Not the best photo for scale but f***ed if I was gonna hold it up AND take a photo! Use the dials and leads as a gauge, it's quite a bit smaller. Threading the wire onto the rollers from the 5kg roll is very fiddly, definitely no wasted space there.
The smaller machine (180) has a duty cycle of 35% at full whack or 60% at 150amps. So welding 3mm steel max, you won't suffer in the slightest from a lack of duty cycle.
The larger machine is 60% duty cycle at 200 amps- this is where it spends most of it's time with me and it's not overheated once despite heavy use.
I think you would love the R-tech Mig180, but phone them up and spec the genuine Binzel torch(about twenty quid extra). Though stick with 3m if you are going to be runnign mainly 6mm wire. You can also get a years free finance on the lot- I do it all the time to build my credit rating and because they don't discount for straight sales so may as well!! If you are thinking about welding ally in the future they do a spool on gun too which gets good reviews. Some videos on eBay of the 180 with spool gun doing nice welds on 6mm ally, and nowhere near it's limits.
Anbother point on the 15kg roll front- not often I disagree with Druid but .6mm on a 15kg roll is just plain silly. Bugger all saving unless you were to use a roll a month. You'll barely be using it, if the top layer goes rusty then 5kg roll is easier to remove the top layer from or replace altogether. Also much easier to swap over to .8 for larger gear. Main thing though is a 5kg machine will by it's very nature be much more portable- 10kg lighter off the bat and a heck of a space saving.
If you're ever on the mainland for a jaunt pop by and have a play mate.
