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I bought a cheap ($49) Harbor Freight auto-dark helmet when I got my Lincoln 185 Tig. The prices for the helmets vary so much, I wasn't sure what I wanted or really needed. I finally got tired of it and bought a real helmet.
I got a Miller Elite model and it's worth every penny. I paid $280 for it at a local welding supply and only wish I'd bought it sooner.
It's much more comfortable and the big window is great for out-of-position welding. The adjustments are far better than the HF. The HF tended to flicker at low amp settings.

THE BEST PART IS THAT I CAN SEE. I can't see to weld with my regular glasses with progressive (bi-focal) lens. I've tried reading glasses and the helmet correction lenses. I weld best with no glasses and with the Miller helmet it is much, much better.

I've had my Miller Elite for about a month now.It is great.I had my cheap auto darkening one for about 5 years.I was finding that it wasn't darkening quite fast enough on low amps doing body work, and I'd get a bit of a flash.This Miller, you can adjust the settings on everything to fine tune it to match what you are welding, and the window size is good to.Jim.

I hate to sound like a old fart but I'v always wondered about those auto darks and if they are safe. I worked as a welder for about three years about 35 years ago and still use my old helmet when I do little things out in the garage. Yes, I had to put a cheater lens in it. Are those auto's safe? I mean, going blind would ruin my whole day...

We have a Miller helmet, lots of adjustments for speed and darness, fits nicely too. I have glasses with bifocals and have no problem with this helmet. Can be touchy when doing heliarc, but adjustments seem to take care of this too, just need to remember to do it after using the MIG or stick.

Yep, safe as can be other wise they would be in court everyday.
I've used them for production mig welding and for many years as an instrument welding with tig. We welded fine wires the size of hairs and SS bellows .003" thick up to battle ship armour plate 2" thick with flux core. They are the only way to go when you're doing setup work also.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny,
Please forgive my editorials and I've been told that time and again and I still can't get myself to trust one of those things. I keep thinking that in that milisecond interval, is there a chance for damage? I still have scars on my arms and around my ankles from the little dewberries from welding but I do worry, perhaps excessively, about my eyeballs. When I watch those hotrod shows and see those kids doing setup work with a mig welder and no eye protection it just freaks me out. I know this is a rhetorical, but why is it that I've never seen any of them use auto darks?

and will someone chime in on the "settings". My old helmet is shot and I thought about getting a self darkening one. I see one on sale for about 50 bucks that says the settings are 9-12. Is that good?? BAD??? I don't weld very much and what I peraonally weld will be with a stick welder

I recieved my Miller Elite helmet the other day,
Very nice! The shade settings are from 8-13
It came with a nice Miller helmet bag also.Its also the most comfortable with lots of head band adjustments. I gave it the "old school test"
with the hood raised,give it a good nod and down
she comes. (old Habbit)
Wick

I’m with ya on the no helmet setups that I see on those biker build off's, i.e., tacking without eye protection. When I was running my own shop if one of my guys would have pulled a stunt like that, I would have canned them on the spot. I've been welding since I was big enough to light the torch and I'm turnin' 65 this summer. I've made a living at it on and off most of my adult life and in the hobbies also. I’ve done Gas, Stick, Mig, Tig, plasma you name it, I used it all at one time or another. I was always a stickler when it came to eye protection. My dad was the one who first taught me welding and he stressed eye safety at an early age.
The electronics reacts faster than your eye does so they are safe. The question came up as to the filter numbers. The number simply refer to the shade the lens is when darkened. The old helmets had smoked filters with a common range from 8 to 13 An eight or nine would be fine for light mig or tig welding and as you get into the heavier stuff, (higher amperage) the eleven or twelve is more comfortable. You just want to use as dark of a lens as you can and still see the puddle, and apply the same idea to the adjustment of the electronic filters.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Thanks Denny. I appreciate the answers. Maybe I'm over thinking this and I'm not trying to be a PIA, but I'm thinking about the physiology of the eye and the physics of light. Light passes thru the opening in the pupil and is projected on to the back of the eye, the retina. In a flash injury, too bright a light comes in contact with the retina and burns it. A pupil could not constrict fast enough to prevent it, nor could it constrict enough to compensate for the extreme brightness. An auto dark would need to block the flash before it could reach the retina. Maybe I'm full of it but it would seem to me that would need to be the speed of light. The speed of light is defined as how long it takes for light to reach from the sun to the earth. That's about 90 million miles away. It turns out that the speed of light is 186,00 miles per second. I don't really want to do the math here but intuitively, if you were to set up the equation at say two feet, that auto dark lens would need to react in an increment of time that is almost immeasurable.

I don't think you're overthinking it, but there may be more to the equation. I believe that Flash burn is caused by both the brightness of the flash and the duration the flash last. Without a helmet the flash duration is determined by how long it takes to blink, with an autodarkening helmet that duration is much shorter.

orchidskip,

In a flash burn from arc welding, it is the clear outer layer of the eye...the cornea, that is affected, not the retina.

Stuart

I have a friend who puts together adaptive computer systems for the disabled. He has a large population of folks who have lost central vision and have only peripheral after industrial accidents involving the eyes.

Did some "research" if you can call it that. It was really just noodling around on the internet and looking at different posts on websites with some technical info from professional publications. It seems that welding was invented first, and eye protection came afterwards. It's not clear how many people lost their eyesight during the learning curve but it appears their may have been some casualties. Eye injuries are to the cornea and the retina. Lots of technical stuff about ultraviolet and blue spectrum vs some other spectrum but it seems that any eye protection of even a clear lens gives some protection against uv light. In an industrial setting, second hand exposure from peripheral sources can be harmful so welding is done is booths with curtains when possible and eye protection is always required for other workers or visitors. And apparently duration of exposure is a factor. So one can be exposed to flashes if they are of short duration. However, damage can be cumulative.

This demystifies auto darks for me. It seems the milisecond of exposure to the flash is considered "safe". Plus there is at least a clear lens in place which offers a degree of protection.

Higher quality helmets have four sensors to insure good performance. Poor quality have fewer. Some can malfunction and one will get a flash exposure. Battery can go dead or they can just fail to operate. It appears some weldors love them and some not so much. Some guys have flashed themselves more frequently with fixed type when they accidentally strike an arc or forget to put their helmet down.

Be careful. Welding is dangerous. We only have one set of eyes.