Anyone got any recommendations for a good welding helmet? Autodarkening lenses sound cool, but how well do they work? I wont be using it all day or anything, just occasionally for small jobs so it doesnt need to be anything fancy. I prefer a full helmet over a hand held face shield.

For reference, I was looking at something like this and thought I might ask first, http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-901054/

 

I'm not sure on that particular model but I have a Jackson helmet that I've had for over 10 years. Auto darkening works really good on it. Never had a problem with flash burns or tired eyes after using it. They are a hell of a lot nicer than flipping your helmet up all the time.

 

Yea, I learned to weld on some POS helmet that couldnt have cost more than $5 and kept thinking it would be so much easier with one that autodarkened. How much should I be looking to spend on a decent helment?

 

Well I would be the wrong one to ask on that. That Jackson helmet when I bought it cost me over $300 bucks. The prices have come down a bunch now, personally I would buy another Jackson helmet in a heart beat. I would say you should be able to pick up a good one for under $100.

 

For a hobbyist pretty much any helmet will be safe enough to use. The cheaper ones might be a little slower to darken but they are still rated like 1/20,000 of a second.

I have had several. a couple cheap harbor freight ones and a 130 dollar miller one. I am a hobbyist myself but use it for Mig and Tig quite a bit.
The miller one was good but it quit after about a year. The cheap HF one is still going but its real dirty now and hard to see out of.

Cheap HF Helmet

i just got a new HF helmet which is a lot nicer. It has a larger viewing area which is just as big as the Miller Elites and is pretty light. I have only welded about 20 min with it but i like it the most so far. Its only available online though. and it took about a month for me to get it.

Better HF Helmet

 

That Summit helmet looks like a good deal unless somebody has some bad experience with it. Hard to beat that price and it looks good too.

 

I have one from harbor freight, it works great. Darkens quick, its also adjustable on how fast you want it to darken. I spend alot of time with my mig welder and I have used it for a few years now and never had a problem with it.

 

Just get an auto lense for your POS and save some money. That's what I did anyways.

 

+1 on the harbor freight, I'd have never bought one, always used normal Jackson hoods. The my dad gave me one of the Cheap HF helmets and that's all I use now and I do a LOT of welding with it. Never failed me. Oh, and you can get new clear lenses for them to. Gone though a lot of those,

 

My buddy has used this one for a couple years and works good. I just picked one up too.
Plus it's the cheapest you'll probably find for a auto darkening helmet.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=46092