When I bought my MIG, I also bought the Miller Pro-Hobby Auto dark helmet. Love the thing!! I also have a couple of ancient flip style. Hated them from the beginning. Also if you are like me, get a magnifying lens. Helps me tremendously.
I have hade 8 hour welding sessions with my HF and never felt any problem with my eyes when done. Maybe some may have had the settings down or had a abnormal response times. If I welded for a living, I would get a larger lense.
Do a google search on Reponse times on Miller, Harborfreight etc. Millers are mostly 1/20,000 with some at 1/25000. Harbor freight is 1/25000 and is NASI approved.
Another vote for the Accu-Strike helmet. Have tried numerous types of helmets and this is by far the best one I have used.
I weld all day(well night) long with my jackson with a nexgen auto. The one lthing I reaay dig about it is that I can switch to 5 for torching or clear for grinding. That being said I think the best way to learn is with a plain black leanse
I don't get emotionally attached to helmet, keep the lense clean, strap adjusted so it don't flop around loose and/or ain't so tight it gives me a headache.
Winner! I learned how to weld with an "ancient" flip helmet. Probably one that was older than me by a significant amount. I've done a decent amount of automotive welding, even fabricated a tubular space-frame for a Formula SAE car, and while I had to do a ton of welding standing on my head or wrapped through the frame in various positions, I still finished all my welds. Even if I had to position the TIG torch by feel with the mask already down. Working the treadle with an elbow, ass cheek or the heel of your foot is a much bigger issue than flipping the shield down. Is it easier to not have to flip the shield when you're laying under a car or tied in a knot in a roll cage? Hell yes. But I'd bet that's less than 10% of the welding you're going to do as a casual hobby welder. Probably a lot less. I'd rather have a good flip type helmet than a shitty (sorry, "cheap") auto-dark any day. And unless you're fabbing roll cages, tubular frames or welding for a living, you probably don't need some crazy expensive auto-dark anyway.
Harbour freight .I havenot had flash once while wearing their helmet ,Had it many times being stupid.
Chop top kid ,the auto darkening solar powered helmets charge as you are welding you don"t have to be out in the sunshine.hope that clears up your question.
The problem with the Harbor Freight helmets are the head gear! Damn thing won't hold adjustment and falls down too far or just strips out. I'm actually looking for a good hood myself.
LOL @ the auto dark vs flip type helmets posts. "I"m keeping it hardcore! Traditional man! OLD SCHOOL!!! Fuck Auto Dark!!!" Dude, it's all preferences, are you gonna talk down against a china-man for using chopsticks instead of a fork and a spoon? The original poster is asking for advice not arguments, so leave your 0.02, let him decide and move on. How do I unsubscribe to a thread again?
hobbyist here. HAd a cheapie Harbor freight auto darkening. Hurt my eyes, made me almost think i bought a defective one. Bought a Miller Pro - Hobby series, waaaay bettter.
The Miller elite is awesome I have two of em One I bought and one that work bought for me. Their a little pricey but worth it, last forever work great and have settings for grinding.
I sell welding equipment and supplies and when buying a helmet, you usually get what you pay for. Meaning, cheap is cheap! Miller hoods are reliable and the warrantee is second to none if you have a problem. Speedglas is next, awesome product and good service. So, if you buy cheap you'll end up with cheap. My two cents!
If you have a tractor supply by you, i bought mine there a hobart on sale for $50.00, had one from harbor freight, gave it to my son for his welding class, the hobart is much nicer!, good luck!
I'm a millwright that works for lincoln electric...I do alot of welding and my old autodarkening unit grew legs and walked away overnight...so I got the brand new lincoln viking helmet....its bad ass....nice and light if your doing alot of welding and it has grind mode which comes in quite handy, when i went threw our weld school lots of guys bought the harbor freight stuff and ended up having problems with them...checkout the artwork on the one viking lincoln came out with I think littlemans trucks on it....ps this is no promo i could care less what u buy but a good helmet no matter who makes it will pay off in the long run http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Catalog/equipmentdatasheet.aspx?p=108426
Well, I used my new HF helmet last night for the first time. Arc welded for 3-1/2 hours straight! The difference between old flipdowns and the auto-dark is night and day. I could actually see what I was doing before I struck an arc! I opted to pay a little more and go with this one mainly because of the bigger lense. I kinda dig the flames too............... http://www.harborfreight.com/blue-flame-design-auto-darkening-welding-helmet-91214.html It goes dark immediately, is very comfortable and light and the larger lense gives me a good viewing area. The one bummer, as someone stated, is the headgear. It works fine now but I can see that it's so cheaply made, it's gonna be a problem in the future. Once again, I don't even own a MIG yet but when I do I'll probably step up to a Miller Elite, or something of that nature. As for now and in the immediate future, this cheapo auto-dark is the hot ticket for me! Thanks for all the responses!
You know, Jackson sells their new whiz-bang headgear separately for like $15 a set. They did it so guys with older Jackson helmets can upgrade to the new style gear (which is very nice, BTW), but I'd bet you could adapt their headgear to the HF helmet without too awful much trouble. Might be something to consider when the inevitable happens with that HF headgear.
It has been said, but I will reiterate - buy the best you can afford. If that is a 35 dollar Harbor Freight job, then keep saving until you can buy a proper hood. I have a large window flip down that I really like, but the Jackson and Miller Elite auto hoods are fantastic. It's hard to go back to flip down after using auto.
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