Under a grand gets you chinese junk.
Which works, until it doesnt.
I find it amusing that there is big thread right now in General, dissing the people who bought a $2500 Grizzly lathe as despicable hobbyists, and yet, again and again, the same people are whining about how expensive welders are, and trying to get a recomendation on which Chinese inverter welder is actually secretly "good".
Chinese inverter welders, just like 4x6 horizontal bandsaws, dont actually all come out of the same factory- but the range of quality is pretty slim, as they are all trying to meet a price point.
My advice, having tig welded for money for almost 40 years now, is either buy a used older american made transformer machine like Trboatworks did(Miller, Lincoln, Hobart, etc) , or bite the bullet and buy a new Miller or Lincoln for $1500 to $3000, depending on amperage needs.
Either will actually work, and can usually be repaired if it breaks, and will have resale value.