Welder Advice Needed

John,
I started off with a Schumacher 110V 135A welder with a small (~18" tall) gas bottle. It worked pretty well, especially to get my feet wet. Several years later, I upgraded to a Lincoln 220V 180A unit and could not believe the difference. I got the Lincoln on a close out of demo units that had been refurbished and had full manufacturer's warranty. I remember about $650 last spring from an outfit in Wisconsin and that included shipping. I'm not sure what "famous name brand" that is, but my recommendation would be to skip it. If you are not in a hurry, scour Craig's list (found a good deal on a TIG unit there). Stuff pops up on occasion and if you know what you're looking for and can affort to wait, that is a strategy worth considering.
Another thing that I learned the hard way is gas bottle pricing. When I bought my new MIG, I wanted to get a larger bottle than the 18 incher I had. They were about $100 (I bought mine) and the ~ 3 footers were about $200 and I figured that would supply me with a much larger capacity. What I didn't do was ASK what the next size up (~4 foot) would cost. I was all set to get another 3-footer for the TIG and the counter guy slid me a price sheet for the bottles. The next size up, 4-foot, was only $20 more than the 3-foot bottle! When I need to refill the MIG bottle, I will be trying to see what I can do about negotiating a bigger bottle. Good luck.

Jim