They are good for hobby shops and cutting 26ga sheet. Tend to burn thru consumables quickly. Thats where the cost savings is lost. We see quite a few of the Firepower, Air Force and Spectrums, where the customers are trying to cut more than sheet metal or are constantly having consumables burn out. JMO

Hello devo, sorry to be a little late to respond to this. I believe the main thing that you need to consider with one of these types of machines is their thickness limitations. They are mainly geared towards the sheetmetal industry or autobody type work. Another comment I would include on these would be to stick with name brand units, I believe Lincoln, Miller, Hypertherm, Esab, Thermal Arc, all build a model or two that fit into this category. They are all making strides into becoming better machines with better service records and performance characteristics. I have used a few of the above mentioned machines, however I don't have any of them in my shop or readily available to see how they hold up in the long-run. Hope this helps a little bit and hopefully you will receive some responses from owners of this type of equipment. Regards, aevald