I was on the fence for a while as to if the Trek 180 was really worth the money and would actually serve my needs. I worried that the duty cycle and battery life might make this welder more of a novelty than a useful welder.
My primary reason for considering the Trek was it's off the grid welding capability. My family and friends are in to sand cars and nearly every trip some one breaks some thing and the car is down for the rest of trip. Usually a simple weld job would get the car back in to play and save the trip.
Given the cost of fuel alone to haul a trailer full of toys to the dunes the cost of the Trek 180 is irrelevant! Nothing worse than going for a week long trip and having a break down on the first day.
I considered a corded 110 welder and borrowed a Lincoln 140 to see if I could run if off my Honda 2000i generator (great little geni), but it was not near enough power neither was the 2500 watt inverter in the toyhauler. So a corded 110 welder was out. Plugged in to garage the Lincoln 140 was able to make some decent welds on my buggy frame, but had to cranked up to 95% of it's power to make an acceptable weld.
Well I took the plunge and ordered the Trek 180 any way.
When it arrived I lifted it out of the packaging and it was smaller and lighter than I expected. The out side of the Trek is made like a military style hard polymer ribbed case, very robust, I am surprised Hobart does not mention this in there description.
After charging the Trek for 2 hours per the instructions prior to the first use, I set it up at power level 6 of 10 and welded a 4" piece of exhaust tubing to a 1/4" flange. On battery power only I was able to weld all the way around with out the charge status light changing at all. The weld was better than I expected, very little splatter and very nice bead after knocking the flux off. I did not even have to grind the weld to pretty it up!
This was another concern I had, how well flux core welds would end up looking, would I need to get a tank of gas to make a pretty welds?
Other cheap flux core machines from Harbor some thing made ugly though functionable welds and I was not about to spend this kind of money for those kind of results. As already stated the Trek makes surprisingly nice welds and I am no longer considering purchasing a tank.
Back to welding, I took a couple of scrap pieces of 3/16 thick steal 6" long and welded them from one end to the other. I did this a couple of times and then turned the Trek to full power to see what it would do. Welding over the top of the previous welds I made it about 5" sweeping side to side about 3/4" wide before the low voltage light came on and I had to stop.
I was able to weld the first project and the test pieces all on one charge. No question at all I could repair any of the break downs I have had on a single charge!
The next day I decided to see how well the Trek would do plugged so I used two more scraps of 3/16 by 1" by 6" and started welding set to power level 8 I made several passes taking some breather breaks and found I could weld about three times as long while plugged in only loosely respecting the recommended duty cycle.
On battery the machine performs as advertised, but while plugged in the Trek welds hotter and for at least as long as as any other 110 welder I have used.
The Trek 180 does many things well an is with out question the most powerful 110 welder you can get, while you are not going to be able to open a fabrication shop using this machine, you will be able to most every thing the average DIY guy needs to do. This machine is quality!
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Absolutely outstanding welder. Choose your wire carefully as it seems to perform
much better with .30 wire and smaller. Simply plan on making multiple passes and
you will find that the welds are very good quality. I wouldn't bother setting it
up with gas as it's endurance simply isn't worth the trouble of all the extra baggage.
It really shines as a flux core wire emergency welder which can take on some of the
fieldwork usually reserved for big gas powered welder. Just having it sitting in
my work truck gives me such peace of mind as it can certainly tack together most
equipment problems well enough to finish the day and then properly repair it. Has
saved me many thousands in just the few months I've owned it.
I have found I can get a 1/2" weld about 4-6" long on a single charge. Takes a bunch
of passes and cleaning between them due to the light wire but we're only talking about
15 to 20 minutes of time to put a down machine back to work at least though the end of
the day.
I can't recommend this welder strongly enough.
Best Deals for Hobart 500539 Trek 180 Battery-Powered or 115-Volt Corded Portable
hi! i bought this welder because i needed a portable welder that i could use without being plugged in. i live in a 3rd floor apartment in brooklyn, so i need to weld outside and i don't have access to power when i'm out on the sidewalk. it was a toss up between this, the broco goweld, and the readywelder, but this won out because the other two aren't adjustable for voltage (unless adding or removing batteries counts) and with the other two, you will need to provide the batts and a way to charge them, and carry them. this one is a little more expensive, but i think it's worth it. in fact if you don't already have 2 or 3 other batteries around and a charger this might even end up being cheaper!!
i just took it out and welded the exhaust back together on my car. since it's fairly thin metal i had it turned down low, i probably did about 10 minutes worth of actual welding and the battery didn't die. the welds look good (for a beginner trying to use flux-core on thin, rusty exhaust pipe) and the welder performed well.
all in all, awesome. i'm glad i finally bought it!! i would recommend it highly.
**one thing hobart missed though: since it's marketed toward off-road types and can be charged with a power inverter, why not also have a 12volt charging port? it has two 12-volt batteries inside so it probably would have been pretty easy to charge them directly from automotive power. instead, to charge in your car you need to get a power inverter to convert your car's 12 volts DC to 120 volts AC so the welder can covert the 120 volts AC to 12 volts DC to charge the 12 volt batteries... even still, this welder is great so far and i plan to get a power inverter so i can charge it up where ever i bring it.
if you're on the fence, just do it!! you won't regret it!!
Honest reviews on Hobart 500539 Trek 180 Battery-Powered or 115-Volt Corded Portable
I recently bought this welder and I absolutely love it, its portability! I'm a weekend DIY (do-it-yourselfer) guy, and I have been welding for about two years now--so I don't ever get involved with anything more than 1/4" thick metal at the most. Anyway, I really like the option to be "off the grid" and being able to haul this welder anywhere (e.g., camping, four-wheeling, to a friend's house for a quick-fix welding job for them, in a parking lot, etc.). It is extremely well made, durable, and easy to setup. My first fabrication project involved upgrading the wheels (casters) on a Craftsman "creeper" that I have had forever. I wanted casters with brake knobs on them, so when I am laying underneath a vehicle using the creeper I would not roll around when I am wrenching on a tough bolt. The problem was the upgrade 3" casters with brakes that I bought from a local Harbor Freight store could not spin freely; the larger casters were hitting the creeper's frame rail. So I welded tiny, rectangular 16-gauge steel plates to cover over the existing four corner holes for a total of eight weld points (4 plates on each side of the frame), then drilled new holes just to the inside of where the previous holes were so the casters could then spin freely from their new location. The short version is the welder performed flawlessly, with good penetration, a nice even weld puddle, and sharp-looking welds, even at lower voltage using .030 E71T-GS wire. Once you get your settings dialed in for the job at hand, you won't want to stop welding with this machine.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Hobart 500539 Trek 180 Battery-Powered or 115-Volt Corded Portable
This is a very well built machine. I purchased this machine to be able to weld off grid for small emergency repairs, It does a fantastic job for that task. I have welded with it just on a 50' ext cord also and it welded great.
I have only used it for flux core use so I cannot comment on its ability to weld with gas.
I would recommend this machine to anybody needing needing to weld off grid for small repairs or can only use 110 v.
