The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest HF auto darkening welding helmet

anybody have one what do you think. not a bad price but?

I purchased one a couple of years ago, and I really like it for the limited amount of welding that I do. The pros are: great price, fairly comfortable, and quick response time to the arc. Then cons are: if you are welding with low power it can be hard to see the work. Also a bright light behind you will cause the helmet to darken to soon. Not big problems, but worth noting. If I were to do a lot of welding over long periods of time I would buy a better helmet.

which one did you get( ie flame, racing stripe or plain black)? just want to make sure i order the right one.

I have an HF auto dark Flame unit as well and agree with Jimmie D's Pro's but have found by carefully placing the light source, or work in relation to it, I have no problem with darkening to early. Even with multiple light sources it's all about location location location...

Bought one on sale for $39 to keep as a second helmet to my Miller Elite. The reason I
picked it up was my neighbor who isn't a welder by profession came over one day to have
me stitch up a frame for him. He had been to HF the week before looking at a welding
machine, (I talked him out of that) but he did buy a helmet and I was quite impressed
with it for the price. I've not found any problem with yet and with it set to a #9 filter I can
see just fine. That's about as light as you would want to go even for TIG welding at very
low amperage. I was a sr. welding technician at an accelerator for many years. Most of
our work was TIG welding light gauge SS which I always used a #9 filter for. I would
dazzle the techs by welding the sharp edges of two razor blades together. The machine
was set about as low as it would go and still maintain an arc and I could see fine with a
#9 filter.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

what setting would you use for mig welding? i will probably order the plain black one. saw another good review on that one on a welding forum since i posted here.

It depends on what size welds your doing mo. Welding with .025"
wire on low settings for sheet metal you will probably want to
use the #9 filter, if your pouring in .045" wire at a couple
hunderd amps you would probably need a #12 or #13. No fixed
setting it's up to you. Use the strongest you can and still be
able to clearly see the puddle.
Denny G

I purchased this one

inside

I have used it 4 times in two years and have not had a problem with it.

I removed the blue flame stickers.

Sorry it took me a while to get back to the forum. I purchased the plain black helmet. CASO is right, as long as you watch your light source the early darkening isn't a problem.

thanks for the advice guys next time i see it on sale and have an extra 50 bucks i will order one.

I just bought one of the plain black HF helmets and I believe it will perform very nicely for me. Some of the HF stuff is a real bargain, and I think this is one of those things.

Helmets are must if you are welding because light during welding in injurious to eyes. There are many companies which manufacture good quality helmets and you can get these helmets in an affordable also.
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auto darkening welding helmet

Welcome erik345. Yes, not only can you cook your cornea's, you can give yourself a decent tan, too!

I bought the plain black one. I didn't realize there was a difference other than decoration between the plain and flame. It has worked fine for me the auto darkening feature really is a plus for someone like me who doesn't weld much so I can see to get lined up.

Same here, I thought the flames and strips were why it cost more so I bought the plain black. I'll paint my own flames on.

John

My pricey Optrel Satellite conked out on me this year and I replaced with Northern Tool auto darkening (came flamed at the same price, I believe). Something like $60 rather than $360

Not much difference. Biggest thing was the Optrel's headgear is much nicer and more comfortable, the cheapie is a bit tight around my ears. Optrel had controls on the outside so you could switch to grind mode without taking the hood off, and the Optrel had a red LED inside that flashed when in grind mode as a warning...Not $300 worth of difference, though.

Worse thing about the Optrel is it quit working before I got my money's worth out of it. As a hobbyist, it didn't have many hours on it. If I welded everyday I expect I would gladly buy a pricy one again.

Not to nit pick, but they really aren't helmets, they are hoods. Not designed to protect from head trauma injury, just UV radiation protection.

Conked out = battery died?

There are pads and such that can be purchased to make headbands more comfortable.

Yeah, battery died and is "non-replaceable". Well, you can buy a new lens, solar panel, and control interface, with a a new battery imbedded somewhere within, but the cost is about 75% of a new Optrel. I wasn't going to go there, already saw the writing on the wall.

I still have that stuff somewhere and if I get some time I need to dissect it to see if maybe I can find a battery in there somewhere...

I "dug" the batteries out of my HF and made them replaceable, kept it going for 5+ years. Just cut a little in the right places and use black electrical tape to hold new batt in. If you want.

I bought the black HF auto darkening helmet on sale when I bought the 90 amp flux core welder.
As mentioned earlier, it was too dark to see what I was trying to weld but I fiddled with the dial for intensity and found a happy place for the lighting and work I was doing. I love it!
Those two items were a good purchase for me. I had never welded before but used the set-up to weld in a lower door patch panel and also fabbed-up a pivot stud on my window wing frame. Next, I'll use it to weld in dome bed angle strips.
Jerry