Kevan,

I don't have any personal experience with any welder, but have researched this quite a bit after completing my welding course. Everyone suggest getting a larger welder then you think you will ever need...so for most people it is a 220V welder. These run pretty pricey ($600+) I would say this is a good route. Keep with a name brand one(Miller, Hobart, Lincoln) You will do just fine with about anyone of those.

As for other tools, look at what you plan on doing in the near future then base you purchases off that.

I would suggest starting with a chopsaw, a angle grinder and what not. If you dump money into a nice welder, you can get by with a harbor freight chopsaw and angle grinder. They should last you a little while, although not as long as a good name brand one(Milwaukee, Makita, Porter-Cable, etc..)

From what it sounds like you are doing, don't worry about a tube bender/notcher. You aren't quite to that task yet. Keep it simple. Get use out of what you have. When/if you look at doing a cage then you can start to look into these other tools. In the meantime, for small things that need to be bent I am sure you could go to a fab shop and have some do small bends for you, without getting too expensive.

This can be an expensive undertaking, so if you start with the basics and add as you need/get the money you should be ok.