The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Self-Darkening Welding Helmet????

As many of you may recall, I got a Millermatic 251 with 15A spoolgun a couple weeks ago. I have a large window welding helmet (4X5??) that I have used for a long time. I like it but have been toying with a self-darkening helmet. I like the idea of having adjustable darkness for welding thin material or very thick. It also would be very nice to be able to weld in a confined spot without having to allow room to flip the helmet down.

I have been searching for some type of comparison on self darkening helmets and have not had much sucess, so I am asking all the welders in the crowd. Which helmet is your preference and why? What features and functions would you demand and what could you do away with? Which helmet do you feel gives you the most features for the least cost?

Racecarl:
I'm not sure I can add much, it sounds like you are an experienced welder. I've only been welding for about six months - primarily on my truck. However for what its worth, I was having problems and went to my local welding supply shop for some lessons. He gave me an auto darkening shield to use during the lesson. I was so impressed I bought one (I'm sure it was part of his plan). It cost about $160. It has a button to turn it on - it allows you to see pretty well before you weld. during the welding process it seems to have much better resolution than my basic one. After about 10 minutes of non-use it automatically turns itself off. Also, since I am far sighted, it has a 2X magnification lens on it. For someone of my caliber, it works great and I wish I would have got one right away. I think a more expensive one might be more than I need or can make use of at this time.

Racecarl, when I bought the MM251 for work, it came with a "free" auto darkening helmet. I don't know what brand it is, but it looks kinda like the ones in the Northern Tool catalog. It has an adjustable darkness setting and a sensitivity setting to determine when to go dark. It is well worth the investment. In times past (especially when stick welding) I sometimes strike an arc while getting setup with the hood still up and would see purple spots from the flash. No longer with this new helmet - just makes it a lot easier and more comfortable to weld.

Mine was a very inexpensive model. No off-on switch, no darkness control, no batteries to change, no nothing. You do have to leave it out so the solar batteries can charge up. Leave it in a dark cabinet a month and it won't work. I leave it in a clear plastic bag to keep it clean and it works very well.

What I don't like is, when you are welding in a confined area and the light from the arc doesn't hit the tiny sensor in the corner of the lense, the lense will not darken. If the sensor is not in direct line with the arc, it will not darken.

I like the helmet very much. Just took a while to get used to it. Every time I put it on I still try to nod my head like we had to with the old helmets.

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.

Pipe welders I run into at work claim the self darkening shields can cause eye fatigue when welding all day.

Most pipe welders have these hoods. There are situations where it is difficult without one. The variable sensitivity and ambient light controls are very nice to compensate for the poor lighting on construction projects. On jobs where a stray arc strike can cost you the job, they can help. But I still prefer my Fibremetal pipeliner hood with a plain #10 gold lens and the 175 cheater. It provides much better protection when welding overhead than the Speedglass hood. The electronic hoods shut down when all the fire is inside the pipe on a root pass and may cycle on and off several times on just one rod. Progress, but at a high price for what you get. Still for work on trucks they may save you a lot of frustration.

Bought one from E-bay for $60.00, just came in today, haven't used it yet but seems well worth the cost...auto adjust fron DIN 5-13 and a 4x3 lens, uses 2 AAA batteries and has auto shut off, just my .02