I suppose it depends on what kind of material you're welding, for anything thicker than 3-4mm then there's really no option other than MMA or stick welding, it's relatively cheap, by far the easiest technique to learn, really adaptable, and once welded and chipped it produces a really nice heavy duty weld even when grinded. I guess it's pretty much the nautical industry standard. As far as MIG goes, It's fairly easy again, though not as strong as the MMA weld, and just doesn't look as nice I'd probably go for a nice MMA set seeing what you're using it for, though I've not had loads of experience in the matter!