I've been wanting to teach myself welding for years. I saw this, and saw it had a lot of good reviews, and it was cheap enough that if it turned out bad I wouldn't be out too much. Well, it turned out to be pretty good! I bought some 7018 rods and got some scrap steel and started playing. (NOTE: I also bought - separately - a good welding helmet, some welding gloves, some steel spring-loaded clamps, etc.)I played around with the current settings and striking the arc. Found the sweet spot for these rods around 83 Amps. I have no technique to speak of yet, but the unit functioned well enough and was forgiving enough of my total lack of experience that I was able to walk in both current and feed rate so by the tail end of my first rod I had found a groove and made some welds that actually looked "ok" and held well against me trying to break/pry them apart (couldn't.)The unit comes with cables only, you'll need everything else. Remember two things: This unit welds at an open-circuit voltage of 62 Volts DC. You CAN electrocute if you're not very careful. And be sure to get a real welding helmet with the rapid-response auto-darkening lens to help you avoid flash burns and skin damage from UV (I watched a friend weld about 40 years ago, from about 10 feet away, with no eye protection. Had to go to the hospital early the next morning because of corneal flash burns. Don't let that happen!)If you need a very light-weight, small, portable little welder, or if you're just starting out and want something inexpensive to try your hand with, this is a great starter unit.