I have the EQC Journeyman HTLS which is a pretty highly rated one (at least according to the salesman!
). It is battery operated and the batteries go a long time. It is sort of dark if the batteries are off, or if the unit is off. It has a tiny push on button on the front and when pushed, the glass is like a shade 3 lens which is equiv to say, sun glasses. It goes dark very fast (like 1/250000th of a second or something like that) and I will never MIG without it again. Just makes it so much better and fun. I had given one to my brother a year ago and he raved about it so much that I got myself one this year. Mine goes dark to shade 10 which gives better visability than the fixed 12 I was using before. If you are doing TIG though, you need the 12. For MIG and stick welding I think the 10 is good. It also shuts off automatically after a while of not seeing an arc.
To not flash my eyes and to be able to see what I am doing makes the $125 for the lens the best welding money I have spent. My hands aren't that steady and I never got the technique down to start the weld because I don't weld very often. Be sure to get a few clear lens to put infront of it to protect it. I believe it has a 2 year warranty but the shop says they have never sent one back.
