self darkenng welding helments

Charlie M

Well-known Member
I'm an amateur welder and I'm thinking a self darkening helmet would be a big help to better see what I'm starting. I see prices vary all over the place for them. Is a higher priced one any better than a cheaper one and are they even worth having. I currently have the helmet that came with the welder - its a Lincoln stick welder.
 

I've got a harbor freight 39 dollar one and a Miller Elite that I paid too much for... the Miller has a little more adjustment but the HF does just what I need. Try the HF first, then later if you upgrade give the HF to a friend

john
 
I started off with a cheapie from HF also. I have since bought one a little bit better, but have not used it much yet.

The HF helmet should do you well until you decide if you wanna spend extra $$ on something fancier or less flimsy. Speaking of flimsy, the HF helmet still worked fine even in sub-zero temps. It was solar-only, so no battery, and it would (and DOES) sit for months unused with no problems.
 
The cheap ones work well for home use, hobby welding.

But after a while they tend to fail, usually the head gear breaks or strips out so it won't stay on or up.

Bad thing is there is a good size jump in price from the cheap ones to the good ones. I would stay with the cheap one for now, see how much welding you do, in the mean time be on the look out for a good used name brand. Even if there is a problem with it, the replacement parts are reasonable.

Once you get used to a good one, you won't go back.
 
Your correct. It's a big help and a lot easier on your eyes.

Way back when they first started selling them at my local industrial supply house I bought an Arc One with a fixed shade to use with my stick welder. Over $200 then and worth every penny. When it was about 10 years old I decided to buy one of the harbor freight one's for a backup. Used it one time and gave it away. Bought another Arc One for back up. Recently added a mig and needed the variable shade. Bought a Hobart for around $100. Works good but is too heavy. If I do much mig welding I'll be moving up to a light weight $300 helmet.

Your money your call but you won't find yourself regretting spending too much on a helmet. JMO
 
Money well invested. You'll never look back. I use one from TSC becaus3 it seems to have a little bigger viewing area than the other cheap ones. Step up to a lincoln/miller etc and there is a difference in the optics. For my use not worth the extra money.
 
I havent looked over the cheap ones for years. The earlier ones suffered from slow darkening speeds which real affected people like me who are very sensitive to flash burn and people who weld a lot. Years ago I bought a Hobart pro series and have never regretted it. It has adjustments for a lot of conditions and darkens in 1/30,000 of a second. If the cheapos have corrected the early faults there is no reason to not use them for occasional usage.
 
My stick welder had a couple of flip down helmets (I don't know the proper name) that came with it and I learned to weld with them. I have had to practice to learn how to start the arc blind, and how to make sure I start where I want to be, but now it's not too hard. It seems pretty safe, if less convenient, and there's nothing to go bad other than the pivot and the head holding straps.
Zach
 
I bought one from Northern Tool about 5 or 6 years ago. It has several adjustments on it - cost around $50 plus shipping. No regrets. You'll like it. I only use it a couple times a week - if it was all day every day I'd probably feel obligated to buy a pricier one.

Remember those that looked like a black piece of tin with a welding lens mounted in the center and a little handle on the bottom? That's what I started out with on a little 90 amp Sears welder. We've come a long way, although I actually liked that old face shield as long as I didn't need to use my left hand to hold something in position.
 
I buy HF elcheapos. I'm on my second one in 20 years. First still works but I wanted something faster for MIG. Just don't forget to leave it out every once in awhile so the batteries can solar charge.
 

The last time this came up the general consensus seemed to be that the HF units were just fine. I have had mine for maybe five years with no problems and for a one year period I used it for probably ten hours a week.
 
I don't know what brand mine is,my son got it at TSC when he was working there. My only complaint is that it isn't instantaneous,there's just a slight delay so I get a blinding flash. If you're welding right along and stop,then restart,it darkens instantly,but if you wait ten or fifteen seconds,it'll flash your eyes again. Even with all that said,I wouldn't want to go back to the non auto type.
 
I have a Speedglas that was given to me at work, must be 20 years old now and still works great, I assume it has a battery but I have never changed it.
 
(quoted from post at 14:04:32 11/19/18) Money well invested. You'll never look back. I use one from TSC becaus3 it seems to have a little bigger viewing area than the other cheap ones. Step up to a lincoln/miller etc and there is a difference in the optics. For my use not worth the extra money.
I'm on my second auto-darkening helmet, and this is why. The first one was sold at a local welding supply to retrofit in the standard 4 1/2 x 5 1/4 opening. The actual viewing area was about 1/3 of the opening, and welding in tight quarters could be trickey. My second has a larger viewing area, and if I ever buy a better one, the viewing area will be larger yet.
 
(quoted from post at 15:41:06 11/19/18) I have a Speedglas that was given to me at work, must be 20 years old now and still works great, I assume it has a battery but I have never changed it.
Speedglas was the Cadillac of the industry at that time.
 
I have a HF one that works just fine. I used it all summer building a heavy-duty utility trailer with a stick welder, and it made the welding job much easier. It also has made MIG welding much easier. It darkens instantly.
 
My first auto darkening helmet was a cheapy I got on Ebay back in 98 or 99. It lasted many years, I finally replaced it in 2014 with a HF cheapy.
I used to do a lot more welding at work than I do now and the cheap helmet worked as well as the speedglass the shop had.
 
Years ago I worked at a dock building company and they brought in those helmets. If you where working side by side with other guys they caused many of use to have burned eyes due to them not going dark from the guy beside you. They work well for only one person but side by side with others I'll not use them and since then I have and will never use them. Had to many night in the E.R. due to burned eyes and believe me it is not fun
 

Whatever you get, make sure it's adjustable for shade and speed. On stick I have to turn mine up to 11 or 12. On MIG I have to cut it down to 8ish or lower. I don't know that those numbers have a real value, but the adjustment makes all the difference.
 
I have a cheap one. Mine is branded Hobart but not much different than a HF one. I have had it about 10 years. It works very well. If I don't use it for long periods of time I test it by looking at a bright light or the sun. It lives in my unheated workshop and I use it year around. It is solar (light) powered. I store it in a clear plastic tote near a window.
 
I have had one since the first ones came out and always will. I've never used a cheap one, my current Lincoln works well and is worth the money in my book. Modern electronic helmets provide UV protection on or off so burned eyes are a thing of the past or from some other scource.
 
..... If you where working side by side with other guys they caused many of use to have burned eyes due to them not going dark from the guy beside you. They work well for only one person but side by side with others....

That seems very odd. My cheapo one is sensitive enough that sun glare reflected off the metal will cause it to darken. A few times when outdoors welding sheet metal skins on truck bodies I've had to move around so the sun reflection was at a different angle. It also worked just fine while I was watching my neighbor weld while trying to teach him the skill.
 
I have a HF one and love it, it's adjustable from 8 to 13 and have had it 5 yrs. now and no problem
 
I had a HF one and it worked fine. As it aged it started getting slower to darken but still worked. When I retired they gave me a Jackson auto dark and it was sitting on a new Lincoln 250 wire welder so that what I use now
 
I wouldn't be without one.

My first was from HF. It was flawless for about 5 years until the headgear broke. I then bought one from Oersheln's farm store. It's also been flawless.
 
I?ve used a few of the cheaper ones, and they were fine. I have a 20 year old Jackson, and a year old Miller. Both were picked based on viewing area. The Miller also has a grind mode that is handy. Mostly bought the new one because the kids wanted to learn how to weld.
 
That's funny, I tried the self darkening helmet to look at the solar eclipse and it wouldn't darken looking at the sun. I had to get out the old welding helmet to do it.
 
You?ve posted this before, and while I believe you were flashed, I don?t believe it was from the helmet. Any auto dark helmet blocks UV light whether dark or light, and that?s how you get flashed: from UV. Running them down now based on your experience in a rathole boat manufacturer is not fair.
 
Something wasn't right with those helmets.

I weld side by side all the time with others. I have 3 auto dark helmets and they will all turn dark if a get just a little flash from the guy beside me.

I bought my first auto dark in 1995. It is a Jackson and I paid over $400. My latest is a miller and cost $100. The head gear is better on the jackson but both work good.

Gary
 
Charlie M; By all mean get yourself an auto-darkening helmet. Nowadays it makes no sense to try to learn to weld with the old non auto-darkening kind. Learning to weld is easy. Learning to be good at it is difficult, and anybody who doesn't want to spend the time to learn to be good at it ought to find something else to do. You don't need the added difficulty of having to nod down your helmet without moving the electrode each time you try to strike an arc, and you don't need the wasted time of having to push your helmet back up to reposition the electrode each time you don't get the arc started or you stick the electrode.

Get a Harbor freight auto-darkening helmet. It will be good enough for you if you weld less than ten hours a week. See if you can try other people's supposedly superior quality helmets whenever you get a chance to see if you really think they're better. There is some prestige in having an expensive, professional quality helmet, but not as much as there is in being able to weld better than other people. Aim for that.

Stan
 
#1 it was a dock building place not a boat place.
#2 this was back when the auto dark helmets first came out in the early 90s and they where not all that good back then so you do not have a clue as to what I am talking about and how bad they where. Yes they may have improved them but I'll NEVER use one again
 
This was back when those helmets first came out in the late 80s or early 90 and they where not all that good, I know I spent at least 4 nights in the E.R. because of them
 
Bret4207; Something I suspect that a lot of people don't realize because they've never thought about it is that the adjustment for darkening speed only controls the amount of delay before the lens returns to the clear state after the arc goes out. No purpose would be served by having it darken more slowly than it was capable of.

Stan
 
I have a small welding shop and have bought 4 or 5 of those you see on ebay with the 20 or so different graphics to choose from at $24 . The first two that I bought are still going strong after 10? years I bought another a few years later and it only lasted a few years . The last one I bought has finger prints and a lot of them in between the lens with no way to clean them . I might average 5 hrs of welding a week and I see no advantage of buying anything more expensive for my situation . Sometimes you might get stuck with a cull , but most hoods are great .

The hoods that I am buying have a heavy molded eyebrow built into the hood so when you lay it face down there is nothing near the lens to scratch it . The head bands actually open up enough to get my fat head into in .

Also do your research for replacement lens , they come in funny sizes and you probably don't want to spend a lot of time grinding them down . I buy the same brand hoods and bought a dozen inner and outer lenses .

Some morning I use a pair of 1.25 reading glasses with my hood and I feel like I am 20 years old again .

I have not seen a Harbor Freight hood but if the store is close and they will warranty a defective hood that would be a big plus .

The first Auto hood I bought when they hit the market (86?) was over $300 and used 3 - AAA batteries . You had to push on the front lens to push in the little button behind the lens . No Adjustments and the batteries lasted maybe 4 hours . They did not fail safe , if the failed you got a blast and I don't think there was any UV protection . Lucky for us we were welding light weight wrought Iron with mig at 80 - 90 amps .
 

HF items are great for someone on a budget and only needing occasional use.

For welding helmets Io use a 3M Speedglas 9002X.
Bought second-hand off eBay some years ago.
GREAT unit!
 
My bet is that you weren't wearing safety glasses with UV protection on them and you were getting flashed from the inside of your helmet from the reflection off the aluminum that that the guys next to you were welding, but that's a guess. There's a reason we wear safety glasses inside a hood. We do a lot of welding inside stainless tanks and you have to really watch reflection.

Again, you're talking about something you really know nothing about, and you're not willing to think or learn about what actually happened.
 
Again as I said you do not know what the hock your talking about.

First off what aluminum??? I was not working with aluminum I was welding steel so there is #1 where you have no clue as to what your talking about.

As for me learning I'm likely to have done more things/job and learned more then you ever will. I have worked many jobs over the years and leaned many trades due to getting bored with jobs. So again you have no clue so leave me alone till you really know who I am and what I do or do not know which you never will since I'm sure we will never meet in person
 
I have a HF and it works fine, tried a Miller Elite at a welding demo, the fit, comfort an 4" veiwing area have me pricing one on that auction site for the wife to get me for Christmas.
 
(quoted from post at 11:05:15 11/19/18)
Remember those that looked like a black piece of tin with a welding lens mounted in the center and a little handle on the bottom? That's what I started out with on a little 90 amp Sears welder. We've come a long way, although I actually liked that old face shield as long as I didn't need to use my left hand to hold something in position.

I always thought those were for the roving instructor or welding inspector.
 

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