For those who weld What is a good all around welder for the beginner?

why screw around millermatic 210 should do the trick

how about a welder in the $300-$500 range. 1700 is a little steep

Your best bet is to buy yourself a used Hobart mig welder. It will last you damn near forever. You can buy small tanks so they are easily portable to fill up. My own personal experience is that the miller welders aren't worth their money. Everyone has their own opinion but I feel the older style hobart welders will serve your money better. You'll find they are still pretty expensive but well worth the money.

I forgot to mention. I don't have a garage anymore so dragging out the big welder is somewhat a chore so I bought one of those small raceway or speedway welders from ebay. It's a small green gasless mig. I bought it simply for small crap like exhaust work and stuff. It was only $120. I tried it out not expecting much out of it with it being gasless but holy crap. I burned right thru 1/4 steel welding the seems together. I figured it would just glob up on me. I actually had to switch it to low for my exhaust. It will never come close to a real gas mig but it's was worth the money. Actually it was worth the money just so I didn't have to get help to lug the big one out of the basement. Just a thought. Not sure what you need it for.