 would still be on the shelves if not for the settlement they made with Lincoln to discontinue production. Figuring Harbor Freight has over 1000 stores, and each store has sold at least 20 units, then you can expect that Harbor Freight manufactured and sold at least 20,000 ProTig200s.