Same here. My welding table is a piece of 1/2 inch road plate sitting on top of a Harbor Freight cart.
Don't know about better. But definitely heavy. I always wear steel toe boots when I move it.
I've not been formally trained as a welder, nor am I certified. But, I do a fair bit of welding in my shop, MIG and TIG. One of the great joys in my life has been to think up (or copy) a project and weld it together. Over the last year or two, I've made a bunch of "stuff" to support knife making. That's the thing - welding is the tool that allows you to make stuff - so you can do other stuff. Welding opens up all kinds of possibilities.
IMHO I don't think so. Both are bright. But, you hit on one of the Key welding issues - being able to see the molten puddle, and wire as it enters the puddle - in addition to seeing the joint near the weld. Here's my rule: if you can't see the puddle clearly, you can't weld properly. For an amateur welder like me with aging eyes, that means buying the best possible electronic hood you can afford. A cheap (e.g. Harbor Freight) hood will be marginal for many folks. The hood needs to have a shade setting (light/dark) and time after arc setting (speed that the shade is triggered). Advanced hoods will also have grinding and torch modes, important features. A reasonably good electronic hood will start around $150-200 & go up to over $500. With my eyes I finally took a deep breath and got a 3M Speedglas hood, amazing performance. I also use a cheater magnifier lens inserted inside the hood, that helps with my near nearsightedness & bifocals. Getting the proper hood is a personal fitting issue - young eyes may tolerate the traditional non-electronic fixed shade lens, but us older geezers (and many others) will absolutely need/want a good electronic hood.
It is one of those situations where I think I need to find someone with a small TIG I can try before wasting a bunch of money. I'm going to break out the gas unit and try my two torch sizes to see how I can do before I go after an electrode method.
FWIW, for me TIG has been significantly more difficult to learn than MIG. However, it seems most profession welders prefer TIG over MIG for a host of reasons. TIG seems much like rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time, there's a lot going on, all of which are important. TIG really shines on non-ferrous metal and delicate parts.
