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welding helmet

ryoken

ryoken

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put this in here to get a few more views....

anyone buy, or research lately? my old Miller elite (non-digital) seems to be sh*tting the bed... it's having trouble darkening, even with fresh bats/lenses, etc... I think it may be time for a new one.. I have enough trouble seeing my welds as it is...

I DO wanna keep this under 3 hundy... I see a lot of talk about the Lincoln Viking 3350 being a nice helmet.... it's a bit more than the newer digital elites... I know Speedglass was all the rage a while back.. but I seem to remember them being pricey...

anyone bought, researched lately?
 
It is flexible, not flimsy. Id say its an awesome in shop and pretty damn good in the field.
Light, comfortable, and good view. It checks all my boxes.
 
2 good fresh threads page #2 the tool shed on helmet talk . lots of options in there .

i have a 20 year old miller auto shade . lincoln newer viking series and light years ahead in clearity and more true color . also have a tractor supply aito shade i got in a deal its decent .
 
Never been much of an auto shade kind of guy tho my 20 year Stent as a career welder has come to a close a couple years ago. Always wore a Fibre metal for ease of consumables replacement. 10 or so years ago I switched to a Lincoln large view and it's more narrow and more flexible.
I have considered the esab being I'm doing my shop welding at home and it would be nice as I'm getting older. My problem with that hood is the price of the shield/consumables. I rarely use and auto but the kobalt I picked up a few years back is holding up. Only issue with that one is during tig it will go light occasionally during startup and flash me. Not the kind of flashing I like to see:eek1:
 
sweetk30 said:
2 good fresh threads page #2 the tool shed on helmet talk . lots of options in there .

i have a 20 year old miller auto shade . lincoln newer viking series and light years ahead in clearity and more true color . also have a tractor supply aito shade i got in a deal its decent .
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lol, i posted in there twice.. the last one talking about mine starting to sh*t the bed :haha: here we are... I'm up in the air right now.... gonna pull the trigger by the end of the day tomorrow tho.. hopefully i get it by the end of the week...


i'm really leaning toward the miller infinity.... i like big blue and like supporting them.. my only concern with that one a bit is the weight.. but to be honest, i'm not overly worried as i'm not wearing it daily all day..

I like what i see/read about the ESAB, but it is $50 more...

some of what I read about the 3350 sounds great, especially the optics.. but i've read quite a few threads about them shitting the bed and not being overly durable in that regard... i also have a bit of a sour taste in my mouth with Lincoln since i had that one welder from them sh*t the bed after a couple yrs..


others like optrel, speedglas and jackson seem to be a bit over my budget...
 
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SpeedlabDan said:
Never been much of an auto shade kind of guy tho my 20 year Stent as a career welder has come to a close a couple years ago. Always wore a Fibre metal for ease of consumables replacement. 10 or so years ago I switched to a Lincoln large view and it's more narrow and more flexible.
I have considered the esab being I'm doing my shop welding at home and it would be nice as I'm getting older. My problem with that hood is the price of the shield/consumables. I rarely use and auto but the kobalt I picked up a few years back is holding up. Only issue with that one is during tig it will go light occasionally during startup and flash me. Not the kind of flashing I like to see:eek1:
Click to expand...


i don't have an issue with flip downs per se, i used to use one back in the 80's/90's without issue... but I'm not bothered at all about good working auto shades either...

Ryoken - getting a little sore in the eye sockets from getting flashed today :doah: :whistle: :yikes: :haha:
 
I like the Viking 3350 I ended up with. The visibility when not welding is especially good.
 
mrk5 said:
I like the Viking 3350 I ended up with. The visibility when not welding is especially good.
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skunked said:
Another Viking fan here.
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does this have an auto on/off mode? just pick it up and weld, or do you need to turn it on?

the one thing I'm reading here and there about the 3350 is that while you can see the puddle amazing, seeing the surrounding area, not so much... that concerns me cuz while i do try to light the piece as best I can, I want to be able to see where I'm going well, not just the puddle..


i do like the digital displays on the Infinity and Sentinel.. the 3350 having oldschool knobs like my old elite is a bit of a turnoff... but if the helmet fit and optics are fantastic, i can overlook that...
 
ryoken said:
does this have an auto on/off mode? just pick it up and weld, or do you need to turn it on?

the one thing I'm reading here and there about the 3350 is that while you can see the puddle amazing, seeing the surrounding area, not so much... that concerns me cuz while i do try to light the piece as best I can, I want to be able to see where I'm going well, not just the puddle..


i do like the digital displays on the Infinity and Sentinel.. the 3350 having oldschool knobs like my old elite is a bit of a turnoff... but if the helmet fit and optics are fantastic, i can overlook that...
Click to expand...
It is auto on/off. I had only used it 1 other time before yesterday and that was a while ago. First weld I thought, "well I hope this just comes on like it's supposed to" and it did. This was my first time with an auto on and I was leery about it, but it seems fine.

I don't notice a difference with the visibility while welding, but my old helmet wasn't that great. I haven't played around with the settings too much. I've been wanting to get lights that mount on the helmet anyways, especially for when I'm welding under the truck, but I don't know how much of a difference it will make while actively welding.
 
mrk5 said:
It is auto on/off. I had only used it 1 other time before yesterday and that was a while ago. First weld I thought, "well I hope this just comes on like it's supposed to" and it did. This was my first time with an auto on and I was leery about it, but it seems fine.

I don't notice a difference with the visibility while welding, but my old helmet wasn't that great. I haven't played around with the settings too much. I've been wanting to get lights that mount on the helmet anyways, especially for when I'm welding under the truck, but I don't know how much of a difference it will make while actively welding.
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thanks, glad it's auto.. my miller was..

oh, i find it helps tremendously when the work piece is well lit... you can definitely see your "groove", etc that your heading toward much better out of your peripheral... i looked at the light kits for the helmets, and I'm not certain that is the solution.. the ones i saw mount to the side screws.. i almost feel like one of those headband singles might work better.. for now, i'll just keep using spotlights....

as you can see, I'm still completely up in the air about it.. :haha: all last night and today, watching youtube reviews, comparisons, reading forums, etc...

unlike pro welders that aren't buying lots of hand tools, etc, I'm not looking to have a quiver of 4 welding helmets if one doesn't suit my fancy.. :whistle: I'm poor and I'd like to make the smartest purchase I can... :doah:
 
I had a couple cheaper auto darkening helmets so the difference was night and day when I made the switch a few years ago. I haven’t noticed any issue seeing outside the puddle however I like to use magnetic lights whenever I can.
 
skunked said:
I had a couple cheaper auto darkening helmets so the difference was night and day when I made the switch a few years ago. I haven’t noticed any issue seeing outside the puddle however I like to use magnetic lights whenever I can.
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ooo, magnetic lights, like that idea...
 
well, after bouncing all over the place for 36 hrs, and really kind of trying to decide between the 3500 and Infinity, I think I'm actually about to pull the trigger on




























the A50 Sentinel ! :haha:


I had kind of been trying to rule it out in my head cuz it was $50 more.... but everyone raves about it... it sounds like the halo setup is the best of the headgear options...

my ONLY concern is the window size being smaller than the other 2.. but to be honest, I never really felt I needed a bigger window on my old elite... and I do like the touchscreen and grind button too...

the sad part is, it's by far the coolest looking one, but no one will ever see it other than me! :haha:

They also have a free welding bag worth 65 that goes with the ESAB till the end of the month, so that makes me happier about the price...
 
the one thing I noticed about the Esab is that the magnifiers are stooopid expensive.. all the other companies are like $8 to $22 each.. and theirs are $41 on cyberweld.. :yikes:

but I do see them listed elsewhere for like $14, so I'll go there for em...
 
Sentinel on the way.... I'll give a review on it when I lay some bead with it..


sidenote.. i went wiih cyberweld... looked to see where they where for shipping.. friggin north jersey.. so i definitely hope to get it later in the week...
 
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