Transformer welders have come a long way in the last 50 years. With a high-quality welder, you can achieve an impressive level of efficiency while maintaining a fairly stable arc. It’s nothing, however, compared to inverter welders. Many inverter welders are up to twice as efficient as their transformer counterparts. For instance, the Lincoln 160-T uses half the amperes compared to a transformer welder to reach the same amount of volts. For this reason, many inverter-based welders can run off a normal house socket so you don’t have to find a big ol’ 220V plugin or buy a generator.
For a long time, inverter welders could only supply direct current (DC). While they had a much more stable arc than normal DC transformer welders, there was only one option for AC welders. Today, inverter welders can rock both AC and DC (ah, ah, see what we did there?). Because inverters are more efficient, they can produce a more stable arc. For this reason, inverter welders take the trophy for both efficiency and stability.