Auto darkening welding helmets

So those of you following my build thread know that I weld 3-4 times per week. My HF cheapie finally died after five years or whatever. It fit OK, and darkened OK. I saw OK if I put 35 lights on the work. It doesn't so much "darken" so much as "dims" now. I can sort of use it, but it not pleasant.

Cash is pretty low. I am open to used helmets. I hate junk, and I prefer not to use 'Made in China', but I can consider for excellent examples.

and...

GO!

The new HF models are faster/better than the old ones. They are less than $50 with the 20% coupon that is in every ad. It is most certainly made in China... but it's pretty good junk.

Yeah, old was yours? The ones made in the last five years or so are actually pretty good. I love mine. There are some people here who think they fit better than the miller/lincoln equivalent, too.

JoeyM wrote: Yeah, old was yours? The ones made in the last five years or so are actually pretty good. I love mine. There are some people here who think they fit better than the miller/lincoln equivalent, too.

I's probably right at 5 years old - none of the knobs and switches seemed to do anything

it's this exact helmet

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200480403_200480403?cm_mmc=Google-pla--Welding--Welding%20Helmets-_-19056&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=19056&gclid=CJTUg_L7nbgCFY6i4Aod628AQg

I have a 2 year old welding helmet I bought new at Lowe's, auto-darkening. It was spendy. I used it to take the welding class and haven't used it since. Make me an offer and I'll ship it to you.

I also have a leather welding jacket and gloves...

I have a nice $300+ Miller Elite helmet and a $60 Harbor Freight special for a backup. The difference between the two isn't enough to justify the price of the Miller, but it is just a bit more comfortable. There's no reason you can't get a decent helmet less than $100 at either Harbor Freight or Northern Tool. Even on the Miller, it seems like the adjustments don't do enough, if anything at all.

had an old hf helmet and beat the crap out of it for 3-4 years - then got another - the newer one is quite a bit faster and ok comfy - great for $40. hint, the headband from the $5 hf clear face shield has terry cloth padding and makes a decent replacement for the plastic welding mask straps. Still probably a good idea to time a blink when you strike an arc.

Have a couple HF hoods one older than the other buy about 3 years they both work well but the newer one does seem to darken better and faster than the elder one. For the price they are really hard to beat.

I've been using my HF one today, and haven't had any issues. issues.

Learn the welder's head nod and you don't need auto-darkening

Too lazy to learn the 'welder's nod' and my Morsafe helmet finally quit after ~13 years. It crapped out on a Sunday when there was work to be completed so I grabbed a HF special. It's actually quite a good helmet, comfy and has adjustable darkening. Has a much larger eyeport than my old one. I figure if it lasts 5 years then it's as good (for the $) as the Morsafe.

For a step or two up from the HF/NT cheapies, both ArcOne and Lincoln make some that are well featured with large windows, yet priced well below that of equivalent helmets from the more expensive brands.

tuna55 wrote:

Had the exact same helmet (flames and all) crap out on me two weeks ago. Same symptoms as yours. Mine was about three years old.

Picked up a new cheapy, made in China, and I am amazed how much better it is. They seem to keep evolving fast.

Winston wrote: Learn the welder's head nod and you don't need auto-darkening

We do high volume production welding at work (braided hoses) and 2 out of 12 Welders use auto darkening. 10 guys do the head nod as the darkening ones don't work fast enough for the fast paced welding.

Datsun310Guy wrote:

Winston wrote: Learn the welder's head nod and you don't need auto-darkening

We do high volume production welding at work (braided hoses) and 2 out of 12 Welders use auto darkening. 10 guys do the head nod as the darkening ones don't work fast enough for the fast paced welding.

That's always been a fear in the back of my mind. I started out with a regular mask for price reasons, and I'm still using that same mask 10 years later. It forced me to learn "the nod," and now that I can do it, I wouldn't switch for the reason you mention.

In reply to Winston:

The lead welder uses a darkening one when welding floor pans or car stuff at home.

No thanks guys, auto-darkening for me. I'm not good enough to do the nod, I have tried.

We had a guy hit 25 years and I suggested we buy him a nice $250+ helmet. The guy is happy with a 10 year old head nod version. That $250+ helmet would've sat and collected dust.....

tuna55 wrote: No thanks guys, auto-darkening for me. I'm not good enough to do the nod, I have tried.

The funny thing about the welders nod is when I see a guy strike an arc on TV, I do it. Yeah, that makes you feel dumb.

^LOL

I dont weld enough for a non-darkening helmet to be worth it. It seems like a major PITA to me.

I had never considered that there were people who were concerned about the difference between the speed of electricity and the speed of light.

I definitely dont do enough welding for that to matter.

From what I have been told (this was about 8 years ago though so I'm sure the technology has improved a bit), if you can't afford a somewhat good auto-darkening helmet, buy a normal one. At least at the time the cheap ones were slow enough that it would cause eye damage without you really noticing that the lens took too long to go dark.

I'm often the voice of dissent on tools. I do a lot of machining, fabrication and welding and shoot for excellent quality work. If a more expensive tool will allow me to work significantly better, faster or safer, it's often worth it.

So when the 1990s Bluepoint I bought used about 15 years ago was getting tired, I researched the current crop of helmets and bought this:

Jackson NexGen

It's a pro-quality lid, it's comfortable and easy to live with, and I noticed the other day after a long session running TIG bead on thick aluminum at 130 amps, my eyes didn't feel dry and scratchy.

I can see very, very well. Fine TIG work is much easier since I got it.

So I say drop some coin and get a good one.

Vigo wrote: I had never considered that there were people who were concerned about the difference between the speed of electricity and the speed of light.

weld 200 of these a day and you will notice