I had a Clarke 135TE for a bit - about £250 IIRC - was fine for anything from 1-3mm, but didn't have the beans for anything thicker or the finesse for anything thinner. Wouldn't touch gasless personally.
Now have an Esab caddy 160, worlds apart. Much easier to use, much 'smoother' (hard to describe), more consistent, copes with thin stuff perfectly. Really glad I upgraded.
If you can get something a bit better, you'll be much happier with the results...