(Most Bang For Your Buck?) Yeswelder MIG 205 DS Review (2024)

So you’re a novice beginner welder.

And you’re imaging what’s it’ll be like to do your first weld. And be proud of your first repair.

But before you get there you’ll need to pick and buy a welder.

You’ve stumbled across the Yeswelder 205 DS MIG welder. And you’re wondering if it’s your secret welder weapon.

As a multi-process welder it seems insanely good value for money.

Or are you an experienced welder? You’re already killing it welding. And you’re thinking this could be a useful spare welder?

When you’re starting out. Or a pro, look closely.

And you’ll find something in this welder for you.

Pros Of The Yeswelder MIG-205DS

Cons Of The Yeswelder MIG-205DS

*Disclosure: This document contains affiliate links. And at no extra cost to you this site earns a commission through these links should you decide to buy.

Yeswelder MIG-205DS

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Use the Table of Contents to jump to the sections you’re interested in. Or explore this post from beginning to end and enjoy the journey.

And check out all the points demoed with pictures.

Yeswelder MIG DS Welder Specs Chart

Review And Overview Of The YesWelder MIG 205 DS

Below you’ll find comments on the key must knows about the 205 DS.

Grab a coffee. Draw up a chair. And enjoy the post.

What Do Users Of The Yeswelder MIG 205 DS Think?

It’s a crucial need to know.

When you’re reviewing if this welder is for you it helps to appreciate what other owners think.

Here’s a roundup of the main comments.

Yeswelder 205 DS MIG Welder YouTube Video

Here’s a detailed and specific YouTube video on the MIG 205-DS. Mike Festiva goes into some interesting aspects of this multi-processor welder.

Including some of the first test welds. He does welds flux core, MIG with gas and TIG welding with this Yeswelder.

You’ll find the video is 24 minutes 50 seconds long. But worth a watch while you’re getting things figured out in your head.

YESWELDER MIG 205 DS Welder Review

Video Credit: Mike Festiva

All About The MIG 205 DS Duty Cycle

The duty cycle is pretty impressive for the cost of this MIG welder. And that’s mainly due to its inverter technology.

You get 60% on both 110 volt input and 220 volt input.

205 DS MIG Yeswelder Weld Output Controls

You control your welding magic on the front panel.

You’ll find the MIG-205 DS controls are straight forward enough. Though they do take a little getting used to.

Setting Your 205 DS Wire Size

When MIG, Flux Core or TIG welding, there’s a button you press to set the welding wire size. Press and the light toggles between 0.023, 0.030, or 0.035.

You’ll find only 0.035″ is available to you when you pick gasless welding with flux core welding wire.

The arrow in the picture above shows you the button.

Setting Your MIG 205 Method Of Welding

You’ve a separate button you press to toggle to the welding you plan to do.

You press for MIG welding with 100% Carbon Dioxide shielding gas.

Press again for your MAG setting. This is for your MIG welding with 75% Argon, 25% CO2.

Again for stick welding. The small picture on the front helps.

And press again for your lift TIG.

And the final press is for your flux core gasless welding.

The arrow in the picture shows you where.

Sending Your Gas Through And Feeding Your Wire

Moving along. You’ve two buttons one above the other.

The top button marked gas.

You use that to send some of your shielding gas up your hose to your MIG gun. You use this to test your gas is feeding through ok. For your before welding feed of gas.

The button below that you press when you’ve loaded your welding wire. And you’re ready to feed your wire up to your MIG gun. Press and your wire feeds. Press and hold and your wire feeds faster.

Your 205 DS Weld Settings

The button top right controls and moves you through the display to the left of the button.

The button cycles round for the different weld settings you can choose.

The red square in the picture above shows you the switch.

Around the display you’ll find LED lights.

Top left LED by the letter A for amperage. When you pick your Amp setting. The Yeswelder MIG automatically selects the voltage and wire speed to match.

Bottom left LED light is for your metal thickness. Unfortunately for us American’s it’s in millimeters.

And you’ll need to find yourself a cheat sheet. As there is nothing on the welder and little in the manual to help.

The top right V is for setting your voltage. The voltage is automatically set for your Amperage. But you can adjust up or down by 10 points.

Bottom right is the LED for your welding wire feed speed. The wire feed speed is set automatically but you have the option to adjust up or down by 10 points. You’ll have to gauge how many points up or down you need for your workshop situation.

The knob under the display, bottom right is how you adjust the values.

The red arrow points to the knob.

2T And 4T Button

A neat feature is the 2T and 4T button. And this controls how you control your trigger on your MIG gun.

Your 4T setting is for those who are doing continuous welding for a long stretch. And don’t want the strain of holding pressure on your MIG trigger. Picking this mode keeps your MIG torch welding till you switch the button off.

Unless you’re into that sort of welding you’ll have it set on 2T for much of your welding. There you control the on and off of your MIG gun through the trigger on the torch itself.

What Comes In The Box With Your Yes Welder 205 DS MIG?

You’ll of course find your MIG-205DS.

And along with it …

Your MIG Gun With 10 Foot Of Hose

You’ll find you’ve a decent length of hose to your MIG gun at 10 ft. And the welding gun itself is of reasonable quality.

The quality of the weld gun is certainly good enough to get you welding. And laying decent beads.

And because it has a Euro connector on the end. You can buy a better replacement gun on line. If you decide to further down the track.

The contact tips and nozzle are Tweco style. And that means replacements are easy enough to source online.

A Stick Welding Electrode Holder With 10 Foot Of Hose

Your stick welding stinger is of fair enough quality for the price of the welder.

It holds the electrodes well. And if you do find yourself burning your electrode holder out. You can always get yourself a replacement down the road as it has Euro connectors on the end.

A Ground Clamp With 10 Foot Cord

The clamp you get supports up to 300 Amps. And it’s certainly fine to get you started. But don’t be surprised when you decide to get yourself a heavier weight ground clamp.

If you want to you can easily replace the one that comes in the box.

An Adapter To Switch From 110 Volts To 220 Volts

The power cable that comes off the Yeswelder MIG DS has a 110 v plug on the end.

When you’re ready to switch it up. And input 220 volts you simply plug it on this adaptor. And you’re ready to go.

The Other Bits And Pieces In The Box

You get a couple of contact tips. They are Tweco style. And it’ll be worth your while buying some contact tips at the same time as your welder.

You get an 0.030″ contact tip in the box. Plus one on the MIG gun. Along with a 0.035″ contact tip.

You get two drive rollers. One W-type for your flux core welding wire. The other V-type for solid welding wire.

You get a hose for your gas of about 6 foot in length.

You’ll see a chipping hammer and brush. It’s not up to much and you’ll quickly throw that in the bin. Get yourself a decent chipping hammer. And a scratch brush.

And there is of course the User manual.

More on that later on in this article.

Metals And Metal Thicknesses Welded By The MIG 205 DS

You’ll find your MIG 205 is strictly for welding mild, low carbon steel. Or stainless steel. Whether you’re welding flux core. MIG with shielding gas, stick or lift TIG. It’s steel all the way.

And this is because the inverter converts your power input to direct current only.

Mild Steel

You can weld from 24 gauge to 3/4 inch.

Stainless Steel

Same, 24 gauge to 3/4 inch.

Aluminum Welding With The YesWelder 205 DS

You’ll find that there’s no spool gun you can buy to put onto the MIG 205 DS. So welding Aluminum is not supported on this Yeswelder MIG.

Trying to weld Aluminum by pushing soft Aluminum up 10 foot of hose to your torch. Will cause you no end of frustration. Even with a Teflon liner.

Never mind the very real prospect of a bird’s nest of Aluminum wire inside your Yeswelder’s cabinet.

Try if you’re feeling brave.

If welding Aluminum is not your thing then you won’t care about this cross in the Aluminum welding check box.

Feeding Power To Your Yeswelder MIG 205 DS

And this has got to be a plus when you’re looking for a multi-process welder you can also run dual volt.

You’ll can power your Yeswelder MIG 205 110 volts. Or 220 volts.

Perfect for you if don’t have 220 volts in your home workshop.

And in the box you get a power adaptor for those times when you want to weld thicker metal gauges. And can take your welder to where you can get 220 volts.

Or you plan to upgrade your power to 220 volts at some point in the future and you want a welder with the flexibility.

Put in a 35 Amp fused socket so that you can go up to 160 Amp on 110v. Without blowing a fuse.

And put in a 50 Amp fused socket on 220 volts to get up to the max 200 Amp welding output.

Yeswelder MIG 205 Wire Size And Types

Flux Core Welding Wire:

0.035″ diameter flux core wire only.

Mild Steel Solid MIG Wire:

0.023″ , 0.030″, 0.035″

Spool Sizes You Can Put On Your MIG 205

You’ll find it’s a good idea to order yourself up some quality welding wire. Or stick rods at the same time as buying your Yeswelder MIG.

Because you’ll won’t find any spools of welding wire in the box when it arrives.

You can buy and use reels of two pounds (four inch) spools of welding wire. And put that on.

Or ten pound (eight inch) wire spools.

Wire Feed

Your Yeswelder MIG DS adjusts the wire feed speed when you set your welding amps and volts. But you can adjust the automatic settings up +10 or up to -10 down.

The Wire Feed Drive System On The MIG 205 DS

You’ll find your wire feed system is typical of many of the foreign made welders. Although this one is a metal wire feed, not plastic. And so is better quality.

Stick Welding On Your MIG 205 DS

Your electrode clamp for your stick rod is firm enough. You shouldn’t see your rod slipping out of the clamp.

You can use 7018 or 6011 electrodes. You may find 6011 electrodes difficult to start and do better with the 7018s.

You can weld up to 5/32″ steel with the 7018 or 6011 electrodes.

Lift TIG On the 205 DS MIG

One thing to note. Is that you buy your Lift TIG gun separately. It doesn’t come as standard with the welder.

So if you plan to try some TIG welding then factor that into your budget.

And it’s a lift TIG. And this means there is no foot pedal to control the on and off on your TIG gun.

You start your TIG weld by the contact of your tungsten onto your metal. You lift a small ways and weld. Lift further away and your arc stops and stops your TIG weld.

You’ll find the sensitivity of the lift TIG is pretty good on the YesWelder DS 205.

You won’t have to lift by an excessive amount to stop your TIG welding. Unlike some other lift TIG welders on the market.

Yeswelder MIG 205 DS Manual

You’ll find 13 pages in your manual. And reading it will make a native English speaker laugh out loud.

Because it seems like someone made a direct translation from the native Chinese.

You’ll discover it’s a mish mash of imperial and metric measurements. Which is just irritating for the US market. And unfortunately like a lot of Chinese manufactured welders the manual is basic.

And so you’ll find YouTube a good resource to mine.

And don’t forget to enlist the help of your more experienced welder buddies.

Here’s a link to the YesWelder MIG 205DS Manual so you can download a copy yourself.

You can read ahead of making your decision on buying the MIG 205 DS.

How Portable Is The MIG 205 DS?

Pretty portable. For a welder that can weld up to 200 Amps you’ll find it’s handy size wise.

And you should save yourself trips to your back therapist. It’s 20 x 11 x 16.5 inches in over all size. And 33 lbs. in weight.

Pretty good for a multi-process welder under $500.

Who Makes The Yeswelder 205 DS MIG? And Is the Brand Any Good?

You’ll find the Yeswelder brand owned and run by Zhejiang Xingyi Ventilator Electrical Appliance Company Limited. A company established in 1994.

And so that makes the MIG 205 DS a Chinese imported welder.

Zhejiang Xingyi is head quartered in a town called Zeguo. In the city of Wenling, in eastern China. The company manufactures a large number of brands and electrical products. Products that are outside the Yeswelder company and brand.

Yeswelder sells MIG, TIG and multi-process welders, Plasma cutters, helmets, goggles. The list grows and grows.

They sell and distribute to the USA, Europe, Japan and Australia. And have quite a worldwide presence.

Is the Yeswelder brand any good? Zhejiang Xingyi holds ISO9001:2008. An international standard for quality in their manufacturing process. That should give you some faith in the build quality of the Yeswelder MIG DS.

You’ll find a check of their trust pilot page shows more than 80% of the reviews posted there were positive. Here’s a link so that you can check it out yourself and see if that’s changed. Here.

205 DS MIG Yeswelder Warranty

You’ll get 1 year’s warranty.

So ok this is not the best warranty out there. But for the cost of the welder it’s ok. And there are options to buy extended warranty.

If the length of warranty would keep you up at night then invest in the extended warranty for backup.

Look for the option where you buy your Yeswelder.

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