I've owned a hobart 250 for 20 some years now, love it, that being said out of all the rolls of wire run through it the only thing I've ever done was put a new gun liner in it besides tips, I have no idea how many rolls its eaten, maybe 200 maybe more. I've also got a miller suitcase feeder for my bobcat, love that was well for shielded wire we use outdoors. I went to a welding clinic and tried every make model of welder on the market when I was going to buy one, then when I had it narrowed down I went back and ran about three side by side for hours and ended up buying the hobart, I've never been sorry since, but go locally and get someone to do that for you, if you have nobody locally then figure out who is the closest to you to do business with and if they are any good and provide service, if no service then shop elsewhere, service is the key to anything. Aslo look at duty cycle and make sure you don't exceede it, I've burned up several stick welders by going over the duty cycle and I made sure when I bought a wire welder it was a long enough duty cycle, my suitcase feeder is 100% at 100% power or I can run it continuous forever if I wanted at full power, my hobart is something like 80% duty cycle at almost full power, about the highest of the welders I liked. Also different wire runs better in different welders, I have tried them all and two brands I like the best, a cheap wire and also a higher priced wire, the top of the line wire I hated and took back the remaining rolls I had, keep that in mind as well. I bought my hobart with the hobart gun and love it, I didn't like the top of the line gun they wanted to sell me though, it had twist in tips which would have been nice but it didn't feel right in my hand, the hobart did and I bought that instead, miller didn't fit right either. As for buying used, I'd go new and get on with life, you get a warrenty and for what little more it is be the only one to own it and know its never been abused or had problems with it. I"ve run them all and for different applications I use different welders but for the shop its my hobart, I know of several repair shops to use only hobart machines and they love them as well, its about like chevy vs ford thing, its what you like and get used to, best of luck